Andrew Bottoms

Andrew R. Bottoms is a senior lecturer and program director of Deaf Studies at Boston University’s Wheelock College of Education & Human Development. He is the founding architect of Harvard University’s American Sign Language program, where he served as preceptor from 2016 to 2024. He built Harvard’s ASL curriculum from the ground up, and his work led Harvard to formally recognize ASL as eligible for its Language Citation for the first time.

A second-generation Deaf individual from a Deaf family, Bottoms specializes in ASL literature and linguistic context, Deaf Studies, program development, and curriculum design. His teaching and research span ASL storytelling, Deaf folklore, Deaf history and culture, and social justice in Deaf communities. He has also taught at MIT, Gallaudet University, and UCLA, and can speak to reporters on ASL education, language access for Deaf children, Deaf culture and identity, and curriculum innovation in Deaf Studies.