The School of Communication Science & Disorders held an open house on Friday, March 16, at its new facilities in the renovated Warren Building in downtown Tallahassee. It was a true “town and gown” event as Mayor John Marks joined university dignitaries for a tour of six-floor structure.

“We are thrilled to have a new home in the Warren Building, with ample parking for clients of the L.L. Schendel Speech and Hearing Clinic as well as for faculty, staff and students,” said Dr. Kenn Apel, SCSD director.

The Schendel Clinic reception area is located on the first floor, with the hearing clinic on the basement level and the speech and language clinic on the second floor. The third floor is devoted to graduate student learning and clinic preparation, the fifth floor to faculty offices and research labs and the sixth floor to the school office, as well as additional faculty offices and research labs.

The fourth floor currently is unfinished, but there are plans for a veterans’ specialty clinic to treat speech and hearing disorders that often accompany traumatic head injuries in combat. In addition, the school hopes to open a preschool program for children with speech and language impairments on one of the buildings lower floors.

The school and clinic had been located in the Regional Rehabilitation Center near Landis Green; that building will be razed for a new food service facility.

“We actually had almost as much square footage in the RRC, but it had been added on to and built out piecemeal, so the space wasn’t as usable and functional as the Warren Building,” Dr. Apel said.

Other honored guests at the open house were members of the local Marzuq Shrine, which supports the Schendel Clinic; members of the College of Communication & Information leadership board; and local media representatives.