Betsy Crais was a LEND trainee who previously worked in public education and a local county speech and hearing center for five years. She shared that her trainee year at the CDRC was a major turning point in her career, allowing her to pursue her research and clinical interests, and the traineeship was the impetus for her to return to school for her PhD. She completed her PhD at University of Wisconsin-Madison in Communicative Disorders in 1987. Betsy is a full Professor in the Division of Speech and Hearing Sciences (DSHS), Department of Allied Health Sciences, School of Medicine at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (UNC-CH), and has been on faculty at UNC-CH since 1987. Prior to this time she worked as an Assistant Professor at the University of Northern Colorado and a Research Assistant at the University of Wisconsin.

Dr. Crais has been a continuous member of our national association, the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA), as well as maintained her Certificate of Clinical Competence in Speech-Language Pathology, since 1975. She was a member of the ASHA Convention Committee four times. Dr. Crais has also maintained her North Carolina state licensure continuously since 1986. She has been a member of the North Carolina and other state associations since 1975, and has periodically served on a variety of committees. She has maintained membership in other national organizations, including the Association of Professional Women in Medicine since 1990, the Association of Women Faculty since 1989, and the North Carolina Infant Personnel Trainers since 1991.

In the Department of Speech and Hearing Sciences at UNC-CH, Dr. Crais has worked to develop specialty emphasis areas within the graduate program. She has been a core member in applying for and developing the recently started PhD program. Both of these certainly contribute to the strength of the UNC-Chapel Hill program. She provides regular workshops and presentations, to support and model "best practices", including a workshop to the directors of the 19 Developmental Evaluation Centers in North Carolina in the area of family-centered services. She has also participated in the Carolina Institute for Research in Infant Personnel Preparation (1987-1992), focusing on identifying current practices and needs of faculty across the country in trying to provide training to both students and practicing professionals in the area of early intervention.

Special awards and honors she has received include University of North Carolina Academy of Distinguished Teaching Scholars (2000), American Speech-Language-Hearing Association Fellow (1999, the highest honor given in our association), University of North Carolina Post-Baccalaureate Teaching Award (1995), nominated for Undergraduate Teaching Award, University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill (1990), Charter Honoree in National Distinguished Service Registry: Speech, Language, and Hearing, Library of Congress (1989), nominated Outstanding Young Woman of Colorado (1982), Outstanding Young Women in America (1981), and United Way Ontstanding Contributor Award (1979).

Dr. Crais has written nine peer-reviewed articles, 13 book chapters, edited three books, and reviewed three books. She has also produced four non-referenced materials, and co-authored mentorship materials such as "North Carolina's Train the Trainer Mentorship Project", and an in-service manual and audiotape for continuing education at the national level. She has made over 15 peer-reviewed presentations at the state and national level, and over 40 invited presentations at state and national meetings. She is a regular presenter at ASHA conventions.

A brief survey of her publications and presentations indicates that she is fully committed to promoting effective and innovative clinical skills. Testifying to this, some of her recent publications include: