Dr. Barbara Lerner Kurman, a 1978 alum of our audiology program, has donated money to the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders to support student research and travel to professional conferences. 

Dr. Kurman is the president of Northeastern Technologies Group, an audiological equipment sales company.

• Students may apply for these funds at any time during the academic year. 

• Graduate students are eligible for a one-time travel award during their program to attend a conference (amount depending on whether the student is presenting).

• Undergraduates can apply once during their program, but only if they are presenting co-authors at a conference.

• Priority for travel award requests will be given to those applicants who are authors/co-authors on presentations. 

• Students will need to save and submit receipts from their travel for reimbursement.

• Students must submit a thank you letter to Dr. Kurman that includes a brief description of how the funds were used, and it must be submitted to the department for mailing to Dr. Kurman. Students will not be reimbursed until the letter is received.

Reimbursement rules:

1. Itemized receipts must be included for all expenses.

2. Only expenses for the approved student can be included. Groups of students should request separate checks/receipts or indicate on an itemized receipt the portion belonging to each student.

3. Reimbursement for meals is limited to $50 total per day. Alcohol charges are not allowed.

4. In general, per university policy, reimbursement will only be made for reasonable travel costs. Extra charges such as seat upgrades, paying for meals included in conference registration or hotel fees, or other optional expenses will not be reimbursed, even if the approved total has not been exceeded.