Dr. Jack S. Damico has been named assistant vice president for Research at the University of Louisiana at Lafayette.
He will continue to serve as a professor of communicative disorders, according to Dr. Ramesh Kolluru, vice president for Research at the University.
“With his great record of intellectual scholarship and research productivity, Jack will be a great addition to the team as we work toward achieving our three strategic research goals,” Kolluru said. In the next five years, UL Lafayette intends to increase its research and development expenditures to $100 million per year, to almost double the number of doctoral students to 100 students per year, and to assist 10 new companies each year through its research and innovation.
“Dr. Damico’s understanding of our research priorities, methodical approach to issues and clarity of thought will be of great value as we have conversations and develop plans to achieving those three goals,” Kolluru said.
Damico is the Doris B. Hawthorne Eminent Scholar in Communicative Disorders and a fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. He received the UL Lafayette Foundation’s Distinguished Professor Award in 2005.
Damico was the driving force behind the establishment of the University’s doctoral program in applied language and speech sciences.
He has published widely in research publications in the fields of applied linguistics, communicative disorders, diversity education and social science. Damico is the author or editor of 12 books. He is the founding editor of the “Journal of Interactional Research in Communicative Disorders” and co-editor of the forthcoming “Encyclopedia of Human Communication Sciences and Disorders” by Sage Publications.
The professor holds a master’s of science degree in communicative disorders and a doctorate in linguistics. He has chaired 19 doctoral dissertations since 2005 and has received numerous awards for his research and publications.
Damico has been a professor at the University since 1991.
His appointment as assistant vice president for Research is effective immediately.