U N I V E R S I T Y
1864
Gallaudet
The year Gallaudet was founded by an act of Congress with Charter signed by President Abraham Lincoln
11
Nifty and engaging average class size for lively exchanges
39
Aplenty majors and specializations to choose from including design-your-own major
The number of U.S. presidents who have put their “John Hancock� on our diplomas
1824
29
Number of students on campus for you to hang out with
8 :1 STUDENT-TOFACULTY RATIO
(TRY BEATING THAT!)
Washington, D.C.
FAST FACTS
A bilingual community for deaf, hard of hearing and hearing students seeking personalized education and strong career preparation Accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education A Yellow Ribbon participating institution for veterans 27% minority undergraduate student body 29% first-time entering transfer students 7% international undergraduate student body with students the last five years from all 50 states and 44 countries, including from the top eight countries: Canada, China, Japan, Nigeria, India, Korea, Sweden, Saudi Arabia Preeminent resource for research and outreach related to lives of deaf and hard of hearing people worldwide, including home to: * Center for ASL/English Bilingual Education and Research * Visual Language and Visual Learning (VL2) * Cochlear Implant Education Center * Deaf Library Collections and Archives
HISTORICAL TIDBITS The 99-acre campus, also known as Kendall Green, is an oasis of green located in northeast Washington, D.C. On this former country estate of Amos Kendall–journalist, statesman, philanthropist, politician, U.S. Postmaster General, and business, manager for Samuel Morse–was laid the first experimental telegraph line that ran between the U.S. Capitol to Baltimore. Seventeen acres of the campus are registered with the National Register of Historic Places. The football huddle originated at Gallaudet in the 1890s. The Gallaudet team started huddling to prevent the eavesdropping of some opposing team players who knew sign language. A former gymnasium, built in 1881 and now home to the Alumni Office, housed the nation’s first indoor swimming pool that was then frequented by Congressmen.
VISUAL LANGUAGE AND VISUAL LEARNING (VL2) CENTER The Science of Learning Center on Visual Language and Visual Learning (VL2) is a multi-university, multi-year, multi-million dollar interdisciplinary research center housed at Gallaudet University in the Sorenson Language and Communication Center. Funded by the National Science Foundation, its purpose is to study how learning occurs through the visual modality. Over 30 research projects, conducted at 12 universities in America, Germany, Israel, and Turkey with the support of over 45 K-12 School Partners cover a broad range of research questions and methods, including studies of cognitive processes of visual learning, the functions and structures in the brain associated with reading and signing among deaf children, the social and cultural aspects of deaf children in different types of school settings, and the role of gestures in human learning. Research results will not only inform and improve the education of deaf children, they will have broad implications for all learners. They address critical questions, such as, “What is the nature of human language?”; “How is the body employed through signs and gestures in the communication of meaning”; “What is the role of visual attention in learning?”; and “What are the best strategies for parents and teachers to engage young children visually to help them learn?”
A PANORAMA OF EXPERIENCES.
At Gallaudet, we see life through a sweeping, visual prism because it is who we are – a bilingual, liberal arts university. Through a liberal arts view, you’ll see the interconnectedness of ethics in biology. The study of light waves in physics will help you understand film production. Logic in philosophy will find its companion in computer science. An understanding of cultures will shed light on international business, and a background in communication studies will greatly enhance your ability to teach. With people changing careers an average of six times during their lifetime, your liberal arts experience will prepare you for the ever-evolving workforce, lay the groundwork for advanced degrees and professional careers, and make you a lifelong learner. You’ll stand out for life with a set of skills like creative and analytical thinking, interpersonal skills and team work – in effect, learning how to learn, creating new ideas and solutions, and paving new frontiers for the global world. An engaged mind is an educated mind. Get in on the Gallaudet experience. Stand out for life.
Academics GENERAL STUDIES
General Studies Curriculum
GET INTELLECTUAL ENERGY.
Our General Studies Program provides you with a two-year integrated foundational framework to build upon, strengthen, and deepen your competencies in language and communication; critical thinking; identity and culture; knowledge and inquiry; and ethics and social responsibility. These are the kind of competencies that employers seek in college graduates. The curriculum includes three foundational components: •• Freshman Foundations •• Integrated Courses •• Capstone Experience
The General Studies courses will get you charged up for your major, career, and for a lifetime.
Stand Out. "Gallaudet is a pioneer and is really moving their students into the 21st century. Only a handful of colleges/universities have an integrated program as rich and in-depth as Gallaudet’s...Yours could be a national model." Carolyn Haynes Past president, Association for Integrative Studies Professor, Miami University
Dr. Jane Dillehay
Professor, General Studies & Biology "Students observe the perspectives of different disciplines, sometimes clashing, in the integrated course I teach with an English faculty member - I'm a scientist, she's the poet. This inspires students to wrestle with their perceptions and formulate their own conclusions about environmental issues."
General Studies
INTEGRATED COURSES
Ethical Evaluations and Actions
With integrated courses, you plug into the different perspectives that force you out of your mental comfort zone and push your boundaries; you become problem solvers, leaders, and advocates for change. You’ll complete a course from each of the five learning clusters, including one service-learning course in which you give back to the local community through projects. The course samplings below may change on a semester or yearly basis. The learning clusters, however, remain the same.
Introduction to Integrated Learning
Using the broad theme of Washington, D.C. as a context for a variety of topics, students deepen their critical thinking skills while building competencies for subsequent integrated courses. •• The City as Text: Politics & Propaganda (English, graphic design) •• The City as Text: Cinema & Deaf Studies (film, deaf studies) •• The City as Text: The 7 Deadly Sins & the Environment (literature, philosophy) •• The City as Text: Museums, Memorials, & Monuments (English, graphic design) Students researched and explored a D.C. monument, memorial, or museum, then wrote and designed a 24-page tourist guidebook. Another class produced a video instead of a guidebook.
Comparing Multicultural Perspectives
•• Business Ethics Spinmeisters & Securities Manipulations (business, philosophy) •• Global Human Rights and Social Justice (history, social work) •• Law and Public Education* (government, education) Service Learning: Students sat in on a U.S. Supreme Court case; instructed deaf high school students on how the Supreme Court has interpreted students’ right of free expression in public schools; conducted workshops for parents of deaf children on Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) and No Child Left Behind; and prepared teaching packets on the U.S. Constitution and the Bill of Rights for students majoring in Education.
* Denotes a service-learning course
THE CAPSTONE EXPERIENCE – IT'S A WRAP! You've completed your Freshman Foundations and integrated courses. Now, pull it all together with a “wrap-up” Capstone course. With your student colleagues on a project team, you’ll work collaboratively with a local community group to solve real world problems through a project, artifact or work experience. This includes researching, planning, and implementing innovative solutions. In a current course, students work with an architecture firm and neighborhood communities on an urban development study for a Sixth Street Project near Gallaudet. Gallaudet is one of the leading 19% of colleges and universities surveyed that require Capstone projects in the General Education Program.**
•• Europe, Africa & the Diaspora (history, German studies) •• Deaf People in Society: S. African & S. Asian Experiences* (Latino studies, deaf education) •• Deaf Latino Identities (deaf studies, sociology) Service Learning: Students developed instructional materials and raised funds to support the bilingual mission of a school for the deaf in Lima, Peru.
**2009 Trends in General Education survey, Association of American Colleges and Universities
Methods of Multiple Disciplines
•• Before the Tomato: Leonardo daVinci (art, Italian studies) •• France, the French, & the Economics of Wine (economics, French studies) •• Why is Africa Struggling?* (economics, cultural studies) Service Learning: Students exchanged emails with a deaf organization in Uganda to learn the impact of HIV/AIDS among deaf Ugandans; developed an HIV prevention brochure and video; and raised monies for the organization’s HIV/AIDS fight beyond Uganda’s capital.
Scientific and Quantitative Reasoning in Context
•• Science of Disaster: BIO in Fiction (biology, English) •• What do we know about Sex & Gender (biology, literature) •• Back to Nature* (biology, English) Service Learning: Students worked with campus dining services staff on a kitchen garden; did an environment clean-up drive; and presented to high school students about Earth Day.
Daniel DiDonna
Morris Plains, NJ Major: Communication Studies "By studying the Afrocentric elements in my African-American Art course, I gained a new respect for how art is interwoven with artists’ complex identities and their histories."