Register Now for Fall 2009 Courses

Gallaudet University’s College of Professional Studies and Outreach has a wide variety of courses being offered in Fall 2009.

For more information about these courses, go to CPSO online.

Summer 2009 at Gallaudet Offers Something for Everyone!

A message from College of Professional Studies and Outreach (CPSO) interim dean Joseph J. Innes:

With a broad array of academic and enrichment programs that include challenging courses for graduate or professional studies credit, leadership development, and youth programs, the College of Professional Studies and Outreach (CPSO) at Gallaudet University has something for everyone.

Located in the heart of our nation’s capital city, the University is just a few city blocks from the U.S. Capitol and some of the world’s finest museums. Gallaudet is a special place with over a century of experience providing education and enrichment programs to deaf people and individuals interested in working in deaf-owned or deaf-centric corporations, agencies, and organizations.

As you pursue your personal and/or professional goals, you will also be able to immerse yourself in the tremendous range of cultural diversity and diversity of thought that permeates our environment. In CPSO, we design and offer programs that are intended to have an impact and can be life-changing, programs that are challenging and engaging, and which are offered in a variety of formats including face-to-face, online, experiential, and hybrid. Join us in Summer 2009.

We look forward to meeting you and welcoming you to our community. Once you’ve been here, we are confident you will agree that Gallaudet is a special place with talented and caring faculty and staff who are ready to serve you.

Visit Summer at Gallaudet now!

ASL/English Bilingual Mentor Training

From June 17-July 2, 2009, the Center for ASL/English Bilingual Education and Research (CAEBER) will conduct the Summer Institute on ASL/English Bilingual Mentor Training. This event will provide 120 hours of training in the theory and methodology of bilingual education using ASL and English as the languages of instruction, in addition to 20 hours of instruction in technology and mentoring over two summers. Mentors will be trained to:

* Establish and facilitate the two-year ASL /English Bilingual Professional Development (AEBPD) in-service at their school or program;

* Use classroom technology to enhance ASL/English bilingual instruction; and

* Perform the role and responsibilities of an ASL/English bilingual in-service mentor.

Each school for the deaf and each mentor who participates must make a two-year commitment to the program and participate in two consecutive summer training sessions. Mentors undergo Levels 1 and 2 of the AEBPD program during their first summer session and Levels 3 and 4 during their second summer session. Using the critical pedagogy process, participants will survey and reflect upon current research in bilingual education/second language learning that supports acquisition, development and use of both ASL and English for academic purposes. General topics covered at each level of training include:

Level 1: The seven principles of effective language and literacy learning within a bilingual environment

Level 2: Bilingualism and second language acquisition and learning

Level 3: Bilingual methodology for the classroom and assessment

Level 4: Bilingual instructional techniques, assessing the languages of ASL and English, and using assessment to guide bilingual instruction

For for more information, including application information, download the trifold brochure (PDF) by clicking here. Or, contact Pia Marie Paulone, AEBPD Project Coordinator, by clicking here.

VL2 Approved for $12 Million Funding Over Next Three Years

VL2 Logo

The Science of Learning Center on Visual Language and Visual Learning (VL2), a unit of CPSO’s Language Planning Institute, has been approved for funding for the remaining three years of its five-year cycle at $4 million per year. The approval came August 11 from the National Science Board, and all members of the team are “popping the champagne,” as recommended by Dr. David Lightfoot, assistant director of the National Science Foundation, Social, Behavioral, and Economic Sciences.

The science board’s approval follows a highly successful second-year review of VL2 in April by a renowned group of researchers, including international scholars that resulted in a recommendation for the continued funding.

Since its establishment in 2006, VL2, funded by the National Science Foundation (NSF), has been opening new venues of research that focus on understanding skilled deaf readers whose first language is ASL. This increased funding will allow additional researchers to join VL2 in its efforts to understand the mechanisms involved with skilled deaf readers. Approval by the National Science Board will allow these exciting projects to proceed.

Dr. Thomas Allen, principle investigator and director of VL2, stated, “The Site Visit was a highly productive event, with recognition for our researchers such as Drs. Paul Dudis (assistant professor in the Department of Linguistics at Gallaudet) and Jill Morford (associate professor in the Department of Linguistics at the University of New Mexico, Albuquerque) as engaging in ‘transformative scientific advancements.’ We believe the center has the potential to transform the education of all deaf individuals, and other visual learners in general, giving us great hope for the future.” Following the recent news from the National Science Board, Allen said he is working on budgets to bring on board a larger group of researchers who will work with VL2 in its endeavors.

In its first 18 months, VL2 was awarded $4.5 million, which was used to establish an infrastructure and the basis for future research. This work included establishing partnerships, beginning ground breaking research, and bringing on board a diverse group of deaf and hearing students at all levels—undergraduate, graduate, and postdoctoral—to meet the goals of providing a greater understanding of the biological, linguistic, cognitive, socio-cultural, and pedagogical conditions that influence the acquisition of language and knowledge in the visual modality.

VL2 is one of six Science of Learning Centers. It is a virtual center with an eight-university network that, in addition to Gallaudet, includes the National Technical Institute of the Deaf, Boston University, the University of New Mexico, University of Illinois- Champaign Urbana, Georgetown University, and two members of the University of California system—San Diego and Davis.

Visit the VL2 website by clicking here.