Severina Nelson
The University of Illinois Speech Clinic had its beginning in Lincoln Hall in 1938 in a janitor’s mop closet, where a young speech professor began working with a student who was having some articulation problems. The professor, Severina Nelson, who at the time shared an office with several colleagues, could find no other space to conduct her speech therapy.
“Finally,” Dr. Nelson recalled, “the janitor volunteered to donate his mop closet so that I could set up a speech therapy lab. He moved to the basement.” After two years in the converted mop closet and with the title of director of the speech clinic, Dr. Nelson found herself with a spacious new office in Gregory Hall and a $2,000 grant to continue her clinic. From these humble beginnings, Nelson single-handedly built the speech clinic into a diagnostic and therapeutic laboratory that won praise from all over the country.
Dr. Nelson received her B.S. (1918) and M.A. (1923) in English from the University of Illinois. She was awarded her Ph.D. in Speech Pathology from the University of Wisconsin in 1938. After receiving her master’s degree she began her teaching career in interpretative speech, giving countless readings to campus organizations, on the radio, and in tours throughout the state, culminating with the publication of The Art of Interpretive Speech, a best-selling speech text that she co-authored in 1927. She was interested in all aspect of the speech arts and directed many of the campus theatrical activities including minstrel shows and musical comedies.
With the establishment of the speech clinic in 1939, she dedicated herself to speech correction, vigorously promoting the speech therapy programs in schools. Recognizing the need for trained clinicians, Nelson organized a training program for speech therapists by establishing a four-year curriculum and a fifth year of graduate study. In 1943 she chaired the state legislative committee that wrote a bill providing state funds to supplement local efforts, and it is estimated that she gave 50 to 75 speeches regarding this legislation throughout Illinois until the bill was passed by the Illinois General Assembly the following year. By 1959, when she stepped down as director, the clinic employed 10 full-time therapists, and Dr. Nelson had administered and supervised over 125 graduate theses.
Dr. Nelson was an accomplished speaker and was approached by many groups and organizations throughout the nation. In 1959 she returned to fulltime teaching in speech pathology and oral interpretation, and in 1964 she retired from the University and moved to Dallas, Texas.
