Kathryn Roberts, interim assistant dean and professor and Emily Jo Noschese, assistant professor in the College of Education, quoted in Public News Service, WSJM, “Wayne State adds American Sign Language to teaching curriculum.”
Public News Service, WSJM, 10/20
Wayne State adds American Sign Language to teaching curriculum
By Mark Richardson
Deaf people say they sometimes feel like they’re leaving on a different planet from those who hear, but when both learn to use American Sign Language, it can open up a new world of communication. In Detroit, Wayne State University is taking notice. The school’s College of Education recently included a Deaf Studies minor in its curriculum, and the classes are filling up. As the program grows, the school is actively recruiting people who are deaf or hard of hearing as teachers. Kathryn Roberts, interim assistant dean of teacher education at Wayne State, said it would not make sense to teach ASL without instructors from the deaf culture. “It was really important to our division that we had people from the deaf community working with us, because deaf culture is a huge piece of what we wanted to be teaching, Roberts explained. “And education programs, particularly Wayne State’s education program, we have a huge focus on the community.” Roberts added there are an estimated 400,000 deaf people in Michigan, which means the program potentially affects one out of every 20 people in the state. Emily Jo Noschese, assistant professor of bilingual and bicultural education, was one of the first instructors the school recruited. Noschase, who is fourth-generation deaf, not only teaches ASL, but has helped identify and hire five part-time ASL instructors. “Anybody that’s working in a business, somebody who might own a business or a company, they are guaranteed to have a deaf person that might want to come in and work for them,” Noschese said. “They learn sign language; that could benefit the rapport between them and the client, because they will be able to communicate with them.”