Gallaudet Today Magazine | Spring/Summer 2022

MAGAZINE

SPRING/SUMMER 2022

GALLAUDET

MAKES DEBATE HISTORY

Aubrey Moorman and Lexi Hill For the first time ever, a team using ASL and English participated in the annual Social Justice Debates at Morehouse College

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ART AS A POLITICAL STATEMENT

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BOOSTING STUDENTS’ CAREERS THOUGH NUMBERS

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TRANSFORMING GALLAUDET’S WORKFORCE

DANCING into

SUMMER

Gallaudet Dance Company marks 67 years, honors retiring director

The Gallaudet Dance Company presented “Memories and New Beginnings: Celebrating 67 Years of Dance” on March 25 and 26. Current and alumni dancers honored Susan Gill-Doleac, ’82 & G-’84, on her retirement. The company, founded in 1955 by the late Peter Wisher, performs in a variety of styles, including jazz, hip-hop, modern, and lyrical ballet, using American Sign Language as its foundation.

Kristin Ostgaard Gill, ’93 & G-’97 Tara Miles, ’97, G-’01, & G-’15 Shaina Seideneck, G-’18

EDITORIAL AND DISTRIBUTION

Gallaudet Today Magazine contains news and information for the signing community, including alumni and friends of Gallaudet University.

Executive Editor Bryce Chapman, E-’04

PRESIDENT

Staff Writers Brandi Rarus Nikolya Sereda, ’19 Robert B. Weinstock, ’77 & G-’83

Roberta J. Cordano DEVELOPMENT AND ALUMNI RELATIONS Executive Director, Institutional Advancement Nicholas Gould, ’09 Director, Alumni Relations Rebecca Rydstrom, ’02 UNIVERSITY COMMUNICATIONS Chief Communications and Admissions Officer Brandi Rarus Executive Director of Marketing and Experience Bryce H. Chapman, E-’04 Director, Public, Media, and Community Relations Robert B. Weinstock, ’77 & G-’83 Director, Internal Communications Elise Nye, ’94

Editor-in-Chief Robert B. Weinstock, ’77 & G-’83

Contributing Writers Derrick Behm-Josa, ’12 Michelle Gerson-Wagner Caleb Robinson Artists and Designers Bilal Chinoy, ’07 Meeya Tjiang Kerri Clark Matt Daigle, G-’19 Photographers Bilal Chinoy, ’07 Meeya Tjiang Sarah Goolishian Kerri Clark Javier Tabares, ’16 Teddy Dorsette III Christopher Johnson, G-’19 Nikolya Sereda, ’19

LOVE THIS PUBLICATION?

This twice-yearly publication is sent to all GUAA Life Members, and is available by annual subscription to non-members: $15 in the United States, $25 internationally.

To subscribe, send a check or money order with your full name and address to Gallaudet University, Office of University Communications, 800 Florida Avenue NE, Washington, DC 20002 USA. To subscribe to Gallaudet University news and stories, visit gallaudet.edu/subscribe.

IN THIS ISSUE

GALLAUDET TODAY MAGAZINE

Deafenstein: Theatre-making in a Pandemic

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Writing and directing a play is a challenge in itself. To do so during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic took enormous creativity, great fortitude, and sheer determination. Read how Anna Wood-Jacobowitz, ’21, and her team of actors, readers, and creative talents made Deafenstein into a critically acclaimed production.

The Gallaudet Debate Team Wins Minds and Hearts at Morehouse College Students Aubrey Moorman and Lexi Hill advanced to the quarterfinal round in the annual Social Justice Debates held in March 2022 at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia. They each won two individual awards as Gallaudet affirmed its status as a force to be reckoned with in the collegiate debate community.

Research at the Intersection of Ethics and Care: An Interview with Dr. Poorna Kushalnagar Dr. Poorna Kushalnagar ’93, has instituted a strong research infrastructure, including support for faculty, student, and staff initiatives. This article describes her work to elevate the university’s research profile and expand its reach beyond the university’s traditional areas of scholarly inquiry.

Celebrating the Class of 2022: “Lead with Your Values”

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Nearly 400 students received their degrees during the first in-person commencement ceremony since 2019, held May 13, 2022. Apple CEO Tim Cook, Deaf actress Lauren Teruel Ridloff, and Boston University professor Naomi Caselli addressed the graduates. Ridloff and pioneering linguistics researchers Dorothy Chiyoko Sueoka Casterline and Carl-Gusaf A. O. Croneberg were awarded honorary degrees.

GIVING AT GALLAUDET Gallaudet University makes a significant impact on the lives of students, from making friends and meaningful connections, to learning and academic growth, to internship and job opportunities, and even to living in vibrant, exciting Washington D.C. When you make a gift to the University, you join thousands of alumni, parents, friends, students, faculty, and staff who support Gallaudet University each year.

ALUMNI OBITUARIES With our deepest sympathies, we note the passing of our Gallaudet University alumni.

Read the full list on our website.

Donate today at gu.live/donate

Visit Gallaudet’s Obituaries webpage: gu.live/obituaries

LETTER FROM THE PRESIDENT

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Dear GALLAUDET TODAY READERS, While the Gallaudet campus is always incredible, the spring and summer months are a special time.

The many trees, including our beloved cherry blossoms, bloom with a variety of colors and fill the air with a delightful fragrance. Students emerge from their dorms to bask in the sunshine on the mall, and there is a sense of anticipation as the end of the semester, and graduation, nears. The transformation this year from winter to spring was especially energizing, as it was our first full spring semester held on campus since 2019.

As I shared in my State of the University address (details on page 10), Gallaudet has made continued progress on our path to becoming, including with our belonging and equity imperative and with critical investments to maintain our momentum in transforming Gallaudet. We have achieved many of our goals, with much more to come. The Gallaudet Promise, strategic vision, is our roadmap, guiding us as we build a better future. It is a very exciting time to be a Bison!

From Data Science to Deafenstein, this issue highlights some of the many contributions our Gallaudet students, faculty, staff, and alumni are making in a variety of fields. As change agents, the leadership, innovation, and ideas coming from the Gallaudet community continue at an exponential pace and it is thrilling to experience.

Art, in particular, plays a critical role in our community. It provides an essential medium, often visually-based, to showcase the Deaf experience in compelling and dynamic ways.

The creativity and exploration we see by deaf and hard of hearing artists in a variety of mediums are powerful and several are profiled in this issue.

As we head into the summer months, I encourage all of us to take a moment for reflection on these last two years: to ponder on our experiences—our grief, our challenges, our adaptation, our successes— and remember what we have learned. Please express and document it somehow via video, photos, writing, or your preferred medium.

It is so important to preserve our stories and experiences, especially for our future generations who may appreciate what it was like to survive this unique time in history.

I am so deeply proud of this community. Thank you for all that you do to represent the Bison spirit, wherever you are and wherever you go.

With gratitude,

Roberta J. Cordano President

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THE

BUFF & BLUE SPIRIT LIVES ON!

Support Gallaudet University and the future of the deaf and signing community, with our diverse programs offering a unique and wide range of opportunities for success.

Donate to Gallaudet University today! gu.live/donate

GRADUATING FROM QUARANTINE

GRADUATING FROM QUARANTINE

By Michelle Gerson-Wagner

When Gallaudet University joined the ranks of other universities welcoming their students into a two-week campus quarantine following winter break, Student Affairs knew they had quite the task ahead of them: How do we maintain the quality of our programming when students are confined to the safety of their rooms? With the surge of COVID-19 cases due to the omicron variant and the need to protect the Gallaudet community, the quarantine rules were firm and options were limited.

Health and Wellness Programs, Student Accountability and Restorative Practices, Counseling and Psychological Services, Student Engagement and Leadership, Residence Life and Housing, and Athletics— all units of Student Affairs—banded together and brainstormed, not stopping until we had developed a list of engaging activities that aimed to keep bodies moving and morale up, and instill a sense of community and pride amongst everyone on campus.

So, we got real creative.

Activities included Zoom fitness classes with esteemed fitness trainer Jason Coleman, ’08, of JC Sports Performance and Zoom yoga sessions with Raymonda Azrelyant, ’05, and Keri Brooks, E-’01. There were also contests (with great prizes!) for best decorated dorm windows and best photo submissions of a bison plushie.

And lastly, there were pop-up giveaways nearly every day: hot chocolate bombs and hand warmers to combat the blustery winter, comfort found in savory naan bread and samosas, Insomnia cookies, and blue bagels, and selfcare items such as buff and blue soap-ona-rope and a bison “beanie baby” to cuddle with! The quarantine ended with a Gallaudet University sticker giveaway and raffle for an Apple Watch and Apple TV.

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Needless to say, we came out on the other side and kicked off a great semester!

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REFLECTING AND RISING: STATE OF THE UNIVERSITY

Watch SOTU 2022 livestream gu.live/sotu2022

President Cordano reflects on the student experience and how we plan to transform it.

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REFLECTING

and RISING

STATE of the

UNIVERSITY

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During this year’s State of the University address, President Cordano took the time to recognize how far we have come since 2020 and shared her vision for Gallaudet University moving forward.

In the presentation, a wide variety of achievements and milestones were celebrated. The mantra of “Adapt, Balance, Compassion” was reiterated, and its impact was reflected in the monumental strides our community has made.

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REFLECTING AND RISING: STATE OF THE UNIVERSITY

This lighting technician, high up above the Elstad Auditorium stage, is one of the many people who worked to ensure the success of the State of the University address.

President Cordano engages with students following her address.

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Students pose with President Cordano after the State of the University address.

President Cordano reiterates the key words that have sustained us through the last two years: Adapt. Balance.

Compassion.

President Cordano provides an update on The Gallaudet Promise, our ten-year strategic vision.

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NEW DATA SCIENCE MINOR: BOOSTING STUDENTS’ CAREERS THROUGH NUMBERS

NEW DATA SCIENCE MINOR

BOOSTING STUDENTS’ CAREERS THROUGH NUMBERS

By Caleb Robinson

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Millions of people have given their own information to major social networks to take part in the engine that makes the world buzz.

Birthdays, Social Security numbers, hobbies, interests, friend networks, political beliefs–all of that information has been freely given to tech giants in order to use their products.

Though the ramifications of all this data usage are significant, the exponential growth in technology has also opened up huge possibilities and important conversations in data. Computers today can take in large sets of data, but what does this mean? How can we best understand, analyze, and maximize these large sets of data? What does it mean to be a data scientist?

Tomorrow’s leaders in data science are learning the answers to those questions today, right here at Gallaudet University, thanks to a new minor now being offered in the field. The data science minor was created in response to the growing demand for data scientists. According to industry sources, there has been about a 480% surge in demand, and there are currently over 10,000 job openings. Data scientist positions typically have a base salary of $100,000 or more. “[We] have to learn to harness it,” said program director Dr. Caroline Solomon. “In the midst of the Data Revolution, Gallaudet students can be part of tomorrow’s efforts to harness said data.”

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Despite being strongly linked to STAMP, the Data Science minor is in fact a stand-alone minor. It does not need to be connected with a major, for anyone can can take deep dive into the rapidly growing world of data science.

Learn more about the new Data Science minor! gu.live/DataScienceMinor

If you need to be convinced to enter the world of Data Science, consider how Amazon picks out suggestions for you.

Consider how Netflix suggests what to watch on a Friday night. Even better, consider how the COVID-19 pandemic has used genetic sequencing to potentially find better treatment options. Dr. Guarav Arora encourages students to give the Data Visualization course a try, as it directly addresses these everyday questions, and gives you a foot in the door.

Faculty member Jannelle Legg’s dissertation on deaf church missions across America in the late 19th century is a great example of data science in a qualitative context in a field one might not think is likely to yield a lot of data. She initially hypothesized that deaf churches had a possible relationship with the location of deaf schools. The fact is that there was a lot of data: parish records, missionary reports, and newspaper articles.

She then needed to combine those records to learn where signed Protestant Episcopal services were offered.

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NEW DATA SCIENCE MINOR: BOOSTING STUDENTS’ CAREERS THROUGH NUMBERS

Dr. Legg discovered that these signed services expanded over a 30-year period between 1850 and 1880. That discovery gave Dr. Legg what she needed to find other possible factors in the expansion of deaf churches; in every data point, there lies a story. She was able to reach a solid conclusion by visually comparing the data set for the deaf missions to the expansion of railroad transport across the continent. This goes to show that data science is not just for math nerds; history majors and more can benefit from this skill set.

“In the midst of the Data Revolution, Gallaudet students can be part of tomorrow’s efforts to harness said data.”

- Dr. Caroline Solomon, Director

School of Science, Technology, Accessibility, Mathematics, and Public Health

Emelia Beldon, ’22 Data Science minor student Emelia Beldon’s project shows another way data science can be used to understand social issues; it hits a little close to home, 16

addressing the essential question of diversity at Gallaudet University. She sought to answer the question: Are we diverse enough? Is there more to be done?

Beldon analyzed data gathered from 122 other institutions in the U.S. They needed to be comparable to Gallaudet and offer doctoral degrees. She found that Gallaudet ranked 42nd out of 122. According to Beldon, this means that if you selected two random people at Gallaudet 100 times, 58 of those times would yield two people from different racial backgrounds.

Molly Feanny, ’22 These may seem to be just numbers, but as fellow Data Science student Molly Feanny shared, “These data analyses can reveal stories, and may also answer lingering questions. The goal for data scientists is to communicate the wealth of data around us, and to make sense of it.”

Feanny’s work as a Data Science minor emphasizes those stories that can now be uncovered through the analysis of large amounts of data. One of her projects examined post-college outcomes for women older than 25 in the U.S. and analyzed differences in outcome between citizens and noncitizens.

Feanny was able to find differences that suggested that female noncitizens must navigate a very different world of

expectations and bureaucratic requirements than female citizens. One possible conclusion, according to Feanny, is that the immigration system in the U.S. rewards more immediate employment, discouraging female noncitizens from pursuing a degree.

This goes to show that data science is not just for math nerds; history majors and more can benefit from this skill set.

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Data is not simply numbers; those numbers describe living and breathing human beings and all of their deeds, in the past, present, and future. Gallaudet’s newly established minor empowers students to not just play with numbers but also tell stories that matter. This is true across a broad range of disciplines. Data is everywhere around us, and Gallaudet welcomes tomorrow’s leaders to make sense of this data-filled world. Are you next?

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VICTORIA “LUCE” LEBLANC FUND

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Victoria “Luce” LeBlanc Fund AN ENDOWMENT FOR THESPIANS of the FUTURE

By Derrick Behm-Josa

When Victoria “Luce” LeBlanc was 14 years old, a TV news station covered her experience as a Deaf ballet dancer taking the Royal Academy of Dance examination. Victoria told them that she hoped other Deaf people would see her and think, “If she can do it, then so can I.”

camp for the deaf in Sedona called SouthWest Arts in Action. She attended this summer camp for three years in a row, sharing company with Chuck Baird, Troy Kotsur, E-’92, and other talented creators. She was always involved in something.

With theater and the arts in her blood, Victoria loved telling stories that allowed her to get creative. She was always reading, attending art museums and Deaf film festivals, and creating crafts, poetry, and plays.

Her opportunities continued at Gallaudet University where she majored in English and Theater Arts. She participated in eight productions where she worked as a stage manager, costume designer, production assistant and actor. Professors and others at Gallaudet have described her as “a force to be reckoned with,” and “phenomenal.” Or, like Dr. Brian Cheslik, ’14, a Gallaudet classmate, said, “She was a powerhouse of strength, creativity, sarcasm and quick wit.” Even those who did not get to know Victoria will remember her for her bright pink hair she sported throughout her years at Gallaudet. She might have been small, but she left an impression.

“Luce was a storyteller through and through,” said Felicia D’Amato, ’12. “I cherished and marveled at hearing her stories, and her ability to captivate and throw in a few perfect words with her extensive vocabulary, was a sight to behold. She had the funniest sense of humor and could have you laughing in stitches by the end of it. Every time I saw her at Gallaudet or at home, she had a new story to tell. She had the gift of sharing her experience in a way that was enjoyable and grabbed your attention.”

Victoria grew up with opportunities to express her creative side. Her mother, Claire LeBlanc, made sure of it. While living in Phoenix, Arizona, Victoria attended a performing and visual arts

The impact that Victoria left at Gallaudet shows how important it is to have more than “representation.” It is about being a part of a community of shared passions and dreams.

Even when she was 14 years old, Victoria didn’t want to represent the Deaf community, she 19

VICTORIA “LUCE” LEBLANC

wanted to inspire her community to join her in doing what she loved. That was the force Victoria generated everywhere she went.

After graduation, Victoria followed her classmates, such as Cheslik, Sandra Mae Frank, Charlie Ainsworth, and Amelia Hensley, in seeking exciting careers in theater and entertainment. Victoria’s approach focused on local arts and theater organizations, most notably Deaf Spotlight, a nonprofit based in Seattle that inspires and showcases Deaf culture and signed languages through the arts. She also spent time advocating for social justice, especially with women and DeafBlind communities. It was also in Seattle that she was known as “Luce.”

In October of 2018, after battling a rare lung disease, Victoria passed away. The loss of a valued community member is always painful, but Victoria’s absence was felt all the more keenly for her presence in life. Professors Jill Bradbury (English) and Ethan Sinnott (Theater), and Victoria’s mother Claire agreed that one of the many ways they could remember Victoria was through a memorial scholarship. “I immediately understood that the scholarship was a beautiful way of honoring my daughter because it would be paying forward Victoria’s service to the Deaf community,” Claire said. “She will always live on.”

Today, LuceOurLight.org is a virtual hub for arts, performance. and theater that does more than raising funds for the memorial scholarship, which will benefit students majoring in English and/or Theater. The site functions as a resource for people interested in Deaf arts and theater, and people can connect with Danica Alexander, the head librarian for Luce Our Light.

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Everything on the website is created by Deaf artists and graphic designers.

The memorial scholarship is still raising funds before it becomes fully endowed. Please consider donating to support future students and their studies in the English and Theater programs at Gallaudet.

Learn about Luce Our Light gu.live/AboutLuce

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ART AS A POLITICAL STATEMENT Biology Student Creates Artwork Inspired by Artist Oree Originol

By Nikolya Sereda

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ART AS A POLITICAL STATEMENT

As George Orwell once said, “The opinion that art should have nothing to do with politics is itself a political attitude.” Art is one of the most conducive mediums for carrying powerful messages; through their academic work, Gallaudet University students have opportunities to use the power of art to learn how to express their stance in an ever-changing world.

Mbisana Kgakgamatso, a senior from Tutume, a village in Botswana, took faculty member Amy Stevens’ summer course, GSR 300: Art of Protest. During this course, Stevens taught her students about the medium of art and how to channel important political and social messages through various creative outlets.

One of the examples Stevens presented to her students was the work of artist Oree Originol, as his work was on display at the Smithsonian Museum of American Art at the time. One piece, Justice for Our Lives, spotlighted the victims of police brutality and brought awareness to the many instances of police brutality that occur across our country every day, especially towards marginalized communities. Originol wanted to honor victims of social injustice and create a space for communal grieving.

Learn more about Oree Originol’s Justice For Our Lives gu.live/JusticeForOurLives 24

Kgakgamatso, inspired by Originol’s work, created his own interpretation of Originol’s mission. In Kgakgamatso’s work, he shifted the focus to deaf and hard of hearing victims of police brutality. Kgakgamatso researched people in the Deaf community who have experienced violence under similar circumstances. He incorporated the color palette from the well-known protest artwork, We Came, We Saw, We Conquered, by Deaf artist Nancy Rourke. Her work, in turn, was inspired by Francisco Goya’s The Third of May, 1808. Kgakgamatso’s posters draw a direct line from Goya’s freedom fighter with his hands up that echo the refrain, “Hands Up. Don’t Shoot!”

Originol’s mission was to create an ongoing, online, and public social justice art movement.

Kgakgamatso has done just that with a deaf lens. Professor Stevens shared Kgakgamatso’s posters with the Smithsonian Museum of American Art. Stevens also arranged a Zoom meeting between Kgakgamatso and Originol. During

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We Came, We Saw, We Conquered (2010) by Nancy Rourke, oil on canvas Inspired by The Third of May 1808 painting (pictured below)

by Spanish painter Francisco Goya

the meeting, on September 29, Originol said that he was touched by Kgakgamatso’s artwork. He expressed his passion about social justice issues, spoke passionately about the discrimination and violence that black- and brown-skinned individuals face in American society, and how he wanted to be able to exist on this Earth as a human being.

Pervasive issues such as racism and police brutality create the need for more activism, said Originol—and he saw Kgakgamatso’s work as a prime example of this activism expressed through art.

Kgakgamatso is a biology major, and Stevens was neither his academic advisor nor his major coordinator. Nonetheless, she made sure that this connection happened and that it was successful. At Gallaudet University, students can explore interdisciplinary studies and express themselves through creative mediums, not only creating change on a local level but taking steps toward change on a wider scale.

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DEAFENSTEIN: THEATRE-MAKING IN A PANDEMIC

Theatre-making in a Pandemic

By Nikolya Sereda

A large part of being an artist is embracing the arduous process of birthing an idea and bringing it to fruition. Once the idea comes to life, the feeling is unparalleled.

Anna Wood-Jacobowitz, ’21, a Theatre Arts major, had the opportunity to see the growth with her original play, Deafenstein.

Deafenstein follows two deaf sisters, Danielle and Gabrielle, as they produce a film inspired by their favorite childhood tale, Frankenstein, but are faced with their division by language and identity.

Expecting a story based in truth and history, Gabrielle is shocked when Danielle unveils her dark interpretation of the mad scientist and his creation, the Creature, and his fiancee Mabel. Ultimately, the sisters navigate healing from their community’s traumas, as well as their own.

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The fantastical beginnings of the play was workshopped and streamed for public view starting on Halloween 2021, and running throughout November including an extended run in early December.

However, the cast was filmed in May, while students were still in remote learning. How was this possible? How did the Gallaudet University Theatre and Dance Program pull off a theater production in the middle of a pandemic? Well, we had to work a little harder.

Following strict safety protocols, a team of students, faculty, and guest artists were able to rehearse and film several performances of selected scenes from Deafenstein. The cohort, a total of 19 people, met for the first time on April 25, 2021.

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DEAFENSTEIN: THEATRE-MAKING IN A PANDEMIC

Their stay from April 25 to May 31 was an eventful one. With stages empty and cast members not allowed to physically interact with one another, it was interesting working around the mandates. Theater is a largely visual medium, with the audience experiencing the story as the play unfolds. The pandemic had different ideas, limiting the cast’s interactions with one another.

Students had the rare opportunity to cohabit on a quiet, pristine campus. Only a handful of other community members were living on campus at the time, for various programs and cohorts.

The show was streamed from October 31 to November 15. Due to popular demand, there was an extended run from December 1-5.

Where did Deafenstein all begin? The story goes way back.

Growing up in Maryland with two mothers, one deaf and one hearing, Wood-Jacobowitz was exposed to the various sides of our world and society, oscillating between understanding the deaf experience and analyzing hearing perspectives on the Deaf community and American Sign Language. Throughout high school, she shared “I read Frankenstein in class, and always had ideas about expressing Deaf culture and Deaf experience in the medium of a modern play, but the connection between the two became stronger for me recently.”

Deafenstein was born in the year of 2020, when the concept was pitched to the National Theatre of the Deaf (NTD) for their open call for mainstage production proposals, though the playwright shared that the concept had been percolating through in her head since high school. NTD selected Deafenstein and hired 28

Nikolya Sereda, ‘19, as the Theatre Producing Director to lead the production.

Learn more about the National Theatre of the Deaf! gu.live/NatlTheatreDeaf

The play was selected for a variety of reasons, but mostly because it discussed topics impacting the deaf and hard of hearing community, presented for the audience’s contemplation. Not only does Danielle, the main character, struggle with language deprivation, but she also faces division within her own family, as her sister conforms to their hearing uncle’s expectations and notions of what a deaf person should look like and what a deaf person should do.

Originally the play was slated to debut at Oiol Festival, a brand new festival stemming from the Festival Clin d’Oeil that originated in France.

The goal was to launch Oiol as its first festival in the Americas, but as February of 2020 rolled around, the global pandemic had different ideas.

However, before the pandemic hit, a few things happened that kickstarted the development of the Deafenstein journey. Under the guidance of Theatre Arts professor Annie Wiegand, Wood-Jacobowitz quickly moved forward with a staged reading with her peers.

Additionally, a photo shoot was conducted with photographer Gideon Samara, model and student Smiles Russell, and makeup artist and student Emily Kiefer. Thankfully, this impactful show art was able to sustain the Deafenstein presence and visibility throughout

the pandemic. Ironically, Wood-Jacobowitz herself admits that she loves that original photo so much, it bypasses any version or iteration of the same image that she and the team had tried to recreate.

Weigand continued as Wood-Jacobwitz’s mentor throughout this process.

Even with theaters closed and people physically separated by COVID mandates, the National Theater of the Deaf pulled together 29

DEAFENSTEIN: THEATRE-MAKING IN A PANDEMIC

An Embryonic Concept This staged reading, which took place in an Elstad Annex classroom, may have been small but its impact was mighty.

Daniel Sara Moore, ’14

Stage Descriptions/Doctor Gideon Firl, ’20

Gabriel Jakiya Murphy

Watson Gabriel Romanaskus

Mabel Allison Friedman

Creature Caroline Suggs, ’13 & G-’14

incredibly talented Deaf artists for a virtual workshop, directed by Alexandria Wailes, the NTD Board Vice President.

Maturing to Infancy Despite the limitations of the COVID pandemic, Deafenstein was still brought to life by talented Deaf artists, relying on their strong visual sense and performance skills through Zoom.

READERS Daniel Allison Friedman

Doctor/Uncle Andrew Morrill, ’16

Gabriel Sara Moore, ’14

Watson Phelan Conheady

Creature Chella Man

Mabel Lauren Ridloff, H-’22

CREATIVE TEAM Director Alexandria Wailes

Dramaturg Monique Holt, E-’07

Playwright Anna WoodJacobowitz, ’21

Stage Manager Nikolya Sereda, ’19

Consultant Annie Wiegand, E-’99

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Filmed in a remote cabin in Maine during the height of the pandemic, the hard-working creative team collaborated with the readers to bring the possibilities of Deafenstein off the page and closer to life. Three weeks were spent rehearsing with the cast, reviewing scenes, and adjusting lines based on feedback from a creative team of professional theater artists and a cast of skilled readers.

The virtual workshop, a smashing success, was recorded and streamed during a private fundraising event in December of 2020, where supporters and friends of NTD contributed to an impressive total of $6,000 for the next iteration of the production.

While the virtual workshop was a great step forward in the growth of Deafenstein, there was still a major itch to see it on stage. As a playwright, it can be difficult to envision the story without seeing it in action.

Luckily, during this global shift in the theater industry, the National Theatre of the Deaf, the Gallaudet University Theatre Arts and Dance Program, and Connecticut Deaf Theatre came together to discuss how they could work together to sustain Wood-Jacobowitz’s work on Deafenstein. In the fall of 2020, the concept of a bubble workshop was proposed, with the idea of inviting Gallaudet students, faculty, staff, and guest artists to live on campus for five weeks to rehearse and film a staged workshop of Deafenstein, and the rest is history.

“No words can describe how grateful I am that Gallaudet supported the growth of Deafenstein.

This was able to happen because of a group of talented deaf artists and their belief in the Deaf community,” said Wood-Jacobowitz.

Currently, she works as a Performing Arts Specialist at the Model Secondary School for the Deaf. She said that Wiegand’s mentorship “empowered [her],” inspiring her in turn to “empower a new generation of artists and students.” She aims to bring the MSSD Performing Arts program into the next generation, and is always thinking about new projects.

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Wood-Jacobowitz is also always thinking about the next story she wants to tell. One of the concepts she is entertaining is an expansion of Deafenstein into a series, with the next installment titled Weredeaf, inspired by classic werewolf tales.

“My studies taught me to be passionate, encouraged, and prepared. The work to do on Deafenstein is endless and so is my journey as a playwright!” said Wood-Jacobowitz.

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DEAFENSTEIN: THEATRE-MAKING IN A PANDEMIC

Deafenstein is Born!

After lifting the story off the page and revising further, Deafenstein graced the stage in April of 2021 thanks to a dedicated cohort at Gallaudet University.

CAST Danielle Kimberly Gonzalez Gabrielle Sharon Castillo, ’22 Creature Anna Wood-Jacobowitz, ’21

Doctor/Uncle Gabriel Romanauskas, Class of 2021 Watson Jazie Perry Mabel Emily Johnson, ’22

ENSEMBLE/INTERNS Ana Avalos, ’21 Jalena Cochran, ’21

Bryant Gonzalez, Class of 2024 Maryah Arzola, Class of 2024

CREATIVE TEAM Director/Playwright Anna Wood-Jacobowitz, ’21 Associate Director/ Choreographer Alexandria Wailes Lighting Designer/ GU Faculty Liaison Annie Wiegand, E-’99

NTD Theatre Producing Director/ Costume Designer Nikolya Sereda, ’19 Editor Chase Chambers Sound Designer Tosin Olufolabi

Intimacy Director Bethany Gehman, ’12

Projection Artist Daxter Slater

Stage Manager Kala Granger, ’16

Projection Artist Awet Moges

Film Director Jules Dameron, ’03

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REDEFINING THE FUTURE OF DEAF LEARNERS

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REDEFINING the FUTURE of

DEAF LEARNERS Doctorate in Critical Studies in the Education of Deaf Learners Program Reopens

By Nikolya Sereda

Lifelong learning is one of the core values of Gallaudet University. Because of this, the institution has always seen a need for qualified, committed educators for deaf students of all ages, from infancy to adulthood. Now, with the reopening of the Doctorate in Critical Studies in the Education of Deaf Learners (CSEDL) program at Gallaudet University, a path to improving deaf education has become more clear.

All Education faculty at Gallaudet are committed to overseeing various levels of education students, ranging from undergraduate to postdoctoral. However, CSEDL was closed in 2013 for reasons ranging from the many commitments made by program faculty to service, research, and instruction, and to necessary improvements that needed to be made to the program. After the closure, the faculty worked with approximately 25 students to complete their degree.

Following a curriculum review in 2019, the program was reopened virtually with eight students leading the way.

Currently, courses are being offered in a hybrid online setting, as some concentrations require face-to-face courses while others do not. New students are admitted only in the fall 35

REDEFINING THE FUTURE OF DEAF LEARNERS

semester. This fall, the program anticipates accepting five new students into the cohort.

and practice critical applications to prepare for their field and future students’ inquiring minds.

The doctoral program’s reopening featured seven concentrations and an increased focus on research and statistical applications.

The concentrations include teacher preparation, educational leadership, deaf disabled preparation, early intervention, and international deaf education, which is a concentration offered through a partnership between the CSEDL and the International Development Master of Arts (IDMA) program.

The doctoral program’s reopening also features the inclusion of more research courses, some of which offer opportunities for students to work with faculty on their research projects.

Graduates of the CSEDL program have interned at the Visual Language and Visual Learning Lab (VL2) and Brain and Language Neuroimaging Lab (BL2), and published work in research journals.

The program also emphasizes a renewed focus on critical theory and social justice. For educators, it is of the utmost importance to remain in touch with social issues, as well as sharing wisdom gained from experience in life and career with their students as they navigate the massive and ongoing social transformation of our society. Students of the CSEDL program often discuss social justice issues in education,

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In the fall of 2020, Dr. Christina Yuknis, G-’02, became the program’s director with the intention of completing all remaining students’ degrees as well as focusing on the transition to opening the new and improved program. “I am happy to have been able to work on such an important project, especially being able to see the impact our first group of CSEDL graduates has made. I can’t wait to see what our future graduates do!” Dr. Yuknis said.

In the Spring 2022 semester, program faculty member Dr. Christi Batamula, G-’02, has taken the torch from Yuknis and stepped into the director role moving forward. “This is an exciting time for the Department of Education.

We are continuing to roll out updated and some new course offerings,” Dr. Batamula shares.

“I look forward to learning with and from our doctoral students. It is an honor to be part of a program that values producing researchers and leaders in the field of deaf education with a strong foundation in critical thinking and critical pedagogy.”

Not only does this program reopening mean that we can continue to foster the educators of this nation’s deaf and hard of hearing youth, but it also means that Gallaudet University

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can provide a more nuanced and beneficial program for a wide variety of people interested in pursuing deaf education. Ultimately, the program specifically aims to grow the population of deaf scholars conducting research and changing the field!

Applications are currently open for the Fall 2023 cohort. The deadline Is June 30, 2023; applications submitted by February 15, 2023 will receive priority consideration. Interested candidates are encouraged to apply. To be considered, applicants must have a master’s degree, as well as three years of experience working with deaf children or adults.

Learn more about the new docorate program among others we offer. gu.live/GraduateAdmissions

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THE GALLAUDET DEBATE TEAM

THE GALLAUDET

DEBATE TEAM WINS MINDS AND HEARTS AT MOREHOUSE COLLEGE

By Robert Weinstock

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The Gallaudet University debate team participated in the annual Social Justice Debates March 25-27 at Morehouse College in Atlanta, Georgia, making the quarterfinal round and earning several individual debater awards.

This was the first time in history that a team using American Sign Language and English took part in a multi-school debate competition. Twenty-one schools, several with multiple pairs of debaters, took place in this year’s Social Justice Debates, the first one held in person since 2019.

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THE GALLAUDET DEBATE TEAM

The Social Justice Debates are an annual intercollegiate debate series founded in 2016

by Morehouse College and George Washington University. The only intercollegiate debate series in the world dedicated to social justice topics, the Social Justice Debates aspire to promote productive and rigorous debates challenging current and future thought leaders to consider issues of justice in relation to the distribution of wealth, opportunity, and privilege in U.S. society.

Juniors Lexi Hill from Tyler, Texas, and Aubrey Moorman from Laurel, Maryland, debated the proposition “The adoption of a mandatory racial desegregation policy for K-12 public schools is desirable.” They had to be able to take either side of this debate, and did so admirably, impressing opposing teams, judges, and spectators alike.

The team lost its first debate against California Polytechnic State University, but defeated the University of Vermont at Montpelier, a different team from Cal Poly, and the host school, Morehouse College, to advance to the quarterfinal round. They lost the quarterfinal match to Howard University.

Morehouse and Howard advanced to the championship debate, and Morehouse won the overall championship. Hill and Moorman each won two individual awards as best novice (firsttime) debaters and for their overall performance.

Moorman also was named the best individual debater of the entire competition.

Aubrey Moorman Junior

Judges, including the renowned University of California, Berkeley economics professor Rucker Johnson, consistently complimented the Gallaudet team on its arguments and their facility in presenting them.

Five other members of the debate team attended the competition. President Cordano and Dean of the Faculty Khadijat Rashid, ‘90, accompanied the team, as did Evon Black, ‘87 & G-’96, associate director of the Center for Black Deaf Studies. About 40

15 Gallaudet alumni and friends, including former Board member Nancy Kelly-Jones, ’72 & G-’75, and current Board member Mindy Greenland, ’04, came out to support the team. Atlanta-based Sign1News covered the event.

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African American Family class taught by Dr. Taura Taylor, in which Morehouse men and women from neighboring Spelman College, discussed African American family traditions from the past to the present, as well as terminology used in various family structures.

Gallaudet debate team co-captain Romel Thurman said that it was a surreal experience to have genuinely courageous conversations about terms like “bae”, “wifey”, and “boo”, and the connotations of each in the context of Black families.

Lexi Hill Junior

The debate team was established in 2020. Its head coach is Dr. Brendan Stern , ‘06, a deaf faculty member in Gallaudet’s School of Civic Leadership, Business, and Social Change and executive director of the Center for Democracy in Deaf America.

Suzanne Rosen Singleton, E-’88, a deaf attorney and Chief of the Disability Rights Office at the Federal Communications Commission, is assistant coach.

Team members this past year besides Hill and Moorman included Romel Thurman from Berkeley, California; Lorelei Becktel-Lipscomb from East Lansing, Michigan; Daniel Miers from Columbia, Maryland; La Toya Plummer from Landover, Maryland; and Charles Spiers from Rockville, Maryland.

The team won its first exhibition debate against George Washington University in April 2021. Lexi Hill teamed with then-freshman Thalia Guettler. The teams debated the proposition “Statehood for Washington, D.C. should be granted.” After a lively debate, the judges declared Gallaudet the winner based on the quality of their logic, research, and analysis.

During their four days in Atlanta, the debate team also visited the Martin Luther King Jr. Center for Non-Violent Social Change and toured Morehouse College, one of the nation’s premier historically black colleges. At Morehouse, they observed an

During the 2022-2023 academic year, the team will participate in a home-and-away series with the United States Naval Academy, debating whether deaf people should serve in the U.S. armed forces.

Each team will have one debater from each of the two schools, a novel approach that is designed to promote greater awareness of, by, and for the Deaf and military communities.

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THE GALLAUDET DEBATE TEAM

Gallaudet’s debate team is one of several programs under the Center for Democracy in Deaf America.

The Center, founded and directed by Dr. Stern and staffed almost entirely by students, also conducts educational and outreach programs. This past year, these programs included a panel discussion on the Russia-Ukraine conflict, a watch party for the State of the Union address, voter registration drives, and a youth debate competition for deaf and hard of hearing middle and high school students.

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This was the first time in history that a team using American Sign Language and English took part in a multi-school debate competition.

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STOMPING GROUNDS

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STOMPING GROUNDS

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STOMPING GROUNDS

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CODA

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CREATES HISTORY

By Caleb Robinson

When Troy Kotsur, E-’92; Marlee Matlin, H-’87; Daniel Durant, E-’15; and Emilia Jones were shooting CODA in the coastal city of Gloucester, Massachusetts, they could only imagine the scope and reach of the film. Could they envision accepting the Best Picture award at the Academy Awards? Did they realize at the time what the film would mean in terms of Deaf representation in Hollywood?

CODA is a coming-of-age film about Ruby (Emilia Jones), a high school student trying to balance her passion for music with her role as the sole hearing person in a deaf family. The film received much critical acclaim and won three awards at the 2021 Sundance Festival. Apple purchased CODA for $25 million, with the intent of streaming it on Apple

CODA CREATES HISTORY

TV+. Indeed they did, and at the 94th Academy Awards on March 28, 2022, CODA became the first film distributed by a streaming service to win Best Picture, creating history not only for the film industry but also for deaf representation in the media. The film also won Best Adapted Screenplay, and Troy Kotsur won Best Supporting Actor. This made him the first deaf male actor to win an Oscar, joining Marlee Matlin, H-’87, as the only two deaf people in history to win Academy Awards.

Matlin, who won the Best Actress Oscar in 1987 for her role in Children of a Lesser God, fought for the inclusion of deaf actors in CODA. Because of her firm stance, Kotsur and Durant were cast in the film.

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All three Deaf actors in the film have connections to Gallaudet. Matlin, from the Chicago area, was awarded an honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degree in 1987, just weeks after receiving her Best Actress Oscar. She served on the Board of Trustees and is now an honorary trustee. She was recently named to the Board of Governors of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences. Kotsur, from Mesa, Arizona, often reminisces about his time at Gallaudet. A veteran of Deaf West Theatre, he has appeared in theater, television, and film (Big River, Spring Awakening, Switched at Birth, Criminal Minds, Scrubs, The Mandalorian, and more). Durant, from Duluth, Minnesota, boosted his passion

for acting by taking classes through Gallaudet’s Theatre and Dance program. Like Kotsur, he is a veteran of Deaf West Theatre (Cyrano, Flowers for Algernon, Spring Awakening), and performed in Spring Awakening on Broadway. He was in Switched at Birth and Silent Notes and You, and has acted internationally as well.

Matlin, Kotsur, Durant, and Jones, the main characters in the film, paid a surprise visit to Gallaudet University on Tuesday, March 22.

They participated in a panel moderated by Nikolya Sereda, ’19, shared their experiences making the film, and dispensed advice for students

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and aspiring actors and filmmakers. After their visit to Gallaudet, they went to the White House to meet with President Joseph Biden and First Lady Dr. Jill Biden. Later in the day, they visited the Apple Store at Carnegie Library.

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THE GALLAUDET DEBATE TEAM

TRANSFORMING GALLAUDET’S WORKFORCE AN INTERVIEW WITH CHRISTINA SHEN-AUSTIN

BY BRANDI RARUS Hi Christina! Thanks for having this conversation with me. I have been at Gallaudet for three years now and have been constantly impressed with the work done by you and your team. Human Resources (HR) is such an integral part of our employee experience.

Rarus Thanks, I appreciate that! I am really proud of my team and the work that we are doing.

It wouldn’t be possible without them.

Shen-Austin

Tell me a little bit about yourself. Where did you grow up, and what was your journey that brought you to Gallaudet?

Rarus 52

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Christina Shen-Austin Executive Director of Human Resources

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TRANSFORMING GALLAUDET’S WORKFORCE

I was born and raised in Montreal, Canada. We moved to Toronto when I was ten. I was diagnosed with hearing loss when I was five.

My parents suspected that it may have been a result of a high fever when I was two.

Shen-Austin

Wow! Five? How did you communicate for those five years? That must have been hard.

Rarus

My hearing loss was gradual Shen-Austin so I had access to language and was able to communicate with what hearing I had. I continued to lose my hearing throughout the years. By the time I was in college, I was profoundly deaf.

Rarus

Did you know sign language?

What was your schooling like?

No, I didn’t know any sign language and I was always mainstreamed. In hindsight, I can see now how much communication I missed. Yet when you’re in the moment, you do what you have to do to survive and that’s really what I did. I knew I just had to work harder. I had to depend on notes and textbooks in the classroom and find other ways to ensure I was learning. I had some great friends who were supportive of me. I was really fortunate.

Shen-Austin

I was mainstreamed for two years as the only deaf student in eighth and ninth grade. I loved it and I hated it. Music was such a significant part of my friends’ lives but they were really good about interpreting all the popular songs for me. I still knew though, deep down, that I was different despite my desire at that time to pretend I was just like them. Did you feel different?

Rarus

Shen-Austin 54

I’ll be honest. I grew up feeling ashamed of my hearing loss. I

would cover my hearing aid with my hair. I would never show it in public. It was hard as I never met anyone like me. I went to a high school with 2,000 students and I was the only Deaf person.

But like I just mentioned, I had such a great group of friends who were supportive and never made me feel like I was different.

Rarus

So how did you get to Gallaudet?

During my senior year, my guidance counselor told me about Gallaudet. I had never heard of it before.

I still chose to go to the University of Western Ontario, now known as Western University, in London, Ontario and got my B.A. degree in Honors Psychology. It was not until I graduated that I decided to check out Gallaudet. I applied as a student, was accepted, and was told on a Friday that funding from the Ontario Student Assistance Program came through and New Student Orientation (NSO) started the next Monday. I packed my bags and flew to D.C. all in one weekend! My intention was to stay only for one year.

Shen-Austin

Rarus

Wow, that was brave! You still did not know any sign language?

Right! I knew none. Today they have the JumpStart program for new signers. During my time, they had the New Signers Program but I missed it. I remember I found out I was going to Gallaudet on the Friday before NSO. It was hard…and somewhat scary…but I loved it. I eventually met a great group of friends whom I’m still close with today. I don’t think I would have made it through without their support. I also met my husband there! I have never looked back. I learned the language and found my place in the world and I am so grateful.

Shen-Austin

Rarus

I understand that so well. I think your story is that of so many of

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As part of our commitment to equity and belonging, we have been looking to increase the hiring and promotion of BIPOC individuals, as well as those who are deaf. Are you seeing progress?

Rarus

Gallaudet has done a good job hiring and promoting a diverse workforce over the last few years but I recognize we still have more work to do.

One thing many people don’t realize is that the Office of Equal Opportunity Programs, a unit under the Division of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion, oversees the hiring process at Gallaudet University. They have the final approval for all new hires. I truly appreciate this checks and balances system that has been in place for many years, as this normally falls solely on HR at many other organizations.

Shen-Austin

Brandi Rarus Chief Communications and Admissions Officer our students today. You come to Gallaudet for more than just an education; you find parts of yourself that make you complete, which gives you such confidence.

One of the reasons I was excited to interview you today is because we have all been hearing so much about the Human Resources transformation. I know you have been working hard on that for several months now. What are you most looking forward to with this transformation?

I would have to say the employee experience. There are a lot of wonderful things happening where our HR processes will become so much more efficient; however, those are things that will not be directly seen by the Gallaudet community.

It is the employee experience that will have the greatest impact. There are several areas we are focusing on. For example, we are redesigning a career framework that will give employees new opportunities to grow and succeed in their careers. We are also focusing on centralizing the onboarding process which is now managed by several departments other than just my office. There is so much more we are doing – I’m very excited!

Shen-Austin

What has changed, however, over the last few years is our leadership has been visibly committed to hiring more people of color and encouraging the growth of our diverse workforce.

Another significant change is President Cordano’s leadership team. For the first time, Gallaudet is predominantly deaf-led with the most diverse team in our history. Do we have more work to do? Yes, absolutely. I do also think we need to take a moment to pause and celebrate.

You are so right, we have much to celebrate! And still more work ahead of us. Thank you, Christina, for sharing your story with us today. We know that many deaf youth have similar experiences. We look forward to welcoming more of them to this bilingual campus where they can truly find their identity and fulfill their potential!

Rarus

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WE ARE DESIGNING THE FUTURE:

DIVING INTO THE WORLD OF MOTION LIGHT LAB

By Nikolya Sereda

Bilingual storybook apps. Community training on app development. Deaf-led and represented. Content development on ASL materials for young deaf children. Global collaborations and capacity building in other countries on creating storybook apps. Cutting edge research and development on augmented and virtual reality experiences. Generating fluent 3D signing avatars. Advocating for sign language access and equity for all deaf children.

All this and more is happening at Motion Light Lab (ML2). ML2 has revolutionized how deaf children experience storytelling and develop their literacy skills. ML2 has garnered global recognition and changed the game in 3D animation through its customized motion capture technology which has created the first signing avatars. Established in 2009

by Melissa Malzkuhn, ’04 & G-’08, the laboratory continues to create award-winning work. ML2 is part of

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the NSF Science of Learning Center on Visual Language and Visual Learning (VL2).

At its core, the lab is a catalyst for social change to bring greater equity and inclusion for the Deaf community. Above all else, ML2 strives to: advance Deaf representation, increase language access for all as a fundamental human right, and create opportunities for the Deaf community through training. The lab intersects art, science, technology and research, delivering groundbreaking products designed from inception by and for the Deaf community.

In 2013, the lab created The Baobab, the world’s first bilingual-bimodal storybook app, designed to support deaf children’s literacy development. Today, ML2’s global digital library offers Deaf children a total of 30 storybook apps, including 16 apps available in 30 languages.

Yiqiao Wang, ’09 | Senior Artist Creator of Baobab 2D characters and environment drawings

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To preview what lies ahead, we invite you to experience augmented reality (AR)! Follow the instructions below to meet Mavo.

1. Open the camera on your smartphone.

2. Hover over the Facebook or Instagram QR code.

3. Open the resulting link, which will open Facebook or Instagram

Facebook

Instagram

4. Hold your camera on Mavo, who will appear in augmented reality.

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Jianye Wang 3D Animator

Sarah Miller, G-‘21

Community and Social Strategist

The Baobab for example, has been translated into different languages with the following countries: Panama, New Zealand, Japan, the Netherlands, Russia, Turkey, Norway, and Thailand. In each country, ML2 worked with Deaf teams through a specialized program called CoLabs.

Learn more about CoLabs and see what they can do! vl2storybookapps.com

Strengthening the Deaf Creative Ecosystem The foundation of ML2 is an unwavering commitment to advance Deaf-led storytelling and strengthen the Deaf creative ecosystem by nurturing the pool of Deaf artists, storytellers, filmmakers, digital content creators and educators. To date, the lab has trained more than 150 Deaf educators and creatives on storybook app development, teaching them essential digital skills such as filming, editing, graphics, storyboarding and Xcode. The lab’s training program was made possible with a grant from the Mitsubishi Electric America Foundation.

ML2’s training program also paved the way for two Deaf schools to develop storybook apps.

California School for the Deaf, Fremont created Evon Discovers Black Pride, and Wisconsin School for the Deaf created Hawes and Mills’ Adventure. Artists for both storybook apps were recent graduates of CSD and WSD, and demonstrated exceptional talent.

Learn more about Evon Discovers Black Pride! gu.live/EvonDiscovers

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Watch the announcement of the Hawes and Mills’ Adventure app on YouTube! gu.live/HawesandMills

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Jason Lamberton, ‘02

Human Computer Interactive Engineer

Always looking to the future, Motion Light Lab has kept its pulse on the ever-changing world of emerging technology. ML2 features a customized state-of-the-art 18-camera motion capture system and a team of full-time staff, including a Human Computer Interaction Engineer and a 3D Animator, who are dedicated to the advancement of 3D animation of signing avatars.

the Deaf experience is considered and represented from start to finish.”

Recently, ML2 announced a groundbreaking partnership with Pigmental Studios centered on Here Comes Mavo!, the first children’s animated television series featuring a Deaf protagonist and 3D avatars using sign language. With plans for global distribution, this

“We need to think about Deaf representation in multiple ways, and especially in digital form,” said Malzkuhn. “This is why our unique work in developing 3D signing avatars is both important and necessary. Where are the Deaf experiences in advances of new technologies, such as VR, AR, and mixed reality? What’s the Deaf experience in these spaces? At ML2, we are creating these experiences, ensuring

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series will feature 52 eleven-minute episodes all centered on the magical land of the Baobab Universe and Mavo, a curious eight-year-old Deaf girl who uses sign language.

“Mavo, the character from The Baobab, has an extraordinary spirit,” said Malzkuhn. “Ever since meeting this character, Mavo, in 2D illustrations, I’ve always thought this character should and must sign, which brings us to 3D animation.

It’s been a long time dream of mine to see this character sign. And, I’m proud to say, we’ve more than arrived at that point.”

This is pioneering and a first for children’s TV, to have signing characters, Deaf characters, and all in 2D/3D animation.

Motion capture technology has opened doors for fluent signing characters, and ML2 has been working on a variety of 3D characters and content for different projects. Signing Avatars

and Immersive Learning (SAIL), funded by the National Science Foundation in collaboration with ML2’s Science Director, Dr. Lorna Quandt and the Action and Brain Lab, is another exciting project at ML2. SAIL is an immersive virtual reality experience where one learns and interacts in ASL guided by teacher avatars.

Another notable project is Dimensions, a short 3D film, with signing characters created through motion capture. Dimensions won the Best 2D/3D animation award at Festival Clin d’Oeil in Reims, France in July 2022, and has been accepted into the New York Indie Film Festival and the Seattle Deaf Film Festival.

With unique projects, diverse collaborators, and a dedicated team, Motion Light Lab is truly a one-of-a-kind space at Gallaudet University, representing innovative ASL-forward technology, how technology can be used to harness social change, and how the community can become powerful agents of change.

Malzkuhn says, “We are designing the future.”

Read the official press release regarding Mavo/Baobab gu.live/MavoBaobabPR

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“Mavo without question will bring a much-needed leap forward of greater linguistic and cultural diversity to our industry and inform the development of inclusive storytelling forever.”

Marina Martins CEO and Creative Director Pigmental Studios

ML2 offers daily themed activities that expand on storybook apps.

ASL Literacy Activities is free to sign up and offers more than 16 weeks of educational content. More than 4,000 families use the site, which is perfect for at-home and classroom use. The site has worksheets, printables, arts and crafts activities, ASL and reading lessons, and interactive bilingual quizzes.

Pigmental Studios on Gallaudet’s campus

Take a sneak peek at Dimensions!

Explore the digital frontier and discover new dimensions! gu.live/ml2dimensions

Let’s learn! gu.live/ASLLitActivities

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RESEARCH AT THE INTERSECTION OF ETHICS AND CARE

Dr. Poorna Kushalnagar Chief Research Officer | Academic Affairs

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RESEARCH at the INTERSECTION of ETHICS AND CARE AN INTERVIEW with DR. POORNA KUSHALNAGAR

By James McCarthy

When Dr. Poorna Kushalnagar, ’93, returned to Gallaudet in 2016 for the first time in 15 years, she brought nearly $1.5 million in grant funding. As large as that number might have been, though, it does not fully encapsulate Kushalnagar’s journey to this point.

Kushalnagar is currently chief research officer of the Office for Research within Academic Affairs, special assistant to the Provost for research, and director of the Center for Deaf Health Equity. One common thread, she says, is her respect for research.

“It started when I was an undergraduate at Gallaudet,” says Kushalnagar.

“I kept passing the Gallaudet Research Institute (GRI) sign in a building on campus and wondering about it. One day in 1992, I just went in.” She laughs at the memory. “I walked right up to the director, Tom Allen, and said, ‘Hi, my name is Poorna. What do you do here?’”

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Although Kushalnagar chalks up that fearlessness to her youth at the time, she also admits to a long-standing love of mathematics and science dating back to her volunteer work for the American Red Cross as a teenager in Tennessee. “Even then, I loved hospitals,” she said. “I could practically live in one.” After her sister was accepted to medical school, family visits included descriptions of what her sister learned in classes, on internships, and during her residency. Kushalnagar soaked it all up.

By the time she walked into GRI’s offices and volunteered as an assistant, she was ready to start learning about gathering data and using it to address issues facing the Deaf community.

Bolstering her interest in research was a senioryear course in the psychology of deafness, taught by Dr. Tammy Weiner, G-’83, in which Kushalnagar learned just how little research had been done to understand the Deaf community.

“Every time I had a question, I’d ask Tammy,” says Kushalnagar. “The response was often, ‘Why don’t you go find out?’ That was where I really started to develop that push to ask questions, to do research, to push the boundaries of understanding.” Those boundaries were pushed further when Kushalnagar connected with Dr. Judith Mounty, G-’03, a now-retired research scientist at Gallaudet, who at the time was working at Educational Testing Service in Princeton, New Jersey. That led to an internship at ETS that, according to Kushalnagar, “was the start of my formal research training.”

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in which Gallaudet makes those opportunities possible, and advocates for making more of those opportunities available to current undergraduate students at Gallaudet.

After a series of career choices that took her from educational research at the Texas School for the Deaf to a Ph.D. candidacy in clinical child neuropsychology from the University of Houston, Kushalnagar hit a familiar realization.

“I was evaluating young children who had been referred for cochlear implantation,” she recalls.

“Infants and toddlers, up to around three to four years old. We were looking at things like their cognitive development and executive function.”

Kushalnagar, under the supervision of a licensed clinical psychologist, would then bring her recommendations to a team of doctors, who in turn would determine a child’s suitability for implantation.

One case stands out vividly in her memory.

“I had evaluated a child who came from a Spanish-speaking family. At that time, the evaluation criteria focused on ASL and Englishlanguage acquisition, so the team thought the child wasn’t a candidate. When I said it was perfectly possible for the candidate to be trilingual—like I was—they asked me to show them the data.” Reminded of her undergraduate days, Kushalnagar realized there was still work for her to do. “You can’t operate on common wisdom,” she says. “That’s not how science works.”

She changed specialties to developmental cognitive neuroscience and focused on pure research, which led her to a postdoctoral fellowship at the University of Washington.

There, she worked on patient-reported outcome (PRO) research, where she came to

understand the value of research that was inclusive of members of the population being studied. “I also worked with some real giants in the field,” she says. “I learned so much about developing studies, applying for funding, and conducting research.”

Kushalnagar went on to become a research faculty member at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), where she was part of a team of researchers from multiple institutions that applied for—and won—a $10 million grant from the Institute of Educational Science under the U.S. Department of Education.

“I had evaluated a child who came from a Spanish-speaking family. At that time, the evaluation criteria focused on ASL and English-language acquisition, so the team thought the child wasn’t a candidate. When I said it was perfectly possible for the candidate to be trilingual—like I was—they asked me to show them the data.”

- Poorna Kushalnagar While working on that project, Kushalnagar embarked on a series of grant applications, which she characterizes as a learning experience. “Nearly all of my applications were rejected between 2011 and 2015,” she says. “But I got such good feedback. It was hard sometimes, but you need to be resilient.

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It’s about pursuing opportunity without seeking rewards—about learning, not winning.” She pauses, then adds, “It’s not for everyone. You need a certain kind of drive, a strong belief in your values as a researcher, and faith that you’ll succeed.”

Her faith in herself paid off in 2015; she was awarded two grants that totaled close to $1.5 million. “If that number seems familiar,” she says, smiling, “That’s because I was offered a job at Gallaudet around the same time. So the funding—and the work—came with me.”

What didn’t follow Kushalnagar was an infrastructure that allowed her to focus on conducting the work funded by the grant.

“At the time, it was tough to figure out how to manage things like budgeting and reporting requirements,” she says. “I spent a lot of time reading and learning about that, and not enough—in my opinion—on the actual research.”

Fixing that became the top item on Kushalnagar’s list. In short order, she began to mentor other faculty who were also interested in securing external funding for their research. By her fifth year at Gallaudet, she was special assistant to the Provost for research, charged specifically with developing internal processes for managing and administering grant funding.

That led to the current Office for Research, in which Kushalnagar is building capacity for supporting faculty both pre- and post-award.

“We’re setting up gatherings for new principal investigators (PIs)—those are the lead faculty members on each project—as well as oneon-one training on budget management and grant administration. I want a system that offers new researchers the support I had to build for myself,” she says.

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“You can’t operate on common wisdom,” she says.

“That’s not how science works.”

Kushalnagar’s work is already paying dividends; in Fiscal Year 2020, a good number of faculty and staff submitted grant applications—some of which included support from Kushalnagar. From those Fiscal Year 2020 applications, Gallaudet was awarded close to $15 million in external funding to support research, teaching, and training. Kushalnagar herself is also a grantee of two new awards from the National Institutes of Health.

“I’m also director of the Center on Deaf Health Equity,” she says. “These days, we do a lot of advocacy and policy work. Because research at Gallaudet is expanding, we’ve also asked Dr. Chris Moreland to join the Center as a consultant.” Together, they are working towards expanding the healthcare professional workforce as well as applying communitybased participatory research in their work investigating disparities in health care.

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Learn more about Gallaudet’s Center for Deaf Health Equity gu.live/DeafHealthEquity

The Center started because of Kushalnagar’s abiding passion for health care and understanding the impact of how research is conducted on populations.

“I noticed a pattern when I was in college,” she says. “For example, there was a statistic quoted often around GRI: The average deaf adult reads at a fourth-grade level. That just didn’t line up with what I saw around me. I didn’t read at a fourth-grade level. I didn’t know anyone Deaf who did. So where did that number come from, and how was it being addressed?”

That statistic stuck in Kushalnagar’s mind for a long time and fit into the pattern she’d noticed: that Deaf people were being examined as a

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single population when compared to hearing peers—and were always found lacking. “That framing really bothered me. I had to be missing something,” she says. “I figured out what it was at the University of Washington where I did my postdoctoral research training.”

There, she discovered that there were ways to perform statistical analyses on pooled data that break it down to identify specific populations, including the one that resulted in the fourthgrade statistic she had seen quoted so often.

“This smaller group of people had just been rolled into one big number,” she said. “So not only were their needs being ignored, but the rest of the community was not being treated as a rich, diverse, complex, and varied population similarly to the way hearing populations are treated—because of this one number that, because it was just a simple average, didn’t even apply to most of them.”

That led Kushalnagar to a research approach she would come to favor: intersectionality analysis. “Race, gender, educational background, signing versus non-signing—they all have impacts,” says Kushalnagar. “Lumping all of those factors into a single group skews our understanding of the community’s needs as a whole and makes it really difficult to develop services and programs that are effective in addressing specific issues, like literacy.”

As a result, the Center on Deaf Health Equity has begun developing a series of manuscripts focusing on deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing (DDBHH) health disparities, releasing one focused on Black Deaf health outcomes recently, and one exploring Asian Deaf health outcomes slated to be released later this year. “We’re looking into a number of specific 68

populations,” says Kushalnagar. “Including those that cut across each other—LGBTQIA+ Deaf individuals, for example, whose health care outcomes may be further complicated by their race or educational background.”

Those papers are based on the concept of community-based participatory research. “In our work, we always want to include members of the population being affected by our findings,” says Kushalnagar. “There are different levels of trust in the medical establishment, in how researchers manage private data, and in how that data is treated to yield important information that supports effective interventions. We work very hard to address all of those.”

That work continues. Kushalnagar was recently awarded a $4.5-million grant to investigate ways to improve cancer screening adherence among deaf, deafblind, and hard of hearing individuals. “We want to know if community health workers who are ASL-fluent would help promote cancer screening adherence in this population,” Kushalnagar says.

“For example, prostate cancer screening.

This is a complicated topic and requires that patient and doctor be able to review options together and make decisions about different courses of treatment. Without accessible communication—like an interpreter—we’ve

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found that deaf men are much less engaged in shared decision-making with their doctors.”

Shifting that patient-doctor relationship, says Kushalnagar, can mean the difference between life and death for a DDBHH patient. “That’s why it’s so important that this work is being done at Gallaudet, and is getting so much support from both the administration of the University and from external organizations,” she adds. “Deaf researchers understand Deaf patients. That’s why I’m glad I’m here. It’s the right place, at the right time, with the right people.”

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TRAVERSING BOUNDARIES: A UNIQUE COLLABORATION WITH RIT/NTID

TRAVERS NG BOU A UNIQUE COLLABORATION WITH RIT/NTID

By Nikolya Sereda

In December 2021, the Gallaudet University Archives and RIT/NTID’s Dyer Arts Center undertook a first-of-its-kind collaboration: a pop-up exhibition of Deaf art.

Hosted at a vacant storefront in Hyattsville, Maryland, the exhibit ran on weekends from December 23, 2021 to January 15, 2022, and showcased a mix of artwork owned by Gallaudet University and RIT/NTID. The storefront was donated by the Menkiti Group, a local real-estate agency, who connected Tabitha Jacques, ’06, former director of the Dyer Arts Center, with Jonathan Cetrano, ‘07, of Streetcar 82 Brewing Company and Gallaudet’s Office of Development.

Streetcar 82 is adjacent to the storefront where the exhibit was hosted.

“This was kind of a perfect storm,” says Jacques. “Everything really lined up to make this happen.”

Jim McCarthy, director of the Gallaudet University Archives, seconds Jacques. “It really was a one-of-a-kind opportunity,” he says.

“So much of our artwork never sees daylight.

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Milan, Italy, 1880 by Mary Thornley. Photograph by Gallaudet University.

Hosting a public exhibition that allows some of our treasures to be shared with the world—we just couldn’t say no.”

It helped that Jacques and McCarthy are married to each other. “We work in closelyrelated fields,” says Jacques. “Even while working in different institutions, sharing information and bouncing ideas off one another is inevitable.”

“There really aren’t that many collections of Deaf art for the public good in the world,” McCarthy adds. “When the directors of the two largest are married to each other, this kind of event seems like a natural outgrowth of that.”

Titled “Traversing Boundaries,” the exhibit sought to showcase examples of Deaf art that explore the boundaries between the “natural” and “synthetic” worlds. Suggesting that Deaf culture and identity is, in some part, a combination of self-construction and the result of life in a hearing society, the artwork explored things like dinner-table syndrome, the iconicity of certain signs, and perennial concerns related to cochlear implantation and speech therapy.

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Jacques originally connected with the Menkiti Group through Cetrano, planning to host an exhibition based on the Memorial Art Gallery of Rochester’s 2019 examination of Deaf art through the lens of De’VIA, the famed Deaf art movement. But she quickly realized that it seemed odd to host an exhibit of Deaf art in the Washington, D.C. metropolitan area without including the Gallaudet University Archives.

Learn more about De’VIA: Manifesto Comes of Age gu.live/DeViaManifesto

“Not in our backyard!” laughs McCarthy. “The Dyer has around 1,000 pieces of art in their permanent collection, but we have more than twice that. It made sense to connect and to reimagine the exhibit.”

To date, the artwork contained in the Archives has almost never been on public display, much less in a curated exhibition. Though artwork is available on loan to campus staff and faculty for their office spaces, public display of these rare—and often priceless—cultural treasures requires a certain level of care and supervision.

“Some of our pieces are fragile,” says McCarthy, “While others are fairly nontraditional and use mixed media in ways that make shipping out of the DMV area a challenge. Chuck Baird’s Rose, for example, uses a piece of wood mounted on canvas in a way that makes it really difficult to pack for long-distance shipping. That’s why having something like this so close by was a perfect opportunity to showcase the piece.”

Including pieces like Susan Dupor’s F-I-X: The New Eugenics and Milan, Italy, 1880 from Mary Thornley, the exhibit poses questions about the 72

idea of nature versus nurture and the constant negotiation of boundaries between the Deaf world and the hearing world.

An opening reception was held on the first day of the exhibit, drawing more than 50 people and sparking conversations about the artwork.

“I thought it was a great exhibit,” said Carlene Thumann-Prezioso, ’80 & G-’84. “It was very thought-provoking, and I loved seeing these beautiful paintings where they belong—where people can see them and learn from them.”

There are additional benefits to this kind of collaboration, says McCarthy. “I think the first day we opened, someone came in and immediately identified the woman who modeled for Rose. That was information we didn’t have before, and which we immediately added to our database. Anything that lets us know more about the life of an object in the Archives helps us preserve it and its history a little better.”

Though the exhibit is now closed, Jacques thinks the future is bright—and colorful. “I see more of these events in the future,” she says.

“I’d love to see more of these topics being discussed and explored through art. It’s a visual medium—and Deaf people are visual people. It just makes sense to me.”

The upcoming relocation of the Gallaudet Archives due to the Merrill Learning Center building project may complicate matters slightly, as will Jacques’s departure from her post as the director of the Dyer Arts Center. Her new position as Director of Placemaking here at Gallaudet University, however, suggests that there is more—much more—to come.

“So much of our artwork never sees daylight.

Hosting a public exhibition that allows some of our treasures to be shared with the world—we just couldn’t say no.”

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F-I-X, the New Eugenics (2000) by Susan Dupor

- Jim McCarthy Director, Gallaudet University Archives

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UNDERGRADUATE CLASS OF 2022

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By Robert Weinstock

Nearly four hundred students received their degrees during Gallaudet University’s 152nd Commencement on Friday, May 13 in the Field House.

This was the first in-person Commencement since 2019, and the first ever with separate ceremonies for graduate students (in the morning) and undergraduate students (in the afternoon).

Apple CEO Tim Cook was the keynote speaker during the undergraduate ceremony. Cook came to Gallaudet at the request of graduating senior Molly Feanny, who sent him a video on April 16.

Less than one hour later, Cook accepted her invitation, saying, “Thanks so much Molly, I’d be honored! See you there!” Feanny, who was the undergraduate student speaker, wrote about her experience in Elite Daily.

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Cook told the Class of 2022, “I have one important piece of advice I want to share, so important that it’s the only piece of advice I’m going to share today. And that is this: Whatever you do, lead with your values.” He also commented extensively on the mutually beneficial relationship between Apple and Gallaudet.

Academy Award-winning actress Marlee Matlin, H-’87, introduced Cook, saying, “It wasn’t until this past year when it took one company, under the direction of one man, to break the doors wide open, shining a spotlight on the importance of inclusion, diversity, and authenticity while completely rewriting the handbook on what success means in hollywood. That man is Tim Cook.” She was referring to CODA, the Apple TV+ film that won Best Picture, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Supporting Actor for Troy Kotsur, E-’92, at this year’s Oscars.

Honorary Doctor of Humane Letters degrees were awarded to Dorothy Chiyoko Sueoka Casterline, ’58; Carl-Gusaf A. O. Croneberg, ’55; and Lauren 76

Teruel Ridloff. Casterline and Croneberg were cited for their pioneering work in establishing the legitimacy of sign language. Both were members of William C. Stokoe’s research team in the grantfunded Linguistics Research Laboratory. Their work culminated in the publication in 1965 of the Dictionary of American Sign Language on Linguistic Principles, and changed forever the field of linguistics.

Casterline’s citation said that she “was known as a quiet observer who eschewed praise and attention, but it was clear to her coworkers that she was a brilliant, albeit unassuming scholar who was able to utilize the technology she created, along with her strong organizational skills, to bring together all the multiple components to make the project whole.” Croneberg “traveled across the U.S. to observe sign language use in various regions of the country. His exhaustive research led to the creation of a new term — Deaf Culture — which has become a field of study in its own right. His observation of the many variations of

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GRADUATE CLASS OF 2022

sign language used by deaf Americans led to the documentation of Black ASL.” Lauren Ridloff, a Chicago native and MSSD graduate, was honored for her body of work in television and film. She is a series regular on one of television’s most popular shows, AMC’s The Walking Dead, and has guest-starred on NBC’s New Amsterdam and The CW network series Legacies. She has also acted in supporting roles in the movies The Magnificent Meyersons, Sound of Metal, and the Palme d’Or-nominated Cannes film Wonderstruck. Her most recent and perhaps best-known role is as Makkari, a deaf superhero whose being deaf is her superpower, in the Marvel Cinematic Universe film Eternals.

In her speech during the undergraduate ceremony, Ridloff said that it was important to pace oneself, and just as importantly, to find one’s own pace. She cited her experiences as an actress and as a runner, and shared with the graduates what P-A-C-E means to her: P-perseverance, A-adaptability, C-commitment, and E-empathy.

“Those life skills apply to all of you, no matter your interests, your passions, your dreams,” she said, adding, “Find your life pace and run free.”

Undergraduate student speaker Molly Feanny said, “I came from a large, mainstreamed yet still isolated world, to a very different environment here at Gallaudet, full of sign language and communication being so clear and understandable all around me. At first, like someone who just entered a whole new world, I was definitely overwhelmed and very scared…But soon enough, Gallaudet offered me everything that I could possibly dream of. Peers who could directly have a conversation with me, valuable role models and mentors, countless professional opportunities and, the most important thing of all, a sense of belonging.”

Dr. Roberto Sanchez, professor of history and director of the School of Arts and Humanities, was named Distinguished Faculty Member for 2021, and Dr. Brian Greenwald, ’96, also a professor of history and director of the Drs. John S. and Betty 77

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J. Schuchman Deaf Documentary Center, received the same award for 2022. Dr. MJ Bienvenu, ’74 & G-’83; Dr. Francis Duffy, Dr. Diane Hottendorf, and Dr. Lillie Ransom, G-’79, were awarded emeritus status in recognition of their dedicated service to the university and its students.

The graduate ceremony in the morning featured Dr. Naomi Caselli, assistant professor of Education and Human Development and the co-director of the AI and Education initiative at Boston University. Caselli, a CODA, told the graduates, “It takes all of us to build a better world. AI works best when we teach it using data that is as diverse as possible. The more of us that contribute and are represented, the better AI works. In a nod to Dorothy Casterline and Carl Croneberg, she said that their “work on ASL didn’t just lift up ASL. The DeafBlind community did not just create ProTacticle. This work has blown open the boundaries on what we thought we knew about the human capacity for language.”

Lauren Teruel Ridloff

Honorary Degree Recipient

“You have all spent a significant amount of time in one of the most unique linguistic environments in the world—and as you likely go on to a very different linguistic environment, I hope you carry the ember that began burning here and breathe life into it spreading that light to the world…I hope that together, we can take a hard look at who we are, actively look for participation from everyone, and imagine and build the world we want to live in, that honors the core of each of us.”

Graduate student speaker Kristina Miranda, also a CODA, challenged her fellow graduates to take action when they see inequities. “When we graduate, we will go out into the world as individuals,” she said. “As we continue to move through the world, we must remember that we have a collective responsibility toward justice…

Let us continue to learn more about those who live on the margins of our communities and raise awareness to people who do not know, do not have access, or do not care. Let us do this with 78

Kristina Miranda

Graduate Student Speaker

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“LEAD WITH YOUR VALUES” - APPLE CEO TIM COOK TELLS GALLAUDET GRADUATES Dorothy Chiyoka Sueoka Casterline and Carl-Gusaf A.O. Croneberg Honorary Degree Recipients

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compassion, openness, and curiosity.”

Gallaudet University President Roberta J. Cordano delivered addresses at both ceremonies.

She shared with graduate students the importance of curiosity as the root of learning. “People who are curious ask questions like ‘what if,’ ‘why not,’ and ‘maybe we could,’” she said, and commented that curiosity leads to a better understanding of multiple perspectives, which in turn leads to greater collaboration and success. During the afternoon undergraduate program, President Cordano stressed the critical importance of collective action, using our response to the COVID-19 pandemic as an example. She also noted the untimely passing of freshman Honors student Roberto Maldonado early in the spring semester. “Roberto often said that people should do good things. To the Class of 2022, and to all of us: Go forward, take collective action, and do good things,” she concluded.

A special ceremony was held late on Friday afternoon for a very small number of graduates who had tested COVID-positive in the days leading up to Commencement, and who thus were unable to attend the larger ceremonies earlier in the day. Recognizing that these graduates’ families were already in town, the administration and the university’s COVID team worked together to design a safe ceremony in Elstad Auditorium. “It was deeply touching for me to see us create such a meaningful experience for these students and their families. They will never forget this moment of kindness and thoughtfulness. Nor will I,” said President Cordano.

President Cordano also commended the entire university community for coming together to make Commencement such a success: the Office of the Provost, the Divisions of Academic Affairs; Operations, including Campus Services, Facilities, Public Safety, and the Bison Shop; Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion; the Office of the President, University Communications, Institutional Advancement, Bon Appetit, and 80

dozens of volunteers. Student Affairs organized the first-ever Students of Color Graduation on Wednesday, May 11, and the tenth Lavender Graduation on Thursday, May 12, affirming once again the university’s commitment to diversity.

Congratulations, Class of 2022!

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Molly Feanny

Undergraduate Student Speaker

Dr. Naomi Caselli

Assistant Professor | Boston University 81

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