RHB Student Awarded KSHA’s Inaugural DEI Scholarship

‘I am overwhelmed and so blessed’

By Ryan Clark

CHS Communications Director

A speech language pathologist in UK’s Rehabilitation and Health Sciences PhD Program has been honored with the Kentucky Speech-Language-Hearing Association’s (KSHA) inaugural Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Scholarship Award.

Kinya D. Embry, M.S., CCC-SLP, a speech language pathologist for Jefferson County Public Schools, will receive a $2,000 scholarship at the KSHA awards luncheon at 11:30 a.m., Friday at the Central Bank Center in Lexington.

“I am overwhelmed and so blessed to share this news with you all,” Embry said in an email. “Relief of the financial burden for the last few semesters of the program will help me so much! Thank you for all of your support in my past, current and future endeavors.”

“We sincerely congratulate you on this award,” said Leigh Anne Roden, Ed.D., CCC-SLP, and Clinical Associate Professor and Undergraduate Program Coordinator for Communication Sciences and Disorders at Western Kentucky University, and a member of the Scholarship Committee.

Criteria for KSHA’s awards can include:

Evidence of academic achievement at the doctoral, graduate and/or undergraduate level
Transcript showing current GPA
Financial need
KSHA student membership
Professional goals and philosophy
Letters of Recommendation

Embry exceeded those requirements.

As a certified speech language pathologist, she obtained a Bachelor of Science degree in Communication Sciences and Disorders with a minor in American Sign Language in May of 2016 from Western Kentucky University and a Master of Science degree in Speech Language Pathology in August 2018.

Now she is pursuing a PhD in UK’s Rehabilitation and Health Sciences PhD Program, and her research interests include, “the language and literacy development in school-aged deaf and hard of hearing students and the importance of establishing a language foundation first, in the form of a signed language, such as American Sign Language (ASL),” and “exploring the impacts of early exposure to ASL during the critical period of language acquisition (birth to age 5).”

Congratulations to Kinya D. Embry, M.S., CCC-SLP!