Special VERA Award: Lucille Rubin

To LUCILLE RUBIN by CHAIRMAN, DR. ROBERT SATALOFF on behalf of The Voice Foundation Board of Directors

Tonight [May 30, 2014] we are pleased to present a special VERA Award to an extraordinary professional who has made seminal contributions to the field of voice for five decades and to The Voice Foundation for more than 30 years.  She was among the first practitioners and champions of speech and voice training to understand the importance of scientific knowledge and to incorporate it into her individual teaching, and into her educational efforts for other voice trainers and speech pathologists.  Moreover, she did not merely learn new information as it was discovered, but she also dedicated herself to teaching physicians, speech pathologists, basic scientists and others about voice performance.  Her involvement in interdisciplinary education has helped guide research efforts toward questions of practical importance and has helped shape the evolution of the field of voice.  She has been a consistent champion for excellence and translational, practical investigation through her own organization, and through her exceptionally active participation on the advisory board of The Voice Foundation.  In an effort to bring a practical understanding of presentation skills to The Voice Foundation community, she created our presentation coaching program in 2004; and she has led it since its inception.  Her efforts have not just improved the quality of papers at our symposium.  More importantly, they have given scientific presenters insight into subtleties of voice use; and the coaching sessions have established friendships and collaborations among scientists and voice trainers that are continuing to inspire practical research.  She also chaired The Voice Foundation’s presentation outreach committee from 2005 until 2012; and in both 2012 and 2013, four of our workshop presenters have come directly through her efforts to draw in new presenters and a new audience.  She has taught at numerous colleges and universities in the U.S., Europe and Asia; published books, articles and a particularly influential and informative newsletter, and coached many of the world’s leading actors and singers.  The Voice Foundation, the world of voice, and those of us who have had the privilege of interacting with her have all benefited from the association and from her indefatigable pursuit of knowledge and excellence.  On behalf of the Board of Directors of The Voice Foundation, it is an honor and a great personal pleasure to present the 2014 Special VERA Award to Dr. Lucille Rubin.