Freeman E. McConnell received both his B.S. and M.A. degrees from the University of Illinois in 1939 and 1946, respectively. He received his Ph.D. from Northwestern University in 1950. Joining the Vanderbilt medical faculty in 1963, McConnell conceived and designed the Bill Wilkerson Hearing and Speech Center, one of the first such facilities built in the United States. He was primarily responsible for the Tennessee law providing preschool education for deaf children. For over twenty years, McConnell was Director of the Division of Hearing and Speech Sciences. He received the highest honor of the American Speech and Hearing Association, has published more than sixty articles, and is the author of several textbooks. McConnell was named professor emeritus in 1979.