Dr. Harold Luper came to UT in 1963 to head the fledging Department of Audiology and Speech Pathology (founded, 1962), a position he held until 1986. He also became director of the Hearing and Speech Center when that entity was merged into the department in 1966. He was an internationally recognized scholar, a fellow of the American Speech-Language-Hearing Association, and leader in the profession. He authored a well-regarded book on stuttering and wrote many articles for professional journals. When he stepped down as head of the department, the Luper Endowment Fund was established to provide assistance for graduate students. He retired in 1994. In 2003 the Hearing and Speech Center Building was named the Luper-Silverstein Building, honoring the first two directors of the clinic.