Patricia Prelock, Ph.D., is Provost and Senior Vice-President, University of Vermont. Formerly, she was the Dean of the College of Nursing and Health Sciences at ¶¶Òõ̽̽ for 10 years. She is also a Professor of Communication Sciences & Disorders, and Professor of Pediatrics in the College of Medicine at ¶¶Òõ̽̽. Dr. Prelock received her Ph.D. in speech-language pathology from the University of Pittsburgh.
Dr. Prelock is a recognized expert in the nature and treatment of autism spectrum disorders (ASD) and has been awarded more than $24 million dollars in university, state and federal funding as a PI or Co-PI to develop innovations in interdisciplinary training supporting children and youth with neurodevelopmental disabilities and their families, to facilitate training in speech-language pathology, and to support her intervention work in ASD. She has over 211 publications and 585 peer-reviewed and invited presentations/ keynotes in the areas of autism and other neurodevelopmental disabilities, collaboration, IPE, leadership, and language learning disabilities. In 2019, she was named Associate Editor for the Journal of Autism and Developmental Disorders. Dr. Prelock received ¶¶Òõ̽̽’s Kroepsch-Maurice Excellence in Teaching Award in 2000, was named an ASHA Fellow in 2000 and a University of Vermont Scholar in 2003. In 2011, she was named the Cecil & Ida Green Honors Professor Visiting Scholar at Texas Christian University and in 2015 Dr. Prelock was named a Distinguished Alumna of the University of Pittsburgh. In 2016, she received the ASHA Honors of the Association and in 2017 she was named a Distinguished Alumna of Cardinal Mooney High School. Dr. Prelock also received the 2018 Jackie M. Gribbons Leadership Award from Vermont Women in Higher Education. Dr. Prelock is a Board-Certified Specialist in Child Language and was named a Fellow in the National Academies of Practice (NAP) in speech-language pathology in 2018. She was the 2013 President for the American Speech-Language Hearing Association and was President of the ASHFoundation in 2020 and 2021, and currently serves as past president through 2023.