Deaf students to get additional offerings

Higher Education Notes: News about Texas colleges

COMPILED FROM STAFF REPORTS
Published: Thursday, January 6, 2011

AUSTIN COMMUNITY COLLEGE

Deaf students to get additional offerings

ACC has been named a regional center for Gallaudet University and, as such,
will offer courses, workshops and technical assistance to people who are
deaf or hard of hearing.

Gallaudet, a private school in Washington, D.C., that specializes in serving
such students, awarded ACC a $200,000 annual grant that is renewable.

“It’s a great feather in our cap,” said Lyman Grant, ACC’s dean of arts and
sciences. “Austin has a very large deaf population due to the presence of
the Texas School for the Deaf and Austin’s openness to various cultures.”

The college already has various programs for deaf students and students
preparing for careers working with deaf people. More than 150 ACC students
are deaf or hard of hearing, and 13 faculty members are Gallaudet alumni.

The Gallaudet program at ACC will serve children as well as adults, along
with families of people with hearing problems and professionals in the
field. Offerings will include American Sign Language, interpreting and deaf
studies.

Arlene Gunderson, the newly appointed director of the Gallaudet University
Southwest Regional Center at ACC, is a graduate of Gallaudet who has taught
at the Texas School for the Deaf and ACC. Gunderson, who is deaf, said she
is eager to develop a wide variety of initiatives and collaborations
involving everything from summer camps to vocational rehabilitation
services.

The Gallaudet center will be based at ACC’s Riverside campus but will have
activities at other campuses, including Eastview, where a conference next
week will involve people who teach American Sign Language.

* This is only portion from full article at

http://www.statesman.com/news/local/higher-education-notes-news-about-texas-colleges-1168490.html

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