This is not a good bye. This is a see you later, MASLED <3
Please find the transcript for the "See you later, MASLED <3" video below:
Hello, this is a very difficult video letter to make. I truthfully saved you all for last. I’ve informed quite a number of people and groups over time, but have not reached this point to inform the MASLED program - why? The MASLED program is the most meaningful part of my life. The MASLED program is my heart. Wow!
I need to share this, outright- as a part of my opening statement, then I’ll expand on this, share some stories, then close with the same point. This follows the “diamond” structure in ASL storytelling. So, let’s get to the point. I’ve decided to resign from Gallaudet University. Today is my last day. Due to health reasons - I need to take care of me. *pauses, breathes*
I’d like to use this time to talk about the MASLED program. We have a lot of collective histories, knowledges in our heads, in different people, their experiences -we’re all holding the history of the MASLED program in our “heads”. I’d like to document this, by telling you stories about the program. But I don’t want this to be scripted at all. I want this to come naturally - I’ve been thinking about this all week, actually month, about what to say.
First of all, I must share I’m so proud of the MASLED program. I want to talk about the beginning of the program until now. When I first joined Gallaudet, I joined a different department. After a year, the ASL and Deaf Studies department asked me to join them as a faculty. I started teaching for the MA in Deaf Studies: Sign Language Teaching track. There was, at that time, MA in Deaf Studies - three tracks: 1) Cultural Studies (a popular track), 2) Deaf History (which had 1-2 students) and 3) Sign Language Teaching. All of those graduates would have a MA in Deaf Studies on their diploma. I taught six students in the Sign Language Teaching track. I was shocked at the number - only six? They were amazing, don’t get me wrong. But this didn’t make sense at all. It was 2009 at that time. ASL was the fourth most studied language in the United States in 1998. Demand for ASL teachers were skyrocketing. And in 2009 we only had 6 students majoring in teaching ASL? Something’s wrong with this picture. I started asking around, asking potential students why they weren’t coming to Gallaudet to get their MA degree. Many of them said it was because they couldn’t afford to move to the DC area, they have children, they have a house, they have elderly family members to take care of, and so on. I think talked to them about a possibility of coming to campus during the summers, and taking online classes during the fall and spring.
The answer from them all was a resounding yes. Why did we have to follow a traditional model of on-campus fall/spring experience for graduate school if this model prevented so many from coming? I talked to MJ (Bienvenu) and she was totally in. Department chair, Dirksen was in too. Provost at that time, Carol Erting was also supportive. Others like Ben Bahan, Gene Mirus were also supportive, but many weren’t. Many people were resistant to the concept of online learning, especially for the teaching field. Everyone constantly asked “how do you teach deaf students online?” “How do you teach them how to teach sign languages online?”. At that time, I was really puzzled with this resistance towards online & hybrid teaching.
We wrote a MASLED degree proposal, and this proposal has to be passed at multiple levels throughout the program. Each level was hard - they asked hard questions, and we had to constantly answer them, defend our position, and almost all of the questions were about online & hybrid teaching. At every level. We finally got to the Board of Trustees level - they meet three times a year - May, October and February. In February, degree programs are proposed, because that way they can start the following fall. For MASLED program it was a bit different because we were starting in the summer (mid-May!).
One of my biggest mistakes was never visiting a Board of Trustees meeting! When they called me to come in and talk about the MASLED degree proposal, I was more shocked about the room design - there was a galley where people would sit in a few rows, for visitors. The rest of the board sat in what looked like a pentagon with one empty side for people to go through to give presentations. There were TV’s on the ceilings all around, with interpreters on the side and so on. I was in awe!
They called me in. I stood ready to answer questions about the program. Dr. Tom Humphries, board member, asked us how a summer & online hybrid program would work - how we knew it’d be effective and all. Fortunately I had a lot of practice answering this question from from the first few levels of the proposal process! The MASLED program passed. During the month, February 2011 - we already had 100 applicants - we didn’t advertise - we didn’t have it on the website at that time, but somehow people found out! Graduate school in general tends to have a max of 15 entering students. The average is more around 8 to 12 students. We were already at 100 applicants. How? They asked us to double the cohort. Double?! How?! We figured out a way to change it from 15 to 30 students. Then you - you are HISTORIC. The largest cohort ever at Gallaudet. Ever. Of any MA program at Gallaudet. No other graduate program has admitted that many students in the history of Gallaudet!
People ask why. There are many factors as to why. I could list them. I think you all could list them too. The name of the program at that time was MA in Sign Language Teaching. It wasn’t MASLED at that time. Teaching - why? We followed the old Deaf Studies MA in Sign Language Teaching track - which became a stand alone MA in SLT degree program.
Now how did the MA in SLT program change its name to MASLED? One MA SLT student, Rachel Boll - she challenged us in class, why “teaching”? Why not “education”? We decided to compare the definition of both - education is more broad - involves curriculum design, consulting, assessment, diagnostic work, planning, performing, literature and more. Teaching is specifically about classroom teaching. Our graduates have different jobs within the same discipline of education. We made the change - but the system tends to take a year or two to make it happen. She graduated with a MA SLT, but she made it happen for the rest of the years to come. Thanks to her.
Funny thing, we were initially resistant to the acronym, MA SLE, because it had to follow the three letter acronym set by the Universities for all majors - ASL, DST, BIO, LIN, EDU, CHE, MAT, etc. We talked with more groups on campus and learned we could call ourselves MA SLED. MASLED. SL ED. SLED. SLE didn’t feel right. Fortunately, since we were under the ASL and Deaf Studies department, all course names started with either ASL or DST, so it doesn’t say SLE.
So bottom line, the MASLED program is always evolving - thanks to YOU. You as students push us constantly to become better. Every year we get better thanks to the previous cohort. The previous cohort doesn’t reap the rewards of their push, but the next cohorts do, so what you already have now is thanks to all of the previous cohorts.
Some start counting MASLED alumni in 2011. Actually the 2010 cohort are actually MASLED because they entered as MA DST: SLT track students, but switched over during the establishment of the MASLED program, so the program has been in place for 10 years now.
At Gallaudet, there are many MA programs - Deaf Education, Counseling, Psychology- no, that’s Counseling, Linguistics and so on. MASLED is the only summer/online program. MA Counseling did have a three summer graduate program (no online portion) but it didn’t work out- for more information ask them. So the MASLED program is one of a kind at Gallaudet. Truly
We’re all inside Gallaudet now, in the MASLED program. Let’s step back, and look at all of the MA programs at Gallaudet. Let’s step back even further, in Washington DC looking at all of the MA programs in Washington DC. Step back even more, and look at all of the MA programs in the United States. Step back even more and look at all of the MA programs in the world. Look carefully.
There is NO. I mean NONE. ZERO. NO MA program in the world like the MASLED program. None. Zero. There’s none. The MASLED program is unique. Special. I guarantee you, there’s no other MA program in the world that has 100% Deaf faculty. None. None. If I’m wrong, let me know. But we’re not satisfied. We’re still pushing to become better. We have had Deaf LGBT, Trans faculty. We have had BIPOC Deaf faculty, we have had DeafDisabled faculty, but there’s more we need to improve on. We haven’t had a DeafBlind faculty yet. We’ll continue to work on this. We’re never done. We never stop becoming better. We’re constantly evolving. Transforming, why? You keep pushing us to constantly be better.
I’d like to return to this point - MASLED faculty - wow - we’ve been lucky - a bit of a bittersweet kind of “lucky”. Other MA programs tend to have large number of faculty, two to… I mean three to six graduate faculty for their MA programs. MASLED program has never, I mean, never had more than two full-time graduate faculty. Always 1.3, 1.6, or 2 faculty. Never more than that. 1.3? Does that mean 1/3 of me? (Gestures cutting a line through my chest). Actually no, this means maybe a faculty would teach one course for us, but not fully with us, because they’re also teaching for other programs. Or they do “service” for the MASLED program - maybe they don’t teach for the MASLED program, but they help out with screening, committee work, helping with the program. I think we’ve never had a full “two faculty” dedicated to the program until this year. This year is the first time we have two full-time faculty. Before that, always 1. something. Always. That isn’t good. Of course that 1-2 faculty ratio is exhausting. Look at me as an example. My point is, the program is hard, but one huge advantage of only having 1-2 faculty is…. Ok let me explain, other MA programs with 3-6 faculty means all of them NEED to be prioritized to teach all of the courses in the program first. Any remaining courses that have vacancies, we can hire interns or adjuncts to cover those courses. For the MASLED program, since we had very few teachers with the program, we could pull in amazing faculty from all over the world in the MASLED program. Wow. Their collective knowledge, expertise, reputation, and all - precedes them! We’ve been able to get the best faculty in the world to teach for the MASLED program. We’ve had international faculty teach for us, teachers from the north, south, east and west teach for us. No other graduate program could do this. So this is a bittersweet advantage of having just 1-2 faculty. They all bring massive amounts of new knowledge, expertise, and more. The larger number of faculty we have in a program, it can become a “silo” of knowledge. So there’s pros and cons about this.
Let’s talk about the students. Wow. I must tell you, I’ve never met so many brilliant, talented and amazing people in my life, ever. This MASLED program has given me the opportunity to meet so many. I feel so, incredibly fortunate, and inspired by our Deaf communities. Meeting all of you, every year - hey, I’ve been asked if the number of applicants/qualified teachers would run out for the MASLED program. At first, I thought we’d run out, but no, wow, you all keep on coming. Look at YOU! I feel like we’ve only barely scratched the surface. There’s so many of you amazing, top notch folks! The opportunities to to work together, to push each other to become better - I’m so lucky to be a part of that.
When people ask me to compare the MASLED program with other programs. I always preferred to compete with ourselves. I don’t want to compete with others. We’re all different. All programs have different goals. Comparing - well, like people, I try not to compare myself with someone else. We’re all different people. Each of our journeys are beautiful. We’re all just different. MASLED program - we don’t compete with others. We compete with ourselves. We are constantly competing with ourselves for a better version of ourselves. The MASLED program competes with itself to become better every year. That constant reminder, I’m not competing against you. I’m not competing with my neighbor. I’m competing against myself. Yes, I’m human. I’ve had my bad days. I’ve had my good days. I mess up. I do fantastic. We all focus on making each other better.
I’ve never seen a world where so many brilliant and talented Deaf people gather together in one place. This one place = MASLED. There’s nothing like us. Nothing. Wow. Sometimes it really hasn’t hit me. I’m very, very lucky. This collective energy is unrivaled everywhere in the world. Alumni always tell me how many times they’re so exhausted while in the program, they’re studying all night, typing all day long, signing videos all the time, but when they graduate - they realize they miss the opportunity to be a part of something really BIG - the MASLED program. I’m the lucky one. I stay for each cohort - 10 years! I’ve been with each cohort, every year, every year, every year.
You all are graduating very soon. Right now, you’re probably like, oh my god, it’ll be forever before you graduate. It’ll go by in an eye blink. You’ll be graduates in no time. Your cohort - it’s a lifetime bond. You’ll always be connected through the MASLED program.
One way the MASLED program alumni get to meet after graduation is through the ASLTA conference, and through other places - getting together, feels like a reunion! It’s a powerful feeling. I hope we’ll consider having reunions - mini-conferences on an annual or biannual basis so we can continue to gather, with our collective, powerful energies.
It’s so hard to explain how much of an HUGE impact every one of you bring together into one place - so hard to explain. You all study together, learn together, challenge each other, analyze things together, make things together, create things together…. This collective energy, I’ve never seen anywhere else. I’ve never - I swear on my heart. Often when I talk to sign language teachers -they’re always working alone or with 1 or 2 other teachers. All over. They’re all alone. The MASLED program changes this. We’re in this together!
Now I’d like to talk about the two special faculty who are now directing the program. I was in their shoes before. I’ve passed on the baton to them. MASLED program is truly, truly, the most - of my life, from my birth until now at 47 years old - that 10 year period - WOW. It’s the most memorable, most painful, most inspiring, most everything - you know. That ten years. Wow. I really don’t know who I am without MASLED. I look forward to rediscovering myself now. I slept, ate, and breathed the MASLED program. The new directors - they’re so motivated, the love they have for the program! Frankly, this is one of the hardest jobs ever. I did ask myself why. Why is this so hard? Deaf people, truthfully, are hard on each other. We expect more from each other. We are more direct with Deaf people. With hearing people, we often try, then give up on them, excusing them because of their “hearingness”. We don’t give ourselves that benefit. It’s a lot more tougher to work in a 100% deaf collective community. Being constantly attacked was hard. This part was the most painful for me. Trying to be better, trying to do better, is a constant mantra for all of us. But this is hard. This is HARD. Please give them lots of love and compassion. They’re new. I pray for them. Please give them a lot of love. They stepped into a very new frontier, took over an amazing program - very brave of them - one of the hardest jobs to do, a hard program to run, to manage - it’s a very thankless job, for many reasons.
Deaf people are hard on other Deaf people. We need to remind ourselves why we hold Deaf people at higher standards than hearing people. Is it because we find them accessible, because they’re Deaf like us?
Likewise, only two full time faculty with 55+ graduate students is a joke. This will change, slowly, well, I’ve been angry about this for a long while, but we are getting there - the ratio of 2 and 55 is incredibly impossible. Other MA programs tend to have a 3-6 ratio to maybe 12, 24 students (combining 1st and 2nd year students). Rarely any MA program at Gallaudet has more than that.
We could try looking for someone to blame about this. Trying to figure out who’s fault for making this happen. Will this help? Is this helpful? Not really. Both of them are doing their best - plus and previous faculty - are doing our best. We are constantly asking for resources, support and positions from the university - plus trying to work with students who are demanding more from us. This constant tug-of-war is sooo hard on us. It’s so hard on them. Not easy position to be in all, not at all.
The MASLED program is also unique in so, so, so many ways compared to other MA programs at Gallaudet. Other MA programs follow traditional schedules, the logistics involved is very similar - dorms, student ID, Blackboard, Bison and more. That means the faculty in those MA programs focus only on academics. This is not the case for the MASLED program at all. Absolutely not. We’ve had to deal with dorms, arranging the securing of rooms/buildings, work with DPS on distributing student IDs several months before the typical fall schedule, work with the library in ensuring their hours aren’t too limited during the summers when a large number of graduate students are on campus and so many more modifications, unique features and more. The MASLED program has to fight/teach the rest of campus about how unique our program needs are - another example - the registrar’s office runs the fall and spring schedule, but when it comes to the summers, we work with a different unit in setting up the summer classes - for the MASLED program, there are often two different policies, two different procedures, two different offices, two different budgets, two different - you name it! Other MA programs at Gallaudet don’t have to deal with this additional complication, however, they do have other complications - I recognize this, such as accreditation and state licensure, as the MASLED program doesn’t have an accrediting body (yet, maybe one day), that’s one less thing for us to deal with, but still, overall, it’s not easy to run the MASLED program when all of the MA programs at Gallaudet follow the traditional MA system.
Working within the MASLED program is a labor of love. You don’t get paid well here. The only reason faculty stay with the program is because of their love for the program. I’ve been lucky to stay with the MASLED program for 10 years - a long time! I must acknowledge it’s because of my white privilege. I have more of an emotional barrier allowing me to last this long. Bottom line, we’re constantly pushing the MASLED program as a whole to become better- to ask questions, to communicate, to share, to support and… I pray, I ask you, please send lots of love to the two directors. Be good to them. They inherited a massive job. I had years and years of experience. All of the countless experiences I have had over the years helped me get to where I am - not saying I’m perfect - far from it!!! I’ve made so many mistakes, I messed up so bad, I’ve cried so hard, I’ve jumped with joy, with successes, and so many ups and downs, yes, yes. The two directors will too. You will too. We’re all human. The most important goal for all of us to become better. We want the best for the program. Often we want the program to be better, out of love. We love the program. We want the program to be better.
We want our field to be better. Our field is very, very, very new. ASL teaching - people think there’s so, so many years involved in creating the field of teaching sign languages. Not true. It’s a very, very new discipline. Other sign language teaching degree programs have shut down - the one in New York, the one in North Carolina, the one in Maryland. There’s one now in Colorado- they set up after the MASLED program. They’re still there. Remember I mentioned over 100 applied for the program first year. That constantly happened the next 10 years. The hardest part is accepting only 30 out of 100 applicants. Many of you applied, then applied again. This was the most painful part of annual selection for each cohort.
I want to share amazing facts about the MASLED program. Wait- first, the university paid an external company to analyze all degree programs, in the undergraduate program and the graduate program at Gallaudet. We’ll focus on the graduate program. This happened 2 or 3 years ago. They found that the MASLED program came on top in almost everything. 1st, 1st, 1st, 1st, 1st and 1st in everything. First what? Many things! I’m proud to share - 1st, largest entering cohort. Always, on an annual basis. 1st in cohort retention, until graduation. If students leave the program, something’s wrong. 1st in graduate rates - we have the largest graduation rates. 1st in many others, but one - MASLED program came in 2nd. 2nd in largest applicant pool. MASLED always comes in 2nd. The 1st? Who?! Everyone’s probably asking who. You’ll be surprised. It’s the audiology, language, speech and hearing sciences department - they have the largest applicant pool every year. We’re always chasing them every year. That’s ok! That’s fine! Still, our collective experiences are awesome. I suspect, when other graduate programs transform to the MASLED schedule, Gallaudet is starting to encourage other programs to consider online & hybrid programs due to enrollment - we all know many people can’t come to Gallaudet due to their jobs, etc. My tail is wagging hard at this - why? Summertime MA program interactions, study table, lab, discussions, cross program presentations, debates, you name it - I’m looking forward to that possibility. That’s one of the possibilities in the future.
Anyway, I want to return to this discussion about your cohort. You’re the first ever cohort to study full time online. Last summer we didn’t have an on-campus experience. The faculty and students had to transform from a hybrid summer to an entirely online experience practically overnight. You were patient, supportive and stubborn. You stayed with us. We still have so much more unknowns. Will we get to meet this summer? Will the program be entirely online this summer? So many questions, so little answers. You’re resilient. You are living the experience. The two directors are resilient. They and you are persistent, motivated, optimistic, flexible and they have a can-do attitude. I’m grateful for this.
I did make a few notes on my table. Let me review them to see if I covered everything. (Looks at the table for a while). Nods.
Ultimately, let’s arrive to the bottom point of the diamond. MASLED program. The MASLED program is a diamond in itself. It’s almost impossible to find another program like this. The MASLED program is so shiny, brilliant - unrivaled everywhere else. I’m so proud, honored to be part of that journey. I’m so proud, honored, that you’re a part of this journey. I’m so proud and honored to support the two new directors in leading, pulling, pushing the program. Let’s help push them to higher levels. I has so much love for the MASLED program, you all, and all of you are diamonds too. Every one of you sparkles with brilliance, and creates a powerful sight to see. Going back to the very first cohort - which was a small one because they were the original MA - DST: SLT cohort who transferred over to the MA SLT program during the year, maybe 10 of them, they graduated that year, then we had 30 graduating the following year, and another 30 the following year. So let’s look at one cohort of 30 students. Suppose they — OH WAIT! I forgot another one! The MASLED program is #1 in finding jobs after graduation. Our graduates easily find work after graduation! Woo hoo! *hands waving*.
Ok, let’s go back to the 30 who graduates. Ok, let’s pick one person from the 30. Their average number of students they’ve taught, maybe, depends on high school or college, possibly 50 students per semester (really it’s probably more than that, more likely 90, 30 students per course, or 25 per course, totaling 100 students). I’m being conservative here. Let’s say they teach 50 students per semester. So 100 students a year. Ok, now multiply that by 30 in a cohort. That’s 3,000 students a year. Ok, next cohort- another 30 students. They teach 3,000 students, then it’s 6,000, then it’s 12,000 then the following year, another 30, then multiply that by another 100, then don’t forget the previous cohorts are still teaching, so all that multiplied by multiples - by now the MASLED program alumni may have taught over 100,000 students the last 10 years. One person teaches so many, and this is easily spills over into 10x more, and imagine each person spills over into 10x more, and so many more. We are LITERALLY, LITERALLY transforming the world. Each of us everywhere in the world - Deaf people can drive! Deaf people are smart! Can read and all that! That slight quake constantly feeds the tremors under the ground, constantly, all over the world - you might feel like you’re alone, but under the ground we’re all synced, all of us quaking and changing the world. The news and the media are constantly talking about sign languages.
Oh my goodness! The recent inauguration - oh my goodness! They signed the pledge of the allegiance - they did it! I totally sobbed at this. Oh my goodness. This happened because of YOU. All of our mini quakes are reverberating all over the world. I’m not saying the MASLED program is alone responsible for this quake, so many more contribute to this quaking, but we need to recognize the MASLED presence in this transformation of our world. The love for our hands, our sign languages. I can’t put all of my words into a big thanks for the MASLED program. The MASLED program is the hardest part of my departure from Gallaudet. The MASLED program is so special - so beautiful. I’m truly lucky. Thank you! I’m so fortunate to be a part of the MASLED program. We have so much beautiful energies to change the world with so much diverse members, DeafBlind, DeafDisabled, Deaf LGBT, Deaf BIPOC- ALL OF US. Thank you. Namaste. I love you all.
Hello, this is a very difficult video letter to make. I truthfully saved you all for last. I’ve informed quite a number of people and groups over time, but have not reached this point to inform the MASLED program - why? The MASLED program is the most meaningful part of my life. The MASLED program is my heart. Wow!
I need to share this, outright- as a part of my opening statement, then I’ll expand on this, share some stories, then close with the same point. This follows the “diamond” structure in ASL storytelling. So, let’s get to the point. I’ve decided to resign from Gallaudet University. Today is my last day. Due to health reasons - I need to take care of me. *pauses, breathes*
I’d like to use this time to talk about the MASLED program. We have a lot of collective histories, knowledges in our heads, in different people, their experiences -we’re all holding the history of the MASLED program in our “heads”. I’d like to document this, by telling you stories about the program. But I don’t want this to be scripted at all. I want this to come naturally - I’ve been thinking about this all week, actually month, about what to say.
First of all, I must share I’m so proud of the MASLED program. I want to talk about the beginning of the program until now. When I first joined Gallaudet, I joined a different department. After a year, the ASL and Deaf Studies department asked me to join them as a faculty. I started teaching for the MA in Deaf Studies: Sign Language Teaching track. There was, at that time, MA in Deaf Studies - three tracks: 1) Cultural Studies (a popular track), 2) Deaf History (which had 1-2 students) and 3) Sign Language Teaching. All of those graduates would have a MA in Deaf Studies on their diploma. I taught six students in the Sign Language Teaching track. I was shocked at the number - only six? They were amazing, don’t get me wrong. But this didn’t make sense at all. It was 2009 at that time. ASL was the fourth most studied language in the United States in 1998. Demand for ASL teachers were skyrocketing. And in 2009 we only had 6 students majoring in teaching ASL? Something’s wrong with this picture. I started asking around, asking potential students why they weren’t coming to Gallaudet to get their MA degree. Many of them said it was because they couldn’t afford to move to the DC area, they have children, they have a house, they have elderly family members to take care of, and so on. I think talked to them about a possibility of coming to campus during the summers, and taking online classes during the fall and spring.
The answer from them all was a resounding yes. Why did we have to follow a traditional model of on-campus fall/spring experience for graduate school if this model prevented so many from coming? I talked to MJ (Bienvenu) and she was totally in. Department chair, Dirksen was in too. Provost at that time, Carol Erting was also supportive. Others like Ben Bahan, Gene Mirus were also supportive, but many weren’t. Many people were resistant to the concept of online learning, especially for the teaching field. Everyone constantly asked “how do you teach deaf students online?” “How do you teach them how to teach sign languages online?”. At that time, I was really puzzled with this resistance towards online & hybrid teaching.
We wrote a MASLED degree proposal, and this proposal has to be passed at multiple levels throughout the program. Each level was hard - they asked hard questions, and we had to constantly answer them, defend our position, and almost all of the questions were about online & hybrid teaching. At every level. We finally got to the Board of Trustees level - they meet three times a year - May, October and February. In February, degree programs are proposed, because that way they can start the following fall. For MASLED program it was a bit different because we were starting in the summer (mid-May!).
One of my biggest mistakes was never visiting a Board of Trustees meeting! When they called me to come in and talk about the MASLED degree proposal, I was more shocked about the room design - there was a galley where people would sit in a few rows, for visitors. The rest of the board sat in what looked like a pentagon with one empty side for people to go through to give presentations. There were TV’s on the ceilings all around, with interpreters on the side and so on. I was in awe!
They called me in. I stood ready to answer questions about the program. Dr. Tom Humphries, board member, asked us how a summer & online hybrid program would work - how we knew it’d be effective and all. Fortunately I had a lot of practice answering this question from from the first few levels of the proposal process! The MASLED program passed. During the month, February 2011 - we already had 100 applicants - we didn’t advertise - we didn’t have it on the website at that time, but somehow people found out! Graduate school in general tends to have a max of 15 entering students. The average is more around 8 to 12 students. We were already at 100 applicants. How? They asked us to double the cohort. Double?! How?! We figured out a way to change it from 15 to 30 students. Then you - you are HISTORIC. The largest cohort ever at Gallaudet. Ever. Of any MA program at Gallaudet. No other graduate program has admitted that many students in the history of Gallaudet!
People ask why. There are many factors as to why. I could list them. I think you all could list them too. The name of the program at that time was MA in Sign Language Teaching. It wasn’t MASLED at that time. Teaching - why? We followed the old Deaf Studies MA in Sign Language Teaching track - which became a stand alone MA in SLT degree program.
Now how did the MA in SLT program change its name to MASLED? One MA SLT student, Rachel Boll - she challenged us in class, why “teaching”? Why not “education”? We decided to compare the definition of both - education is more broad - involves curriculum design, consulting, assessment, diagnostic work, planning, performing, literature and more. Teaching is specifically about classroom teaching. Our graduates have different jobs within the same discipline of education. We made the change - but the system tends to take a year or two to make it happen. She graduated with a MA SLT, but she made it happen for the rest of the years to come. Thanks to her.
Funny thing, we were initially resistant to the acronym, MA SLE, because it had to follow the three letter acronym set by the Universities for all majors - ASL, DST, BIO, LIN, EDU, CHE, MAT, etc. We talked with more groups on campus and learned we could call ourselves MA SLED. MASLED. SL ED. SLED. SLE didn’t feel right. Fortunately, since we were under the ASL and Deaf Studies department, all course names started with either ASL or DST, so it doesn’t say SLE.
So bottom line, the MASLED program is always evolving - thanks to YOU. You as students push us constantly to become better. Every year we get better thanks to the previous cohort. The previous cohort doesn’t reap the rewards of their push, but the next cohorts do, so what you already have now is thanks to all of the previous cohorts.
Some start counting MASLED alumni in 2011. Actually the 2010 cohort are actually MASLED because they entered as MA DST: SLT track students, but switched over during the establishment of the MASLED program, so the program has been in place for 10 years now.
At Gallaudet, there are many MA programs - Deaf Education, Counseling, Psychology- no, that’s Counseling, Linguistics and so on. MASLED is the only summer/online program. MA Counseling did have a three summer graduate program (no online portion) but it didn’t work out- for more information ask them. So the MASLED program is one of a kind at Gallaudet. Truly
We’re all inside Gallaudet now, in the MASLED program. Let’s step back, and look at all of the MA programs at Gallaudet. Let’s step back even further, in Washington DC looking at all of the MA programs in Washington DC. Step back even more, and look at all of the MA programs in the United States. Step back even more and look at all of the MA programs in the world. Look carefully.
There is NO. I mean NONE. ZERO. NO MA program in the world like the MASLED program. None. Zero. There’s none. The MASLED program is unique. Special. I guarantee you, there’s no other MA program in the world that has 100% Deaf faculty. None. None. If I’m wrong, let me know. But we’re not satisfied. We’re still pushing to become better. We have had Deaf LGBT, Trans faculty. We have had BIPOC Deaf faculty, we have had DeafDisabled faculty, but there’s more we need to improve on. We haven’t had a DeafBlind faculty yet. We’ll continue to work on this. We’re never done. We never stop becoming better. We’re constantly evolving. Transforming, why? You keep pushing us to constantly be better.
I’d like to return to this point - MASLED faculty - wow - we’ve been lucky - a bit of a bittersweet kind of “lucky”. Other MA programs tend to have large number of faculty, two to… I mean three to six graduate faculty for their MA programs. MASLED program has never, I mean, never had more than two full-time graduate faculty. Always 1.3, 1.6, or 2 faculty. Never more than that. 1.3? Does that mean 1/3 of me? (Gestures cutting a line through my chest). Actually no, this means maybe a faculty would teach one course for us, but not fully with us, because they’re also teaching for other programs. Or they do “service” for the MASLED program - maybe they don’t teach for the MASLED program, but they help out with screening, committee work, helping with the program. I think we’ve never had a full “two faculty” dedicated to the program until this year. This year is the first time we have two full-time faculty. Before that, always 1. something. Always. That isn’t good. Of course that 1-2 faculty ratio is exhausting. Look at me as an example. My point is, the program is hard, but one huge advantage of only having 1-2 faculty is…. Ok let me explain, other MA programs with 3-6 faculty means all of them NEED to be prioritized to teach all of the courses in the program first. Any remaining courses that have vacancies, we can hire interns or adjuncts to cover those courses. For the MASLED program, since we had very few teachers with the program, we could pull in amazing faculty from all over the world in the MASLED program. Wow. Their collective knowledge, expertise, reputation, and all - precedes them! We’ve been able to get the best faculty in the world to teach for the MASLED program. We’ve had international faculty teach for us, teachers from the north, south, east and west teach for us. No other graduate program could do this. So this is a bittersweet advantage of having just 1-2 faculty. They all bring massive amounts of new knowledge, expertise, and more. The larger number of faculty we have in a program, it can become a “silo” of knowledge. So there’s pros and cons about this.
Let’s talk about the students. Wow. I must tell you, I’ve never met so many brilliant, talented and amazing people in my life, ever. This MASLED program has given me the opportunity to meet so many. I feel so, incredibly fortunate, and inspired by our Deaf communities. Meeting all of you, every year - hey, I’ve been asked if the number of applicants/qualified teachers would run out for the MASLED program. At first, I thought we’d run out, but no, wow, you all keep on coming. Look at YOU! I feel like we’ve only barely scratched the surface. There’s so many of you amazing, top notch folks! The opportunities to to work together, to push each other to become better - I’m so lucky to be a part of that.
When people ask me to compare the MASLED program with other programs. I always preferred to compete with ourselves. I don’t want to compete with others. We’re all different. All programs have different goals. Comparing - well, like people, I try not to compare myself with someone else. We’re all different people. Each of our journeys are beautiful. We’re all just different. MASLED program - we don’t compete with others. We compete with ourselves. We are constantly competing with ourselves for a better version of ourselves. The MASLED program competes with itself to become better every year. That constant reminder, I’m not competing against you. I’m not competing with my neighbor. I’m competing against myself. Yes, I’m human. I’ve had my bad days. I’ve had my good days. I mess up. I do fantastic. We all focus on making each other better.
I’ve never seen a world where so many brilliant and talented Deaf people gather together in one place. This one place = MASLED. There’s nothing like us. Nothing. Wow. Sometimes it really hasn’t hit me. I’m very, very lucky. This collective energy is unrivaled everywhere in the world. Alumni always tell me how many times they’re so exhausted while in the program, they’re studying all night, typing all day long, signing videos all the time, but when they graduate - they realize they miss the opportunity to be a part of something really BIG - the MASLED program. I’m the lucky one. I stay for each cohort - 10 years! I’ve been with each cohort, every year, every year, every year.
You all are graduating very soon. Right now, you’re probably like, oh my god, it’ll be forever before you graduate. It’ll go by in an eye blink. You’ll be graduates in no time. Your cohort - it’s a lifetime bond. You’ll always be connected through the MASLED program.
One way the MASLED program alumni get to meet after graduation is through the ASLTA conference, and through other places - getting together, feels like a reunion! It’s a powerful feeling. I hope we’ll consider having reunions - mini-conferences on an annual or biannual basis so we can continue to gather, with our collective, powerful energies.
It’s so hard to explain how much of an HUGE impact every one of you bring together into one place - so hard to explain. You all study together, learn together, challenge each other, analyze things together, make things together, create things together…. This collective energy, I’ve never seen anywhere else. I’ve never - I swear on my heart. Often when I talk to sign language teachers -they’re always working alone or with 1 or 2 other teachers. All over. They’re all alone. The MASLED program changes this. We’re in this together!
Now I’d like to talk about the two special faculty who are now directing the program. I was in their shoes before. I’ve passed on the baton to them. MASLED program is truly, truly, the most - of my life, from my birth until now at 47 years old - that 10 year period - WOW. It’s the most memorable, most painful, most inspiring, most everything - you know. That ten years. Wow. I really don’t know who I am without MASLED. I look forward to rediscovering myself now. I slept, ate, and breathed the MASLED program. The new directors - they’re so motivated, the love they have for the program! Frankly, this is one of the hardest jobs ever. I did ask myself why. Why is this so hard? Deaf people, truthfully, are hard on each other. We expect more from each other. We are more direct with Deaf people. With hearing people, we often try, then give up on them, excusing them because of their “hearingness”. We don’t give ourselves that benefit. It’s a lot more tougher to work in a 100% deaf collective community. Being constantly attacked was hard. This part was the most painful for me. Trying to be better, trying to do better, is a constant mantra for all of us. But this is hard. This is HARD. Please give them lots of love and compassion. They’re new. I pray for them. Please give them a lot of love. They stepped into a very new frontier, took over an amazing program - very brave of them - one of the hardest jobs to do, a hard program to run, to manage - it’s a very thankless job, for many reasons.
Deaf people are hard on other Deaf people. We need to remind ourselves why we hold Deaf people at higher standards than hearing people. Is it because we find them accessible, because they’re Deaf like us?
Likewise, only two full time faculty with 55+ graduate students is a joke. This will change, slowly, well, I’ve been angry about this for a long while, but we are getting there - the ratio of 2 and 55 is incredibly impossible. Other MA programs tend to have a 3-6 ratio to maybe 12, 24 students (combining 1st and 2nd year students). Rarely any MA program at Gallaudet has more than that.
We could try looking for someone to blame about this. Trying to figure out who’s fault for making this happen. Will this help? Is this helpful? Not really. Both of them are doing their best - plus and previous faculty - are doing our best. We are constantly asking for resources, support and positions from the university - plus trying to work with students who are demanding more from us. This constant tug-of-war is sooo hard on us. It’s so hard on them. Not easy position to be in all, not at all.
The MASLED program is also unique in so, so, so many ways compared to other MA programs at Gallaudet. Other MA programs follow traditional schedules, the logistics involved is very similar - dorms, student ID, Blackboard, Bison and more. That means the faculty in those MA programs focus only on academics. This is not the case for the MASLED program at all. Absolutely not. We’ve had to deal with dorms, arranging the securing of rooms/buildings, work with DPS on distributing student IDs several months before the typical fall schedule, work with the library in ensuring their hours aren’t too limited during the summers when a large number of graduate students are on campus and so many more modifications, unique features and more. The MASLED program has to fight/teach the rest of campus about how unique our program needs are - another example - the registrar’s office runs the fall and spring schedule, but when it comes to the summers, we work with a different unit in setting up the summer classes - for the MASLED program, there are often two different policies, two different procedures, two different offices, two different budgets, two different - you name it! Other MA programs at Gallaudet don’t have to deal with this additional complication, however, they do have other complications - I recognize this, such as accreditation and state licensure, as the MASLED program doesn’t have an accrediting body (yet, maybe one day), that’s one less thing for us to deal with, but still, overall, it’s not easy to run the MASLED program when all of the MA programs at Gallaudet follow the traditional MA system.
Working within the MASLED program is a labor of love. You don’t get paid well here. The only reason faculty stay with the program is because of their love for the program. I’ve been lucky to stay with the MASLED program for 10 years - a long time! I must acknowledge it’s because of my white privilege. I have more of an emotional barrier allowing me to last this long. Bottom line, we’re constantly pushing the MASLED program as a whole to become better- to ask questions, to communicate, to share, to support and… I pray, I ask you, please send lots of love to the two directors. Be good to them. They inherited a massive job. I had years and years of experience. All of the countless experiences I have had over the years helped me get to where I am - not saying I’m perfect - far from it!!! I’ve made so many mistakes, I messed up so bad, I’ve cried so hard, I’ve jumped with joy, with successes, and so many ups and downs, yes, yes. The two directors will too. You will too. We’re all human. The most important goal for all of us to become better. We want the best for the program. Often we want the program to be better, out of love. We love the program. We want the program to be better.
We want our field to be better. Our field is very, very, very new. ASL teaching - people think there’s so, so many years involved in creating the field of teaching sign languages. Not true. It’s a very, very new discipline. Other sign language teaching degree programs have shut down - the one in New York, the one in North Carolina, the one in Maryland. There’s one now in Colorado- they set up after the MASLED program. They’re still there. Remember I mentioned over 100 applied for the program first year. That constantly happened the next 10 years. The hardest part is accepting only 30 out of 100 applicants. Many of you applied, then applied again. This was the most painful part of annual selection for each cohort.
I want to share amazing facts about the MASLED program. Wait- first, the university paid an external company to analyze all degree programs, in the undergraduate program and the graduate program at Gallaudet. We’ll focus on the graduate program. This happened 2 or 3 years ago. They found that the MASLED program came on top in almost everything. 1st, 1st, 1st, 1st, 1st and 1st in everything. First what? Many things! I’m proud to share - 1st, largest entering cohort. Always, on an annual basis. 1st in cohort retention, until graduation. If students leave the program, something’s wrong. 1st in graduate rates - we have the largest graduation rates. 1st in many others, but one - MASLED program came in 2nd. 2nd in largest applicant pool. MASLED always comes in 2nd. The 1st? Who?! Everyone’s probably asking who. You’ll be surprised. It’s the audiology, language, speech and hearing sciences department - they have the largest applicant pool every year. We’re always chasing them every year. That’s ok! That’s fine! Still, our collective experiences are awesome. I suspect, when other graduate programs transform to the MASLED schedule, Gallaudet is starting to encourage other programs to consider online & hybrid programs due to enrollment - we all know many people can’t come to Gallaudet due to their jobs, etc. My tail is wagging hard at this - why? Summertime MA program interactions, study table, lab, discussions, cross program presentations, debates, you name it - I’m looking forward to that possibility. That’s one of the possibilities in the future.
Anyway, I want to return to this discussion about your cohort. You’re the first ever cohort to study full time online. Last summer we didn’t have an on-campus experience. The faculty and students had to transform from a hybrid summer to an entirely online experience practically overnight. You were patient, supportive and stubborn. You stayed with us. We still have so much more unknowns. Will we get to meet this summer? Will the program be entirely online this summer? So many questions, so little answers. You’re resilient. You are living the experience. The two directors are resilient. They and you are persistent, motivated, optimistic, flexible and they have a can-do attitude. I’m grateful for this.
I did make a few notes on my table. Let me review them to see if I covered everything. (Looks at the table for a while). Nods.
Ultimately, let’s arrive to the bottom point of the diamond. MASLED program. The MASLED program is a diamond in itself. It’s almost impossible to find another program like this. The MASLED program is so shiny, brilliant - unrivaled everywhere else. I’m so proud, honored to be part of that journey. I’m so proud, honored, that you’re a part of this journey. I’m so proud and honored to support the two new directors in leading, pulling, pushing the program. Let’s help push them to higher levels. I has so much love for the MASLED program, you all, and all of you are diamonds too. Every one of you sparkles with brilliance, and creates a powerful sight to see. Going back to the very first cohort - which was a small one because they were the original MA - DST: SLT cohort who transferred over to the MA SLT program during the year, maybe 10 of them, they graduated that year, then we had 30 graduating the following year, and another 30 the following year. So let’s look at one cohort of 30 students. Suppose they — OH WAIT! I forgot another one! The MASLED program is #1 in finding jobs after graduation. Our graduates easily find work after graduation! Woo hoo! *hands waving*.
Ok, let’s go back to the 30 who graduates. Ok, let’s pick one person from the 30. Their average number of students they’ve taught, maybe, depends on high school or college, possibly 50 students per semester (really it’s probably more than that, more likely 90, 30 students per course, or 25 per course, totaling 100 students). I’m being conservative here. Let’s say they teach 50 students per semester. So 100 students a year. Ok, now multiply that by 30 in a cohort. That’s 3,000 students a year. Ok, next cohort- another 30 students. They teach 3,000 students, then it’s 6,000, then it’s 12,000 then the following year, another 30, then multiply that by another 100, then don’t forget the previous cohorts are still teaching, so all that multiplied by multiples - by now the MASLED program alumni may have taught over 100,000 students the last 10 years. One person teaches so many, and this is easily spills over into 10x more, and imagine each person spills over into 10x more, and so many more. We are LITERALLY, LITERALLY transforming the world. Each of us everywhere in the world - Deaf people can drive! Deaf people are smart! Can read and all that! That slight quake constantly feeds the tremors under the ground, constantly, all over the world - you might feel like you’re alone, but under the ground we’re all synced, all of us quaking and changing the world. The news and the media are constantly talking about sign languages.
Oh my goodness! The recent inauguration - oh my goodness! They signed the pledge of the allegiance - they did it! I totally sobbed at this. Oh my goodness. This happened because of YOU. All of our mini quakes are reverberating all over the world. I’m not saying the MASLED program is alone responsible for this quake, so many more contribute to this quaking, but we need to recognize the MASLED presence in this transformation of our world. The love for our hands, our sign languages. I can’t put all of my words into a big thanks for the MASLED program. The MASLED program is the hardest part of my departure from Gallaudet. The MASLED program is so special - so beautiful. I’m truly lucky. Thank you! I’m so fortunate to be a part of the MASLED program. We have so much beautiful energies to change the world with so much diverse members, DeafBlind, DeafDisabled, Deaf LGBT, Deaf BIPOC- ALL OF US. Thank you. Namaste. I love you all.
ASLTA Endnote: Raychelle Harris - Brief Bio & Presentation Topic
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Seizing Academic Power: Creating Deaf Counternarratives
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