Academic and Professional Appointments

• Professor, Communication Science & Disorders (CSD) and Center for the Neural Basis of Cognition
• Director, CSD Ph.D. Programs

Professional Certification and Licensure

• Certificate of Clinical Competence, Speech-Language Pathology, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association (ASHA)
• Board Certified in Adult Neurologic Communication Disorders, Academy of Neurologic Communication Disorders & Sciences (ANCDS)

Biographical Profile

The author of more than 100 scientific and professional publications, Professor Tompkins has received multiple honors for her pathbreaking work in neurologically-based communication disorders. Her research has been supported by the NIH since 1988, and she is sought after as an expert consultant and reviewer. She recently received a prestigious grant supported by the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Dr. Tompkins also relishes her work with students, offering research opportunities and mentorship at every level.

Education

• PhD Speech & Hearing Sciences, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, 1984
• MS Speech Pathology, Illinois State University, Normal, IL, 1977
• BS Speech Pathology, Illinois State University, Normal, IL, 1975

Awards and Honors

• 1972, National Merit Scholar
• 1972, Illinois State Scholar
• 1972, James Scholar (University of Illinois)
• 1975, Kappa Delta Pi Honor Society in Education
• 1987, American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation (ASHF) New Investigator research awardee
• 1989, Nominee, Sigma Xi Research Award for an Assistant Professor
• 1989, Lilly Endowment Teaching Fellow
• 1990, Fellow, American Speech-Language-Hearing Association
• 1992, Nominee, Editor's award for outstanding manuscript in 1991, Journal of Speech and Hearing Research
• 1994, Nominee, Chancellor's Distinguished Research Award for Junior Scholar, University of Pittsburgh
• 1995, Recipient, Editor's award for outstanding manuscript in the area of language in 1994, Journal of Speech and Hearing Research
• 2001, Recipient, Editor's award for outstanding manuscript in the area of language in 2000, Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
• 2004, Chancellor’s Distinguished Research Award, Senior Scholar, University of Pittsburgh
• 2006, Michael J. Ellis Distinguished Lecture in Disability Science and Practice, University of Illinois
• 2007, Honors of the Academy of Neurological Communication Disorders and Sciences for outstanding contributions in research, teaching, treatment, and service in the area of neurological communication disorders

Academic Interests

• Cognitive and psycholinguistic bases of neurological communicative disorders
• Nature, generality, prediction, and treatment of right hemisphere communication processes and disorders
• Discourse comprehension
• Communicative nuance and connotation
• Interpretation and communication of emotion
• Psychosocial aspects of disabling conditions
• Communication and aging

Recent Publications: Refereed articles

• Fassbinder, W. & Tompkins, C.A. (2006). Hemispheric differences in word meaning processing: Alternative interpretations of current evidence. Aphasiology, 20, 110-122.
• Scharp, V.L., Tompkins, C.A., & Iverson, J.M. (2007). Gesture in aphasia: Helping hands? Aphasiology, 21, 771-725
• Tompkins, C.A., Scharp, V.L., Fassbinder, W., Meigh, K.M., & Armstrong, E. (2008). A different story on ‘Theory of Mind’ deficit after right hemisphere brain damage in adults. Aphasiology, 22(1), 42-61.
• Tompkins, C.A., Fassbinder, W., Scharp, V.L., & Meigh, K.M. (2008). Activation and maintenance of peripheral semantic features of unambiguous words after right hemisphere brain damage in adults. Aphasiology, 22(2), 119-138.
• Tompkins, C.A., Scharp, V.L., Fassbinder, W. & Meigh, K.M. (2008). Coarse coding and discourse comprehension in adults with right hemisphere brain damage. Aphasiology, 22(2), 204-223.
• Tompkins, C.A. (2008). Theoretical considerations for understanding "understanding" by adults with right hemisphere brain damage. Perspectives on Neurophysiology and Neurogenic Speech and Language Disorders, 18(2), 45-54. American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, Division 2.
• Schulz, R., Beach, S.R., Hebert, R.S., Martire, L.M., Monin, J.K., Tompkins, C.A., & Albert, S.M. (2009). Spousal suffering and partner’s depression and cardiovascular disease: The
• Cardiovascular Health Study. American Journal of Geriatric Psychiatry 17:3, 246-254.
• Lederer, L.G., Gibbs Scott, A., Tompkins, C.A., & Dickey, M. W. (2009). Imageability effects on sentence judgment by right brain-damaged adults. Aphasiology, 23(7-8), 1005-1015.
• Tompkins, C.A., Meigh, K.M., Gibbs Scott, A., & Lederer, L.G. (2009). Does performance on the Discourse Comprehension Test predict high-level inferencing by adults with right hemisphere brain damage? Aphasiology, 23(7-8), 1016-1027.
• Moore, M.W., Tompkins, C.A., & Dollaghan, C.A. (submitted). Manipulating articulatory demands in nonword repetition: A late-8 nonword repetition task. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research.
• Brady, J. L., & Tompkins, C.A. (submitted). Predicting verb subcategorizations: Effects of discourse coherence and syntactic priming. Language and Cognition.
• Silverman, I.F. & Tompkins, C.A. (in preparation). Narrative comprehension in adults with right hemisphere brain damage: The role of coherence and theme organization. Aphasiology.
• Tompkins, C.A., Gibbs Scott, A., Scharp, V.L., & Meigh, K.M. (in preparation). Suppression in polarized ambiguity processing after right hemisphere brain damage.

Recent Publications: Book Chapters and Other

• Tompkins, C.A., Scharp, V.L. & Marshall, R.C. (2007). Communicative value of self-cues in aphasia: A Re-evaluation. Aphasiology, 20, 684-704.
• Tompkins, C.A., Scott, A., & Scharp, V.L. (2008). Research principles for the clinician. In R. Chapey (Ed.), Language intervention strategies in adult aphasia (5th ed., pp. 163-185). Baltimore: Lippincott Williams & Wilkins.
• Tompkins, C.A. (2010). The aphasias. In E.B. Goldstein (Ed.), Encyclopedia of perception. SAGE Publishing.
• Schulz, R. & Tompkins, C.A. (in press). Informal caregivers in the US: Prevalence, caregiver characteristics, and ability to provide care. Human factors in home health care. Washington, D.C.: National Academies of Sciences Press.
• Tompkins, C.A. & Klepousniotou, E. (in press). Right hemisphere communication disorders. In I. Papathanasiou, P. Coppens, & C. Potagas (Eds.), Aphasia and related neurogenic communication disorders.

Key Publications

• Tompkins, C. A. (1992). Improving aphasia treatment research: Some methodological considerations. In J. Cooper (Ed.), Aphasia treatment: Current approaches and research opportunities (pp. 37-46). Bethesda, MD: National Institutes of Health (NIDCD).
• Tompkins, C. A., Bloise, C. G. R., Timko, M., and Baumgaertner, A. (1994). Working memory and inference revision in brain-damaged and normally aging adults. Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, 37, 896-912.
• Spencer, K. A., Tompkins, C. A., and Schulz, R. (1997). Assessing depression in patients with brain pathology: The case of stroke. Psychological Bulletin, 122, 132-152.
• Tompkins, C.A., Baumgaertner, A., Lehman, M.T. & Fassbinder, W. (2000). Mechanisms of discourse comprehension impairment after right hemisphere brain damage: Suppression in lexical ambiguity resolution. Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 43, 62-78.
• Baumgaertner, A. and Tompkins, C.A. (2002). Testing contrasting accounts of word meaning
• activation in Broca's aphasia: Experiences from a cross-modal semantic priming study.
• Aphasiology, 16, 397-411.
• Tompkins, C.A., Fassbinder, W., Lehman-Blake, M.T. and Baumgaertner, A. (2002). The nature and implications of right hemisphere language disorders: Issues in search of answers. In A. Hillis (Ed.), Handbook of adult language disorders: Integrating cognitive neuropsychology, neurology, and rehabilitation (pp. 429-448). Psychology Press.
• Tompkins, C.A., Fassbinder, W., Blake, P.L., Baumgaertner, A., and Jayaram, N. (2004). Inference generation during text comprehension by adults with right hemisphere brain damage: Activation failure vs. multiple activation? Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research, 47, 1380-1395.

Courses Recently Taught

• CSD 2075 Aphasia
• CSD 2275 Cognitive-Communication Disorders
• CSD 3048 PhD Research Seminar
• CSD 3479 PhD Seminar in Speech-Language Pathology: Processes in the perception and comprehension of language and paralanguage: Cross-language issues and evidence

Externally Funded Projects

• Comprehension Impairment and Right Brain Damage, Connie A. Tompkins (PI). Funded by National Institutes of Health (NIDCD) for 1993-2008.
• Treatment for Language Processing Deficits in Adults with Right Brain Damage, Connie A. Tompkins (PI), Margaret Lehman Blake (Co-I), and Julie Wambaugh (Consultant). Funded by National Institutes of Health (NIDCD) for 2009-2011.

Service

• Principal Investigator and Head of the Organizing Committee, NIDCD R13 DC006295: Research Symposium in Clinical Aphasiology, 2002-2011. This annual symposium funds student investigators on a competitive basis, to present their research at the Clinical Aphasiology Conference and to participate in specialized mentoring activities
• Special Review Panels, National Institutes of Health (NIDCD)
• Steering Committee, Clinical Aphasiology ConferenceReviewer, American Speech-Language-Hearing Foundation New Investigator research grant program
• ASHA Mentoring programs – MARC (Mentoring Academic Research Careers); BURF (Building Undergraduate-Faculty Relationships); and STEP (Student to Empowered Professional)
• Faculty mentor, ASHA New Investigators in the 21st Century Roundtable
• Guest Associate Editor for Language, Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research
• Editorial Boards: Aphasiology; American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology; Applied Psycholinguistics; Journal of Medical Speech-Language Pathology; Journal of Speech, Language, and Hearing Research; Language and Cognitive Processes
• Reviewer: for the above, and also for Brain and Language; Journal of Gerontology; Psychology and Aging; Journal of Consulting and Clinical Psychology; Neurocase; Neuropsychology