Ryan Lee-James, PhD, CCC-SLP

Vice President for Speech-Language Pathology Practice

Dr. Ryan Lee-James is a speech-language pathologist and researcher with expertise in language development, language disorders, and reading disabilities with emphasis on African American English and other nonmainstream dialects. Her rigorous academic training prepared her to chart her own course. Having worked as a research assistant on National Institutes of Health (NIH)–funded grants during her doctoral program under internationally recognized scholars, Dr. Lee-James was poised to be successful in a tenure-track university position. With a focus on equity in higher education and improving service delivery for students of the global majority, she spent 3 years as an assistant professor, cultivating a research program, teaching, mentoring, and innovating coursework for graduate-level, pre-service SLPs as well as serving her institution through various committees—namely, those aimed at diversity, equity, inclusion, and belonging (DEIB). Although this work was enjoyable and rewarding, Dr. Lee-James decided to transition from academia in pursuit of an opportunity to be more deeply engaged in the community.

In her current role as Chief Academic Officer and Director of the Rollins Center for Language and Literacy at the Atlanta Speech School, she develops and curates academic programming for children who have hearing loss, speech-language delays, and dyslexia. She leads the development and advancement initiatives for the school’s free, equity-based, online professional learning community, Cox Campus. Dr. Lee-James is also responsible for overseeing and designing the implementation and evaluation of large-scale, community-based projects aimed at improving language and literacy outcomes for children from birth through 3rd grade. She continues to publish, present, mentor, and consult on research projects geared toward advancing equity and dismantling inequitable systems. Her professional pursuits reflect her belief that all children will be liberated through language and literacy.