Miss-Delectable
New Member
- Joined
- Apr 18, 2004
- Messages
- 17,160
- Reaction score
- 7
The Daily Home - Gann recognized for work with deaf community
Brian Gann, director of the Talladega campus of Central Alabama Community College, has been honored with the Distinguished Service Award by the Southeastern Regional Institute on Deafness.
Gann said the award was “a real honor. I know it’s a cliché, but I mean it. It is an honor to be recognized by individuals who have dedicated their lives to working with the deaf community to think enough of what we’re doing to give us this honor.”
He said the award also felt “a little premature. I mean, we’ve only just begun with this program, it’s not quite time to celebrate yet.”
In his nominating letter, Melvin A. Walker, counselor for the deaf with the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services, said, “Since Gann took over as director, he has invested much of his time in recruiting students with disabilities. In my experience, he has embraced the idea of partnering with the Alabama School for the Deaf and E.H. Gentry Technical Facility to have dual and concurrent enrollment. This past spring, VR (Vocational Rehabilitation) had two students from Gentry who were enrolled at CACC, and Gann went out of his way to ensure they had the accommodations needed. We have eight students from ASD that are currently in the dual enrollment program as of Aug. 15. This is the first time high school students from ASD have been offered dual enrollment at the post-secondary level.”
These programs involve some advanced planning and, according to Walker’s letter, “Gann listened and understood our concerns about the shortage of interpreters, and that interpreting is a vital accommodation. He contacted Troy University’s interpreter training program and was able to work their ASL (American Sign Language) required courses into the CACC curriculum and now ASL 1 has been offered during the fall 2011 semester. His efforts allow local students to complete all the general education requirements for the interpreter training program locally and then transfer to Troy University for their core classes. This is important because we are recruiting students from our local area to pursue this degree and then hopefully some will come back as service providers in our area. He understood the need for interpreters and the reality that we have to grow our own interpreters and did something about it. He has offered to write grant proposals to get any necessary equipment to assist students with disabilities by securing adequate accommodations, which will lead to the success of the individual student. (He) has told me time and again that he has two schools, Alabama School for the Deaf and Alabama School for the Blind, on his same street and that it’s only natural for him to recruit from these schools. Many of you who work in the disability world know that it’s not often we have such a motivated administrator from an institute of higher learning actively recruiting our consumers. Gann has proven himself to be a man of his word and one who sees past a disability and truly understands that the individual can succeed.”
Cayla Lackey, a unit supervisor with the state Rehabilitation Department, praised Gann’s “tenacity, his unwillingness to say ‘no, this can’t be done,’ his positive, upbeat attitude of ‘what can I do to make this work’ instead of ‘what are you going to do to make this work,’ his willingness to jump in and do whatever it took to make this happen … the list goes on.”
Gann thanked Lackey for being instrumental in forming the partnership, as well as AIDB President Terry Graham and all of the other staff there.
“Cayla actually came up with the idea about a year ago,” he said. “We’re just trying to do good work, doing what is best for the community and the students.”
As of the fall semester, he said, there are currently eight ASD students taking college level classes in history and biology. “They get high school and college credit, and this is really the first time we’ve tried something like this. I’ve gotten good feedback from the students and the administrators,” Gann said.
The concurrent enrollment program focuses on Gentry students. “It allows them to have some college experience while taking advantage of the services at Gentry, including tutoring, housing, whatever they need. Some will stay here and earn their associates degree and some might go back home and enroll in college there.”
He also gives tremendous credit to the “instructors, who are doing a wonderful job planning and working on the program and making sure the students all have what they need. They really go the extra mile.”
CACC hires its own interpreters, Gann said, with help from AIDB in recruiting and partial reimbursement from the Rehabilitation Department.
According to Lackey, SERID covers eight states, including Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Florida. The group is made up of professionals and government officials in a wide range of disciplines and services. Alabama hosted this year’s annual conference, which rotates among the eight states.
“Each state sends nominations regarding each award,” she said. “There are a total of five awards given to those individuals that stand out and have gone above and beyond to further enhance services for the deaf, hard of hearing and deaf-blind individuals. Brian was selected from a group of nominated individuals not only from the state of Alabama but from all of the other states as well. Typically these awards are awarded to individuals who have been in the field of deafness and have made contributions over the years to improve services. We knew it was a long shot for Brian to win, as he has never been heard of in the area of deafness. That, however, did not (deter) us from nominating him.”
Brian Gann, director of the Talladega campus of Central Alabama Community College, has been honored with the Distinguished Service Award by the Southeastern Regional Institute on Deafness.
Gann said the award was “a real honor. I know it’s a cliché, but I mean it. It is an honor to be recognized by individuals who have dedicated their lives to working with the deaf community to think enough of what we’re doing to give us this honor.”
He said the award also felt “a little premature. I mean, we’ve only just begun with this program, it’s not quite time to celebrate yet.”
In his nominating letter, Melvin A. Walker, counselor for the deaf with the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services, said, “Since Gann took over as director, he has invested much of his time in recruiting students with disabilities. In my experience, he has embraced the idea of partnering with the Alabama School for the Deaf and E.H. Gentry Technical Facility to have dual and concurrent enrollment. This past spring, VR (Vocational Rehabilitation) had two students from Gentry who were enrolled at CACC, and Gann went out of his way to ensure they had the accommodations needed. We have eight students from ASD that are currently in the dual enrollment program as of Aug. 15. This is the first time high school students from ASD have been offered dual enrollment at the post-secondary level.”
These programs involve some advanced planning and, according to Walker’s letter, “Gann listened and understood our concerns about the shortage of interpreters, and that interpreting is a vital accommodation. He contacted Troy University’s interpreter training program and was able to work their ASL (American Sign Language) required courses into the CACC curriculum and now ASL 1 has been offered during the fall 2011 semester. His efforts allow local students to complete all the general education requirements for the interpreter training program locally and then transfer to Troy University for their core classes. This is important because we are recruiting students from our local area to pursue this degree and then hopefully some will come back as service providers in our area. He understood the need for interpreters and the reality that we have to grow our own interpreters and did something about it. He has offered to write grant proposals to get any necessary equipment to assist students with disabilities by securing adequate accommodations, which will lead to the success of the individual student. (He) has told me time and again that he has two schools, Alabama School for the Deaf and Alabama School for the Blind, on his same street and that it’s only natural for him to recruit from these schools. Many of you who work in the disability world know that it’s not often we have such a motivated administrator from an institute of higher learning actively recruiting our consumers. Gann has proven himself to be a man of his word and one who sees past a disability and truly understands that the individual can succeed.”
Cayla Lackey, a unit supervisor with the state Rehabilitation Department, praised Gann’s “tenacity, his unwillingness to say ‘no, this can’t be done,’ his positive, upbeat attitude of ‘what can I do to make this work’ instead of ‘what are you going to do to make this work,’ his willingness to jump in and do whatever it took to make this happen … the list goes on.”
Gann thanked Lackey for being instrumental in forming the partnership, as well as AIDB President Terry Graham and all of the other staff there.
“Cayla actually came up with the idea about a year ago,” he said. “We’re just trying to do good work, doing what is best for the community and the students.”
As of the fall semester, he said, there are currently eight ASD students taking college level classes in history and biology. “They get high school and college credit, and this is really the first time we’ve tried something like this. I’ve gotten good feedback from the students and the administrators,” Gann said.
The concurrent enrollment program focuses on Gentry students. “It allows them to have some college experience while taking advantage of the services at Gentry, including tutoring, housing, whatever they need. Some will stay here and earn their associates degree and some might go back home and enroll in college there.”
He also gives tremendous credit to the “instructors, who are doing a wonderful job planning and working on the program and making sure the students all have what they need. They really go the extra mile.”
CACC hires its own interpreters, Gann said, with help from AIDB in recruiting and partial reimbursement from the Rehabilitation Department.
According to Lackey, SERID covers eight states, including Alabama, Georgia, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Kentucky, Tennessee and Florida. The group is made up of professionals and government officials in a wide range of disciplines and services. Alabama hosted this year’s annual conference, which rotates among the eight states.
“Each state sends nominations regarding each award,” she said. “There are a total of five awards given to those individuals that stand out and have gone above and beyond to further enhance services for the deaf, hard of hearing and deaf-blind individuals. Brian was selected from a group of nominated individuals not only from the state of Alabama but from all of the other states as well. Typically these awards are awarded to individuals who have been in the field of deafness and have made contributions over the years to improve services. We knew it was a long shot for Brian to win, as he has never been heard of in the area of deafness. That, however, did not (deter) us from nominating him.”