Deaf Studies

When Bob Hoffmeister founded BU’s modern Deaf Studies program in 1980, it was one of the first of its kind. Hoffmeister committed from the start to providing bilingual education, in American Sign Language (ASL) and English, for Deaf students. Today, the program focuses on research, community programs, and the development of curricula and other resources, all advancing the recognition of Deaf people as a linguistic minority, one with its own unique and valuable culture. Everything we do in the program takes place in
that context.

Our holistic approach has earned us the trust of the nation’s leading schools for Deaf students. When they want the best teachers, they turn to us. We’re also increasingly known for the resources our faculty and students have developed for teachers and families: video ASL storybooks, ASL lesson plans in K–12 subject areas, and other essentials that are surprisingly hard to find anywhere else.

And we don’t just educate educators. BU Wheelock is the sole provider of ASL instruction for BU students who wish to learn the language, and our ASL courses are among the University’s most popular in any subject.

One challenge unique to research and teaching in Deaf Studies is also a source of strength: faculty who are not fluent in ASL must always partner with Deaf colleagues to do their work. Of our program’s six faculty members, three are Deaf and two others are bilingual in English and ASL. We recognize and embrace the urgent need to build a stronger pipeline for Deaf scholars, at every level from undergraduates to postdocs and tenure-track faculty.

Our work is critically important to the Deaf community as well as to educators. And BU Wheelock is ideally situated to pursue it, with all the resources that a top-tier research institution like BU brings to bear. Our faculty is already developing projects with BU’s Faculty of Computing & Data Sciences—projects that draw on our researchers’ expertise in Deaf Studies as well as CDS faculty’s skills in structuring, analyzing, and visualizing data.

How You Can Lead

• Endow a scholarship in Bob Hoffmeister’s honor, with a preference for native ASL speakers who are pursuing teaching careers
• Build the graduate-level pipeline and help support research by funding stipends for research assistants, PhD candidates, and postdocs in Deaf Studies
• Support the development of ASL curricular and assessment tools, databases, and video publications
• Help our research teams work with sometimes widely dispersed Deaf communities by endowing a fund for travel and communication with families
• Support the relaunch of the Center on Sign Language & Deaf Education