Faculty
Robert J. Hoffmeister
Associate Professor of Education
BS, University of Connecticut; MEd, University of Arizona; PhD, University of Minnesota. Director of the Center for the Study of Communication of the Deaf and the Deaf Education program. Dr. Hoffmeister has focused his research on five principal areas: the acquisition of American Sign Language (ASL) by Deaf children; Deaf people as a bilingual/bicultural minority group; problems in the education of the Deaf; the effects of implementing public laws on Deaf children; and the improvement of interactions between hearing parents and their Deaf children. He has co-authored A Journey into the Deaf World with Harlan Lane and Ben Bahan. Dr. Hoffmeister is currently working on four projects. In its fourth year, the first project examines the role of ASL in the thinking of deaf children. The next project studies the learning of ASL as a second language in hearing persons, assessing different levels of ASL skill as a result of classroom instruction and determining the most difficult areas of learning ASL as a second language. The ASL Assessment Instrument (ASLAI), begun in 1988, evaluates different levels of sign skills in Deaf children. The fourth project focuses on the relationship between the knowledge of ASL and the learning of English in Deaf children.
Kristin DiPerri
Instructor in Education
BS, SUNY in Plattsburgh, NY; MEd, SUNY at Geneseo, NY. Ms. DiPerri has worked in the field of Deaf Education for 17 years as a teacher, curriculum designer, English workbook author, consultant, course instructor, practicum supervisor, workshop presenter and cooperating teacher. She is currently working on her dissertation at Boston University which focuses on emergent literacy practices of Deaf and hard-of-hearing children. Ms. DiPerri acts as a consultant for Deaf children in mainstream, self-contained and residential school settings. She has given presentations and workshops in the US and abroad on developing English literacy through the use of American Sign Language (ASL). Her research interests are centered on bilingual planning, English literacy development, developing a bilingual literacy curriculum and assessment practices. She has authored three workbooks for Deaf children in English with plans to develop more.
Janis Cole
Instructor in Education
BS, Rochester Institute of Technology; MEd, Boston University. Ms. Cole was recently selected to receive the Golden Key Award from Boston University. She teaches Deaf Literature, ASL Literature, Deaf Culture and History, and American Sign Language (ASL) as a second language. Ms. Cole's strong interests in combining literacy and creative arts lead to her co-founding Pah! Deaf Youth Theatre, affiliated with Wheelock College, a program designed for multi-racial inner city Deaf youth at risk, through which she develops and nurtures an appreciation for theater, storytelling, and poetry in Deaf children. In 1998, Pah! was chosen from among hundreds of entries to be presented at the White House, where it received a $10,000 President's Award for the Arts. Currently, she serves as advisor for the Deaf Studies Club. Ms. Cole's research focuses on ASL as a second language and the acquisition of ASL by hearing students. She is the lead researcher in the development of the ASL Evaluation Series with the Center for the Study of Communication and the Deaf. Ms. Cole is also a professional actress, formerly on Broadway, and a producer and director in Boston.
