Two Women Are Among the Finalists to Direct the Waisman Center at the University of Wisconsin

The University of Wisconsin-Madison has announced a field of four finalists to be the next director of the Waisman Center. The center is dedicated to the advancement of knowledge about human development, developmental disabilities, and neurodegenerative diseases. The center provides a research environment for 40 resident scholars from 20 academic departments at the university.

The four finalists will have all participated in public forums at the center by mid-February. Two of the four finalists are women.

Ruth Litovsky is a professor in the department of communication sciences and disorders at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She holds a joint appointment with the department of surgery at the university’s medical school. Dr. Litovsky joined the faculty at the University of Wisconsin in 2001. Professor Litovsky holds bachelor’s and master’s degrees in psychology from Washington University in St. Louis. She earned a Ph.D. in developmental psychology at the University of Massachusetts at Amherst and then conducted postdoctoral research in neurophysiology at the University of Wisconsin.

Katherine C. Hustad is a professor and chair of the department of communication sciences and disorders at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She joined the faculty in 2003 after teaching at Pennsylvania State University. Earlier, she was a clinical instructor in the Speech, Language and Hearing Clinic at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln. Dr. Hustad is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, where she majored in communication disorders. She holds a master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and a Ph.D. in speech-language pathology from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.