Patrice Speeter Beddor

Patrice Speeter Beddor is the John C. Catford Collegiate Professor of Linguistics at the University of Michigan's Department of Linguistics, housed within the College of Literature, Science, and the Arts (LSA). She holds a Ph.D. from the University of Minnesota (1982). Her research focuses on the interplay between speech production, perception, and sound change, particularly examining how coarticulation influences linguistic communication and innovation.

Beddor has served as department chair, editor of the Journal of Phonetics, and member of the International Phonetic Association Permanent Council. She contributes to interdisciplinary initiatives, including the Weinberg Institute for Cognitive Science Executive Committee and former work on LSA's cognitive science major task force.

Her teaching spans phonetics, speech perception, and sound change at both undergraduate and graduate levels. She has advised notable PhD students now at institutions like Virginia Tech, University of British Columbia, and Radboud University. Her lab investigates individual differences in speech production-perception dynamics and their sociolinguistic implications.