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RIT - NTID - NTID News - NTID President Alan Hurwitz is Deaf Life's Deaf Person of the Month
The joys and challenges of heading NTID
When I came to work at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf in 1970, I was an education specialist in RIT's College of Engineering and College of Applied Science and Technology. NTID was still very much in the experimental phase. It wasn't known how well deaf and hard-of-hearing students would fit in on a campus filled with thousands of hearing students.
Coming from a college background that offered little or no support services, I immediately knew NTID was a unique resource. But it is more than that. I consider NTID to be a national treasure.
Those early years offered deaf students state-of-the-art education at the time. But just as important was the experience of meeting other deaf students with similar backgrounds. Couples met, married and had children. Some of those students' children are RIT/NTID students today! Our graduates (more than 6,100) have made - and continue to make - their marks in the world.
As I moved to administrative roles at NTID, it became clear that our academic programs and courses must change as technology was changing. Dozens of additional majors were added and more NTID graduates were seeking four-year degrees at RIT. This was a wonderful outcome, but one that brought new challenges as well.
Additional access services needed to be implemented. More interpreters needed to be hired. Making sure our students receive the access services they require continues to be a priority for us. We have more than 125 sign language interpreters working in classrooms at RIT/NTID - we're probably the largest single private employer of interpreters other than VRS companies. And we could use more.
As technology changed, so did our students' needs. And technology changed our students themselves. More than 250 of our students have a cochlear implant. Some of them have two. More incoming students do not know much sign language. At the same time, we embrace students who primarily use ASL. We are proud to be able to accommodate all of our students in the classroom, regardless of their communication preferences and needs.
Another obvious challenge we've faced over the past several years is finding qualified students to attend RIT/NTID. Once, we focused more of our outreach on schools that serve deaf students. Twenty years ago, 44 percent of our students came from a school with a program for deaf students. Today, 75 percent of our incoming students come from mainstreamed schools without specialized programs for deaf students. Our outreach efforts, I'm happy to say, are finding those students. Hundreds of high school students attend career-exploration programs each summer.
NTID is not only a place that provides education to students. It is also the home to PEN-International, which promotes collaboration of post-secondary education for deaf students in more than a dozen countries around the world. NTID is home to the Center for Education Research and Partnerships, studying ways and means to improve education of children who are deaf and hard of hearing. NTID is home to the Center on Access Technology, helping deaf and hard-of-hearing students have equal access to information. NTID is home to the largest ASL interpreter training program anywhere. We're proud of our Theater and Dance programs offered to our students.
One aspect of my role as president is that I do a lot of traveling. I meet alumni, employers and potential donors all over the country. I regularly make trips to Washington, D.C. to meet with education specialists and Congressional staffers. I attend several conferences a year, both in the U.S. and abroad. It is a lot of work, but I enjoy meeting everyone. I am delighted to have so many opportunities to talk about NTID.
And each time that plane takes off from the Greater Rochester International Airport, the last thing I recognize out the window in the blur as we fly away is the RIT campus. It stands out. Its tall brick buildings are easily recognizable among Rochester's trees and rooftops.
But RIT stands out in many other ways. We've been calling RIT a "Cateogory-of-One" University. It's a term supported by current RIT President William Destler, describing a college that stands alone in the eyes of its contstituents. I agree. And I know NTID is one reason RIT shines.
The joys and challenges of heading NTID
When I came to work at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf in 1970, I was an education specialist in RIT's College of Engineering and College of Applied Science and Technology. NTID was still very much in the experimental phase. It wasn't known how well deaf and hard-of-hearing students would fit in on a campus filled with thousands of hearing students.
Coming from a college background that offered little or no support services, I immediately knew NTID was a unique resource. But it is more than that. I consider NTID to be a national treasure.
Those early years offered deaf students state-of-the-art education at the time. But just as important was the experience of meeting other deaf students with similar backgrounds. Couples met, married and had children. Some of those students' children are RIT/NTID students today! Our graduates (more than 6,100) have made - and continue to make - their marks in the world.
As I moved to administrative roles at NTID, it became clear that our academic programs and courses must change as technology was changing. Dozens of additional majors were added and more NTID graduates were seeking four-year degrees at RIT. This was a wonderful outcome, but one that brought new challenges as well.
Additional access services needed to be implemented. More interpreters needed to be hired. Making sure our students receive the access services they require continues to be a priority for us. We have more than 125 sign language interpreters working in classrooms at RIT/NTID - we're probably the largest single private employer of interpreters other than VRS companies. And we could use more.
As technology changed, so did our students' needs. And technology changed our students themselves. More than 250 of our students have a cochlear implant. Some of them have two. More incoming students do not know much sign language. At the same time, we embrace students who primarily use ASL. We are proud to be able to accommodate all of our students in the classroom, regardless of their communication preferences and needs.
Another obvious challenge we've faced over the past several years is finding qualified students to attend RIT/NTID. Once, we focused more of our outreach on schools that serve deaf students. Twenty years ago, 44 percent of our students came from a school with a program for deaf students. Today, 75 percent of our incoming students come from mainstreamed schools without specialized programs for deaf students. Our outreach efforts, I'm happy to say, are finding those students. Hundreds of high school students attend career-exploration programs each summer.
NTID is not only a place that provides education to students. It is also the home to PEN-International, which promotes collaboration of post-secondary education for deaf students in more than a dozen countries around the world. NTID is home to the Center for Education Research and Partnerships, studying ways and means to improve education of children who are deaf and hard of hearing. NTID is home to the Center on Access Technology, helping deaf and hard-of-hearing students have equal access to information. NTID is home to the largest ASL interpreter training program anywhere. We're proud of our Theater and Dance programs offered to our students.
One aspect of my role as president is that I do a lot of traveling. I meet alumni, employers and potential donors all over the country. I regularly make trips to Washington, D.C. to meet with education specialists and Congressional staffers. I attend several conferences a year, both in the U.S. and abroad. It is a lot of work, but I enjoy meeting everyone. I am delighted to have so many opportunities to talk about NTID.
And each time that plane takes off from the Greater Rochester International Airport, the last thing I recognize out the window in the blur as we fly away is the RIT campus. It stands out. Its tall brick buildings are easily recognizable among Rochester's trees and rooftops.
But RIT stands out in many other ways. We've been calling RIT a "Cateogory-of-One" University. It's a term supported by current RIT President William Destler, describing a college that stands alone in the eyes of its contstituents. I agree. And I know NTID is one reason RIT shines.