Rate My Professor Jolene Hyppa-Martin

Jolene Hyppa-Martin is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at the University of Minnesota Duluth, part of the College of Education and Human Service Professions. She earned her PhD in Speech-Language-Hearing Sciences from the University of Minnesota Twin Cities, completing her doctoral studies from 2010 to 2016. Prior to her PhD, she served as an academic instructor and speech-language pathology clinical instructor at UMD. She transitioned to a full-time faculty position in 2016, motivated by the program's dedication to student-centered, engaged learning and providing research opportunities for undergraduate and graduate students in speech-language pathology and audiology. As a licensed speech-language pathologist, she has taught AAC courses across multiple programs, including SLHS at UMTC, UMD's special education, and the former FASD certificate program.

Her research centers on augmentative and alternative communication (AAC), with a focus on enhancing communication for individuals with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and promoting social inclusion for those with severe communication disabilities. She collaborates with renowned AAC expert Dr. Joe Reichle and has facilitated a grant-funded AAC outreach clinic in northeastern Minnesota. Key contributions include receiving a doctoral fellowship in Minnesota's Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities, co-founding the Minnesota AAC Town Hall (now in its ninth year), co-chairing the state professional organization's AAC committee, developing the Minnesota AAC Repository, and editing the Minnesota AAC Consideration Toolkit. In 2024, she was honored with the Spirit of Minnesota Speech-Language-Hearing Association Award for her inspirational service to the profession. Hyppa-Martin has provided hundreds of hours of AAC assessment, intervention, and counseling across the lifespan and maintains clinical research partnerships with institutions such as Texas A&M University, University of Nebraska-Lincoln, and University of Wisconsin-Madison. Her peer-reviewed publications include "A large-scale comparison of two voice synthesis techniques on intelligibility, naturalness, preferences, and attitudes toward voices banked by individuals with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis" (2023), "Voice banking to support individuals who use speech-generating devices: development and evaluation of Singaporean-accented English synthetic voices and a Singapore Colloquial English recording inventory" (2023), "Supporting Aided Augmentative and Alternative Communication Interventions for Individuals With Complex Communication Needs via Telepractice: A Tutorial" (2021), and "Communication Modality Sampling for a Toddler With Angelman Syndrome" (2013). Under her mentorship, 100% of graduate students who applied have presented research at national conferences, with several co-authoring publications.