Lisa Jacobs Joins CPSO as Manager, GURC Mid-Atlantic Region & Outreach Development

CPSO Dean Dr. Joseph “Jay” Innes recently announced the newest member of the CPSO team:

Lisa Jacobs

“I am very pleased to welcome the newest member of the CPSO team:  Lisa Jacobs is joining us as Manager, GURC Mid-Atlantic Region & Outreach Development.  She will be working directly with Janne Harrelson, director of Regional & National Outreach, and the other Gallaudet University Regional Center (GURC) directors and staff around the country, focusing her efforts primarily on the mid-Atlantic region.

Lisa brings with her a wealth of experience to CPSO and to the GURCs. Most recently, she was the coordinator for national training, and before that, an outreach specialist, at the Clerc Center where she worked closely with the GURCs.  She coordinated the train-the-trainer program and developed systems for recruiting a cadre of well-qualified trainers for national mission initiatives.  Lisa is also an exceptional trainer herself, conducting workshops on issues related to literacy for deaf and hard of hearing students as well as sexuality education, teaming with our own Dr. Asiah Mason.

Earlier in her career, Lisa taught ASL and Communication at Gallaudet University, served as an educational planner and taught in the Communication Department at MSSD. Lisa was co-coordinator of the Gallaudet University Graduate School’s Language and Cultural Colloquium for several summers.  She has also served as an educational consultant with Dawn Sign Press and Educational Testing Services.

Lisa has been active with the Deaflympics over the years, and also worked in India, teaching deaf children and helping provide leadership development to deaf adults.  She graduated with a MA degree in Education from Western Maryland College (now McDaniel College) and earned her BA degree in English from Gallaudet University.

Lisa began her duties at CPSO on September 2, 2008.  Her office will be in the Kellogg Conference Hotel, 3rd floor.  Please join me in extending a warm CPSO welcome to Lisa Jacobs.”

Coming in Spring 2009… Eye Movement Therapy Training: New for Mental Health Professionals

In the Spring of 2009 CPSO will be offering a new course for mental health therapists in the theory and practice of Eye Movement Therapy (EMI). The course, to be taught by Dr. Mike Deninger, will explore the origins of EMI and provide practical training in its uses in clinical settings.  If you would like to register for this course, please click here to go to the course registration page.

Dr. Mike Deninger

Dr. Deninger is a graduate of the Mental Health Counseling program of Gallaudet and is a Licensed Professional Counselor in private practice in Alexandria, Virginia. He holds certification as a trainer of EMI, and as a Master Practitioner of Neuro Linguistic Programming from the American Hypnosis Training Academy of Silver Spring. You can read more about EMI and Dr. Mike’s use of hypnosis and NLP techniques with deaf and hard of hearing individuals at deninger.com.

The following article was submitted by Dr. Deninger and touches on today’s life changes and how EMI can help:

We are living in an era of instability that has increased the incidence of anxiety in the population. Global warming is causing climate shifts that scientists warn will continue to spawn more frequent and severe weather systems around the globe.

The need for disaster relief from severe weather has become routine. At the same time, extremists have created a heightened state of unrest with attacks like 9/11 and bombings in key metropolitan areas. The wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and civil strife in developing countries are leaving behind soldiers and civilians in the aftermath who suffer from post-traumatic stress. U.S. soldiers suffering from anxiety-related illnesses have been overwhelming our military health care system for years.

To read the rest of the article, click here.

GURC Reps to Attend 29th Annual Fall Conference on Mainstreaming Students with Hearing Loss

Each year for the past twenty-eight years, The Mainstream Center has hosted an annual fall conference to help educators and parents understand the nature of hearing loss and how they can be more successful in their work with their children. This two-day conference is designed to provide information on hearing loss and how to maximize success for students, parents and professionals in mainstream settings. Experts on hearing loss from around the country have been invited to share their knowledge and experience throughout the two days.

Kathy Vesey of Gallaudet University Regional Center’s Northeast Region will attend the conference along with other Gallaudet representatives.  To learn more about the conference, click here.

Deaf Chinese Woman Experiences First Baseball Game

“Growing up in America and playing baseball, I found it fascinating that I’d be able to take someone to a ballgame for the first time in their life,” said Michael Walton, CPSO’s Publishing and Marketing Coordinator.  Walton enjoyed a fun-filled evening with his friend, Yiqiao Wang, a media design major at Gallaudet, at a Washington Nationals game this past August.

Neither Wang nor her parents have seen each other since she moved to Washington in 2005 to attend Gallaudet.  “In addition to  showing Yiqiao the game of baseball, I thought it would be fun to share the experience on the web so her parents could see her,” he said.

In addition to studying for her degree (she’s on schedule to graduate in 2009), Wang also works on special projects for CPSO, performing high-quality design work for CPSO’s various publications.

To read Walton’s article, and view the video, click here.

SLCC Ribbon-Cutting Ceremony Highlights Deaf Space Angle of New Building

On behalf of the staff of CPSO, we’re pleased to present Gallaudet’s new James Lee Sorenson Language and Communication Center (SLCC) building. On September 3, a ribbon-cutting ceremony took place to officially open SLCC to the community.

To read the entire story about the ceremony, go to the Inside Gallaudet article here.