Our Team

Farzan Irani, Ph.D, CCC-SLP

Professor and Chair

Dr. Farzan Irani, Ph.D., CCC-SLP received his bachelor's degree in speech-language pathology and audiology at the Maharashtra University of Health Sciences, Mumbai India.  He received his mater's degree and earned his doctorate in communication sciences and disorders at Bowling Green State University, OH.  He has experience working as a graduate student and clinician at Bowling Green State University's Intensive Clinic for Adolescents and Adults.  He also gained experience in delivering therapeutic services to People Who Stutter via telepractice during his doctoral program.  His research interests include psychosocial aspects of stuttering, multicultural aspects of stuttering, and treatment effectiveness in stuttering.  Click here for more information about the Comprehensive Stuttering Therapy Program (CSTP).

Jessica Bowers, M.S., CCC-SLP

Associate Professor of Instruction and Director of Clinical Operations

Jessica Bowers earned both her bachelor and master of science degrees in communication disorders from Texas State University.  She has worked primarily with families of children with severe developmental delays and feeding disorders (dysphagia) through early childhood intervention and home health services.  She has also provided assessment and intervention for adults with neurogenic communication disorders and dysphagia in long-term acute care hospitals.

Brittney Eisenbach, M.S., CCC-SLP

Assistant Professor of Instruction

Brittney Eisenbach earned her bachelor's of science in Speech, Lanugage, and Hearing Sciences at Texas Tech University Health Sciences Center and a master of science degree in Communication Disorders from Texas State University.  She holds the Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and is licensed to practice in the state of Texas.  She has previously worked in early childhood intervention, private practice, and public school which included being a part of the play-based assessment team.  She has a special interest in early childhood language and working on functional language and social skills with teens in the community.  She believes that everyone deserves a voice no matter what mode of communication.

Jennifer L. Johnson, M.S. CCC-SLP

Associate Professor of Instruction

Jennifer L. Johnson, M.S. CCC-SLP holds a bachelor of fine arts in musical theatre performance from Western Michigan University and received a master of science in communication disorders from Texas State University.  She holds a certificate of Vocology from the University of Iowa and has extensive clinical experience in the area of voice.  She was formerly the senior voice pathologist for Robert T. Sataloff, M.D. and Associates and Instructor of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Drexel University College of Medicine where she was actively involved in teaching medical students, residents, and fellows, as well as speech-language pathologists and singing voice specialists from around the world.  She also has been active in research with the American Institute of Voice and Ear Research and with the Department of Otolaryngology-Head and Neck Surgery at Drexel University College of Medicine.

Stacey Lesieur, M.S. CCC-SLP

Assistant Professor of Instruction

Stacey Lesieur earned a bachelor's in Recreation Administration with Therapeutic Recreation concentration from Texas State University, and a master's in Communication Disorders from the University of Texas at Dallas.  She holds the Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and is licensed to practice in Texas.  Stacey has worked primarily with children in outpatient pediatric therapy, private practice, and the public school setting and has an interest in speech sound disorders.  Stacey is excited to be a part of educating and training future Speech-Language Pathologists.

Ranjini Mohan, Ph.D., CCC-SLP

Associate Professor

Dr. Mohan received her Bachelor's degree in Speech & Hearing and her Master's degree in Speech Language Pathology from the University of Mysore, India.  She earned her Ph.D. in Cognitive Neuroscience and Gerontology at Purdue University in 2016.  Her research interests include identifying age- and disease-related changes in communication across the lifespan.  She is specifically interested in understanding the neural bases of cognition and language in typically aging adults and those with neurogenic diseases.  She has extensive clinical experience working with adults in acute, sub-acute, and outpatient settings both in the U.S. and in India.

Cecilia Perez, M.S. CCC-SLP

Assistant Professor of Instruction

Ceci Perez earned both her bachelor and master of science degree in communication disorders from Texas State University.  She has worked in a variety of settings including public schools, home health and early childhood intervention.  Ms. Perez is excited to be back at her alma mater tor guide and support future speech-language pathologists.

Pradeep Ramanathan, Ph.D., CCC-SLP

Associate Professor

Dr. Ramanathan is the director of the B.R.A.I.N. Lab at Texas State University, Round Rock.  He earned his bachelor's degree in Physics at the University of California at Berkeley, and his master's degree in Physics at San Francisco State University.  He worked as an engineer in Silicon Valley for several years before going to the University of Minnesota to pursue a clinical master's degree in Physics at San Francisco State University.  He worked as an engineer in Silicon Valley for several years before going to the University of Minnesota to pursue a clinical master's degree and subsequently a PH.D. in Speech-Language Pathology.  Dr. Ramanathan taught at the University of Connecticut from 2009-2015, and California State East Bay from 2015-2023.  His research applies behavioral and neuroimaging methods to investigate cognitive and communicative function, dysfunction, and treatment effects in individuals with post-stroke aphasia and in individuals with Traumatic Brain Injury.

Beth Rasmussen, Au.D., CCC-A

Assistant Professor of Instruction

Dr. Rasmussen graduated with a master's degree in audiology in 2001 and a doctorate in audiology in 2008 from Salus University in Pennsylvania.  Born and raised in Chicago, she started her career as an educational audiologist for the Chicago Public Schools.  She then became a clinical audiologist for the University of Illinois Medical Center.

After practicing in Chicago for almost 10 years, she knew it was time for sunshine and barbeque.  Texas was calling her name.  Upon moving to Austin, she worked at Children's Ear, Nose and Throat Center as a pediatric audiologist.  She is a member of the Educational Audiology Association and the American Cochlear Implant Alliance.

Maria Resendiz, Ph.D., CCC-SLP

Associate Professor

Dr. Resendiz earned her Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Austin, where she also earned her bachelor's and master's degrees.  She has worked with bilingual children and children from various cultural and linguistic backgrounds in school, rehabilitation, and early childhood settings.  Her research interests include how children learn language, specifically the role of children's experience with English in learning English grammar.  She has co-authored publications on language learning within the context of narratives with children from various cultural and linguistic backgrounds and has presented at national conferences.

Amy Louise Schwarz, Ph.D., CCC-SLP

Associate Professor

Dr. Schwarz earned her Ph.D. at the University of Texas at Dallas.  Her research interests include translating basic research on early language development and preliteracy into applied research that informs clinical practice and language intervention.  She is particularly interested in identifying the social, linguistic, and perceptual cues young children use to acquire verbs.  As she identifies these cues in children developing language in a typical fashion, she will design and test the efficacy of simple no cost treatments for children across clinical populations.

Lori Stiritz, M.A., CCC-A

Professor of Instruction and Audiologist

Audiologist since 1983 and has been licensed in the State of Texas since 1993.  Her clinical specialty is the diagnosis and treatment of auditory processing disorders.  Ms. Stiritz teaches the undergraduate classes related to hearing (CDIS 3469: Introduction to Hearing Science, CDIS 4420: Audiology, CDIS 4370: Aural Rehabilitation), Neuroanatomy (CDIS 3412), and the graduate-level audiology practicum courses (CDIS 5321).

Jason Tipps, M.Ed., M.S., CCC-SLP

Assistant Professor of Instruction

Jason Tipps received his bachelor of arts from the University of Texas at Austin with a major in Latin American studies and Spanish in 2000.  He received a master of education with a major in elementary education bilingual/bicultural in 2004, and a master of science in communication disorders in 2009 from Texas State University.  Prior to becoming a speech pathologist, he was a third grade teacher for the Austin Independent School District.  His speech pathology professional experience includes employment in the pediatric home health and adult rehabilitation settings.

Renee Wendel, M.S., CCC-SLP

Professor of Instruction and Director of Clinical Education

Renee Wendel earned a master's  degree from Texas State University in 1994, and holds the Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology, and is licensed by the Texas Department of Licensing and Regulation.  She teaches CDIS 5344 - Advanced Clinical Practicum, and CDIS 5689 - Internship in Communication Disorders.  Her clinical expertise is in assessment and intervention of autism spectrum disorders, as well as emergent literacy.

Maria Diana Gonzales, Ph.D., CCC-SLP

Professor (retired)

Dr. Maria Diana Gonzales, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, earned a doctoral degree from Ohio University in speech-language pathology in 1997.  She is a bilingual speech-language pathologist who holds the Certificate of Clinical Competence from the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association and is licensed to practice in the state of Texas.  Dr. Gonzales has taught undergraduate and graduate courses in normal language development, childhood language disorders, assessment and intervention with populations from various cultural and linguistic backgrounds and second language acquisition.  She has co-authored several manuscripts, written a book chapter, and presented numerous papers at state and national conferences.

Willow Hall, 253D

Willow Hall, 253