Bolivar’s Maddy Piefer Receives Inaugural Rural Tennessee Speech Language Pathologists Scholarship
MEMPHIS, Tenn. – First-year graduate student Maddy Piefer is forging new pathways for the University of Memphis School of Communication Sciences and Disorders (CSD) in a way that will benefit rural Tennessee communities. This year, she became the first recipient of the inaugural Rural TN Speech Language Pathologists Scholarship.
“This grant has reinvigorated my sense of purpose,” said Piefer. “It reminds me that I’m not just earning a degree; I’m preparing to return to communities like my own, fully equipped to make a difference.”
Piefer is a Bolivar, Tennessee native and she added, “a proud product of the Hardeman County Schools.” She saw first-hand the challenges rural school districts face when it came to accessing speech language pathology (SLP) services. She’s not alone in that view. CSD reports roughly 50 percent of Tennessee school districts experience shortages in SLPs. It was for this reason, among others, that the college applied for a grant through the Tennessee Department of Education (TDOE) and was awarded $1.3 million in funding.
“I applied because it aligned perfectly with my personal mission — to help close the gap in service access and make a meaningful impact in the places that shaped me,” said Piefer.
Katherine Mendez, CSD’s co-director of SLP Clinical Education said, “(Piefer) stands out as a particularly capable, engaged and dedicated student. Her lived experience growing up in rural Tennessee has provided her with a deep understanding of the realities of these communities as well as meaningful relationships with important stakeholders, including parents, children, educators and community leaders.”
Rural assistance is a caveat to this scholarship. Upon completion of her master’s program, Piefer will serve a two-year commitment to a rural Tennessee district.
“If the door were to open for me to work or even complete my two-year requirement for the scholarship in my home school district, I would love that,” said Piefer. “However, there are so many rural districts like Hardeman County that I would be lucky to serve in West Tennessee.”
Piefer graduated with her bachelor’s degree in Applied Linguistics from Union University in May of 2024 and chose Memphis because of its faster path to a master’s. She is on course to graduate in May of 2026.
In total, five students will receive scholarships. Four will be in the Master of Speech Language Pathology (MA-SLP) and a fifth student will be in the soon-to-be-created online SLP-A (assistant) certification program, slated to start in 2026. SLP-As have become an effective way for rural districts to fill the SLP gap. This grant funds a four-year period, and CSD Dean Dr. Linda Jarmulowicz said, “We would happily resubmit another application.”
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