In 1993, Ratner was appointed Professor at the University of Maryland and served as Chairman of the Department of Hearing and Speech Sciences (1993–2014). She has established major programs at UMD including the Language-Learning Early Advantage Program (LEAP) Preschool Program, Hearing Aid Dispensing Program, and the University of Maryland Autism Research Consortium (UMARC). Ratner is a well-cited author of many research articles and book chapters, and is the co-author of A Handbook on Stuttering (6th ed) with
Oliver Bloodstein and both The Development of Language (9th ed) and Psycholinguistics (2nd ed) with
Jean Berko Gleason. Additionally, Ratner serves as the editor for academic journals including American Journal of Speech Language Pathology (Fluency) and Seminars in Speech and Language (1997–2016). She is also a member of the editorial board for Evidence-based Communication Assessment and Intervention, Journal of Fluency Disorders, and Journal of Communication Disorders. Ratner is a co-manager of FluencyBank, a TalkBank project, along with
Brian MacWhinney. FluencyBank is a corpus project that aims to strengthen research in the area of fluency development across the lifespan in both typical and disordered populations. == Awards and honors ==