About Us

To my Colorado audiology colleagues, 

I’d like to begin this message by expressing my gratitude to the Colorado Academy of Audiology (CAA) members and board of directors. It’s truly an honor to serve as CAA president and I’m excited to take this moment to reflect on our accomplishments of 2024 and outline a few of our goals for 2025.
 
Three themes defined our goals for 2024. These themes were 1) Enhancing Membership, 2) Fostering Engagement, and 3) Amplifying Advocacy. As we begin a new year, we will continue framing the initiatives of CAA around these themes. We have an ambitious agenda for 2025 with several specific initiatives that will shape the focus of CAA and hopefully, the next phase of audiology in Colorado. We plan to build on 2024’s foundation of:
1.        Enhancing Membership: For 2025 we will continue offering a significantly decreased membership fee ($24 for the year) as well as free membership for Student and Lifetime members. We saw dramatic growth in our membership this last year and hope to continue growing CAA in 2025. We recognize the importance of numbers (especially as we embark on more advocacy initiatives) as well as the importance of incorporating diverse experiences and knowledge from our members. We are also evaluating what we can do to ensure that CAA is a beneficial resource for members (more on that below). 
 
How you can take action now: Renew your membership here.
 
2.        Fostering Engagement: While growing the size of our membership has been a focus of the last year, we also want to encourage active participation from members and for members to feel engaged and informed. This year we will be providing more ways for members to get involved in CAA initiatives. We will start recruiting for the Convention Planning Committee in just a few weeks and will be recruiting for an Advocacy Committee very soon. We also plan to host more small-scale opportunities for discussion in 2025. Towards the end of 2024 we hosted a virtual coffee hour to discuss the recent BCBS Colorado changes and other insurance coverage issues. This event was inspired by a CAA member’s concern and is the perfect example of addressing an issue and sharing knowledge as a collective. We hope to host more events like this in 2025 and are interested to know about any issues or topics members would like to discuss during these events. Keep an eye on your email and our social media accounts for updates on committees and other opportunities for engagement. 
 
How you can take action now: Interested in joining the Convention Planning Committee? Email Brandon Roppel, VP of Education vpofeducation@coaudiology.org. Interested in joining the Advocacy Committee? Email Kelly Hanscom, VP of Professional Issues vpofprofession@coaudiology.org. Do you know of an issue or have a topic for a coffee hour? Email me, Emily Lundberg, at president@coaudiology.org. Follow us on Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
 
3.        Amplifying Advocacy: 2024 was an inspiring year for us as Jana Brown, AuD, shared the story of the Maryland Academy of Audiology modernizing audiology in their state in her keynote speech at the CAA Convention. Many of our members expressed an interest and passion in modernizing audiology in Colorado (the exact definition of how we want to modernize will be a topic of discussion at our spring social event – stay tuned for more details). The board of directors is currently working behind the scenes to see what this would mean for us in Colorado, and as I said, we hope to make this a larger discussion at a social event in the spring. We are also staying aware of other issues which may be affecting members such as the BCBS Colorado insurance coverage, newborn hearing screening concerns, and the freeze of the NIH. We are working on some letter writing campaigns for several of these issues and will be in touch with membership as these efforts evolve. These initiatives will require active engagement, and we are excited to pursue these right now while our membership is energized and passionate about these issues. 
 
How you can take action now: Interested in joining the Advocacy Committee? Email Kelly Hanscom, VP of Professional Issues at vpofprofession@coaudiology.org. Do you know of an issue affecting audiology in Colorado? Email me, Emily Lundberg, at president@coaudiology.org and/or Kelly Hanscom, VP of Professional Issues at vpofprofession@coaudiology.org.
 
As we embark on these goals for 2025, I want to embody a mindset of ‘growth’. Using this growth mindset, we will embrace challenges as opportunities, persist through setbacks, and find inspiration from our members, recognizing the value of our collective knowledge and experience. Growth isn’t always easy, and certain milestones can feel harder to reach than others. Through the collaboration of our members, I feel confident that by working toward these goals, our growth as an organization and profession will move forward as well. The CAA board encourages you to get involved, share your knowledge and experience, and join us as we shape the future of audiology in Colorado!
 
Please always feel free to reach out with your ideas, questions, and concerns. 
 
Emily Lundberg, Au.D., Ph.D., CCC-A
President, Colorado Academy of Audiology