NAD Past President Hurwitz Selected as 10th Gallaudet President
10/19/2009
The Board of Directors of the National Association of the Deaf (NAD) extends
enthusiastic congratulations to T. Alan Hurwitz on his selection as the
tenth president of Gallaudet University. Hurwitz is the first past
president of the NAD to serve in this prestigious academic leadership role.
Currently he serves as president of the National Technical Institute for the
Deaf (NTID), one of eight colleges within the Rochester Institute of
Technology (RIT), and vice president and dean of RIT.
“Alan Hurwitz is a truly exceptional leader who will guide Gallaudet
University into what I consider to be an exciting era for the American and
global deaf and hard of hearing community,” said NAD President Bobbie Beth
Scoggins. “We at the NAD stand ready to be of support as he begins the
Herculean task of bringing together the diverse communities within and
outside of Gallaudet University and moving collectively forward in the
pursuit of academic excellence.”
Hurwitz has a solid civic and community leadership track record at the
national and state levels. Elected as 24th president of the NAD, he served
a total of six years – two as president elect, two as president, and two as
past president. During his presidency (1982-84), the NAD had several notable
achievements. These included formation of the Council of Organizational
Representatives, now known as the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Alliance, a
coalition of national professional and consumer organizations;
implementation of nationwide rally which influenced CBS to adopt closed
captioning at a time when this was already implemented by other major
networks; creation of full time NAD Youth Relations (now Youth Leadership
Programs) position, which continues to this day; establishment of national
deaf awareness week in conjunction with World Federation of the Deaf, now
known as International Week of the Deaf; and selection of Yerker J.
Andersson by global general assembly delegates to the WFD presidency
(Andersson served two additional four year terms). Hurwitz also served as
president of the Empire State Association of the Deaf (1975-1979).
Hurwitz, who will take office in January, succeeds Robert R. Davila,
Gallaudet University’s president since 2007.
Source: http://www.nad.org/node/466