The following university professors have agreed to serve as a panel to answer appropriately-posed questions about stuttering.

• Stephen B. Hood, is Professor and Chairperson of Speech Pathology and Audiology, and Director of the Clinic, at the University of South Alababa. He received his Ph.D. from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Steve has published in JSLHR, JFD, J.Comm.DIS and LSHSS as well as published several book chapters. He has edited four publications for the Stuttering Foundation of American. Among his many conference and convention presentations are several for the National Stuttering Association, of which he has been a member since 1978.

• Walt Manning is a professor and Associate Dean in the School of Audiology and Speech-Language Pathology at The University of Memphis where he teaches courses in fluency disorders and research methods. In 1996 he completed a text,"Clinical decision making in the diagnosis and treatment of fluency disorders," has published more than 60 articles, and has presented on many occasions to regional, national, and international meetings. He is a member of the Steering Committee of ASHA's Special Interest Division 4 [Fluency & Fluency Disorders], serves a reviewer for several journals and is currently an Associate Editor for the Journal of Fluency Disorders.

• Larry Molt is the director of the Neuroprocesses Research Laboratory and an assistant professor in the Communication Disorders Program at Auburn University. He holds a dual masters degree in speech-language pathology and audiology from the University of South Florida and Ph.D. in speech and hearing science from the University of Tennessee. Larry serves on the executive board of the International Fluency Association and as chair of the Task Force on Continuing Education for Special Interest Division 4 (Fluency Disorders) of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association. A person who stutterers himself, he entered the field of speech-language pathology in search of a more efficacious approach to treating stuttering.

• Bob Quesal is a professor at Western Illinois University, where he serves as program director. He teaches courses in fluency disorders, anatomy, and speech and hearing science. He has presented papers at regional, national, and international meetings. He has served as newsletter editor for ASHA's Special Interest Division 4 - Fluency & Fluency Disorders, since 1997. He has been listowner of the STUT-HLP listserv since June of 1993.

• Nan Bernstein Ratner, Ed.D., is Associate Professor and Chairman, Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences, University of Maryland at College Park. She holds degrees in Child Development, Speech-Language Pathology and Applied Psycholinguistics. Dr. Ratner is the editor of six volumes, and the author of more than 30 articles and 20 chapters addressing stuttering and language acquisition in children. She currently serves as Co-editor of Seminars in Speech and Language, Associate Editor of the Journal of Fluency Disorders and The American Journal of Speech-Language Pathology, and is associate coordinator of the Steering Committee for ASHA's Special Interest Division #4 (Fluency and Fluency Disorders).

• Kenneth O. St. Louis (West Virginia University, Morgantown, West Virginia), co-founder of the International Fluency Association, has carried out research in the areas of stuttering and cluttering for 25 years. He has actively collaborated with researchers, including investigators from other countries, on several large projects, e.g., a special edition of the Journal of Fluency Disorders on cluttering, is an associate editor for the Journal of Fluency Disorders, and has served on several key ASHA committees and task forces relating to specialty recognition and terminology in fluency disorders.

• Woody Starkweather received his Ph.D. in 1970 from Southern Illinois University. He is the author of over 50 articles and monographs and eight books on stuttering. His most recent book, Stuttering, with Janet Givens, was the first Speech Pathology book ever to make the "Best Academic Books of the Year" list.

• J. Scott Yaruss is an assistant professor at the University of Pittsburgh and Co-director of the Stuttering Center of Western Pennsylvania. Yaruss's research focuses on the development of stuttering in children, including analysis of linguistic and motoric factors that affect children's fluency. Yaruss also studies the evaluation of treatment outcomes for adolescents, and adults who stutter.