Marcia Hay-McCutcheon (PhD ’04) says it’s not the magnitude of professional challenges, but rather, how one copes with those challenges that creates a successful career. She credits her ability to navigate inevitable professional ups and downs to her doctoral training at the University of Iowa.

In particular, she praises mentorship from Paul Abbas and Carolyn Brown, who supplied support and encouragement to think through complex concepts – overcoming roadblocks by approaching issues from a new angle – and sometimes culminating in more success than originally hoped.

Following her doctoral work and a postdoctoral fellowship at Indiana University, she accepted a faculty position at the University of Alabama, where she’s been an associate professor, department chair, and, now, a full professor.

Marcia's can-do mindset extends to a community engagement project she spearheaded, called Hear Here Alabama, a program to increase access and affordability of hearing healthcare to rural Alabamians who have limited resources. She, her audiology colleagues, and a handful of students travel frequently in a Hear Here Alabama truck throughout West Central and South Alabama to provide hearing screenings and hearing evaluations. Their initial work has expanded to an NIH-funded clinical trial with over-the-counter hearing aids.

Bravo, Dr. Hay-McCutcheon, bravo! We honor your tenacity, commitment to quality healthcare for all, and visionary approaches to Audiology.