Dr. Spencer earned her Bachelor of Science degree and Master of Arts degree in speech and hearing science at the University of Iowa. She then practiced in hospitals in Iowa, Idaho, Wisconsin before working as a research scientist at the University of Iowa Hospitals and Clinics Pediatric Cochlear Implant project. She completed her Ph.D. in speech and hearing science at the University of Iowa in 2006 and has over 40 peer-reviewed publications in journals such as Journal of Speech and Hearing Research, Ear and Hearing and the Journal of Deaf Studies and Deaf Education.
She was the program director of the Communication Disorders department at New Mexico State University before coming to Rocky Mountain University of Health Professions. Dr. Spencer’s area of research includes the speech, language and literacy development of children with severe to profound hearing loss. She was the Co-PI of an NIH grant with Dr. Marc Marschark at Rochester Institute of the Deaf, in Rochester N.Y., that investigated the cognitive and language underpinnings of speech, language and cognitive skills of individuals with moderate to profound hearing loss.