Editors’ Note: This feature appears as it was published in the summer 2021 edition of UT Dallas Magazine. Titles or faculty members listed may have changed since that time.
Dr. Kenneth Altshuler, a longtime supporter of the UT Dallas Callier Center for Communication Disorders, died Jan. 6, 2021, at the age of 91. Early in his career, Altshuler developed a widely used mental health model for those with hearing loss and hearing impairment that impacted the field of psychiatry.
Altshuler was a board member of the Foundation for the Callier Center and Communication Disorders when he and his wife, Ruth, provided the inspiration and initial gift to start the Callier Care Fund, which is used to assist patients who experience financial barriers to accessing needed speech and hearing services. Ruth Collins Sharp Altshuler, who also was a Callier Center supporter, died in 2017.
“Because of the Altshulers’ generosity, patients at Callier are able to access diagnostic and therapeutic services that can help them communicate with their family and friends and participate more fully in opportunities presented to them,” said Angela Shoup BS’89, MS’92, PhD’94, the Ludwig A. Michael, MD, Callier Center Executive Director.
The center in 2012 began awarding the Ruth and Ken Altshuler Callier Care Award to individuals or groups who contribute significantly to the betterment of the community and to advancing the care of patients with communication disorders. The Altshulers were the first recipients of the award.
In 2018 a clinical wing inside the Callier Center Richardson Addition was named the Altshuler Wing, in honor of the couple who had contributed so much to the center. Altshuler served on the UT Southwestern Medical Center faculty for 42 years — 23 of them as chairman of psychiatry.
-Phil Roth
