Ralph L. Shelton
- M.S. University of Utah, 1956. 1956-1957 worked as a speech therapist in the U of Utah speech clinic; paid by the Easter Seal Society.
- Ph.D. University of Utah, 1959. Principal advisors: Boyd V. Sheets, Ph.D. and James F. Bosma, M.D.
- Assistant professor to professor--University of Kansas Medical Center, 1959-1970. Duties included teaching, therapy, and research. Research at K.U. and at the University of Arizona was supported by the National Institute of Dental Research (NIDR). While at K.U. Shelton served as a consultant to the Oral and Pharyngeal Development and Function Section of NIDR and also worked at Haskins Laboratories in NYC.
- Since 1970, Shelton has been a professor in the Speech and Hearing Department at the University of Arizona.
- Shelton now is a Professor Emeritus of the Speech, Language, and Hearing Department.
His research emphasized cinefluorographic study of the velopharyngeal mechanism and evaluation of therapies directed to velopharyngeal function and to sound system disorders. He served as editor of the Journal of Speech and Hearing Disorders and of The Cleft Palate Journal. He was president of the American Cleft Palate-Craniofacial Association. His scholarship continues to focus on treatment of unintelligible children and its research evaluation. He was the 1996 recipient of the Honors of the American Speech Language Hearing Association.
