Heather Leavy Rusiewicz

Heather Leavy Rusiewicz, Ph.D., CCC-SLP is Chair and Associate Professor in the Department of Speech-Language Pathology and Associate Dean for Research in the John G. Rangos, Sr. School of Health Sciences at Duquesne University in Pittsburgh, PA. She is also Program Director of the Speech Production Clinic within the Duquesne University Speech-Language-Hearing Clinic. She received her bachelor's, master's, and doctoral degrees in Communication Science and Disorders from the University of Pittsburgh. Before her time at Duquesne University, Dr. Rusiewicz was a speech-language pathologist at Children’s Hospital in Pittsburgh. Dr. Rusiewicz clinical and research experiences are focused on children and adults with speech sound disorders. Her areas of interests include gestures, prosody, and speech sound production in children and adults. She is particularly interested in the dynamic entrainment of speech and manual movements, the lived experiences of individuals with speech sound disorders and their families, and the integration of music and speech production. Additionally, Dr. Rusiewicz is interested in the scholarship of teaching and learning in the education of students studying communication sciences and disorders. Lastly, Dr. Rusiewicz is involved in community-engaged teaching and research to promote the discipline of SLP, embolden students to be civic-minded advocates for their clients, and to sustain relationships with community partners to serve the local and broader community.