Rate My Professor Courtney Venker

Courtney E. Venker, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Communicative Sciences and Disorders at Michigan State University, where she also serves as Director of the Lingo Lab. A licensed and certified speech-language pathologist, she holds a Ph.D. and has built a distinguished career focused on advancing understanding of language development. Venker teaches courses on language disorders, autism spectrum disorders, evidence-based practice, scientific writing, and eye-tracking methodology to master's students training as speech-language pathologists. She actively mentors graduate and undergraduate students, including through the Professorial Assistant program. Previously affiliated with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, she joined Michigan State University as an Assistant Professor and was promoted to Associate Professor in 2023. Her research examines language processing and word learning in toddlers and preschoolers with autism spectrum disorder, emphasizing how these children integrate auditory and visual information. Venker investigates the effects of adult speech simplification strategies, such as shortening utterances, and the impact of linguistic noise from ungrammatical input or electronic toys on language acquisition. Her methods include standardized assessments, parent-child interaction coding, and eye-tracking tasks.