Yvette D. Hyter

Project Co-Director

Yvette D. Hyter, Ph.D., CCC-SLP, Associate Professor of Speech-Language Pathology at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo, has teaching and research concentrations in culturally/linguistically effective services for children and families at risk for marginalization in school systems, and the economic, political, and cultural connections between linguistic rights and language policies. As one of the founding members of the Children’s Trauma Assessment Center in Kalamazoo, Michigan, Dr. Hyter focuses on social communication skills of children affected by abuse, neglect, and prenatal alcohol exposure. In this role, Dr. Hyter develops procedures for assessing social communication skills, prepares transdisciplinary teams to serve children and families from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds, and was instrumental in the development of classroom-based intervention programs piloted in local schools. In addition to playing a major role in antiracism initiatives in Kalamazoo, Dr. Hyter serves in leadership positions on WMU and international committees addressing diversity, social justice, inclusion, and global matters. As co-director of the Cultural Connections Curriculum Development Project, her research focuses on the development of curriculum units about the consequences of globalization on literacy definitions and the implications of language policies in the U. S. Midwest and Senegal, West Africa. Dr. Hyter is the author of the following curriculum boxes: Globalization, Language and Literacy and Language Policy and Literacy, and is interested in speaking about literacy and issues of language policy in West Africa and North America. Please contact her at yvette.hyter@wmich.edu.