Mary McLerran

Mary McLerran is a senior in the ASL Deaf Studies Secondary Education program at UVU.  She has been an educational interpreter for 10 + years. She will receive her teacher certification to teach ASL in high school and will begin student teaching this fall with an anticipated graduation in December 2012.

ASL Academic Village

The idea for the ASL Academic Village was inspired by Thomas Jefferson’s “Academic  Village” as he referred to his beloved University of Virginia.  Located off campus are several language houses:  La Maison, the French House, and The German House, where students who are studying that particular language may live and use the language in a natural way with those who are native users.  

With the Deaf Studies program at UVU, it seemed natural to partner with Utah Valley University to create an ASL based academic learning community where Deaf and hearing students, faculty, and community members could live and interact using ASL to communicate in an authentic environment. 

This immersion experience will give participants the unique opportunity to gain fluent language skills, foster academic success, encourage self-responsibility and independence, and create a deeper understanding of Deaf Culture in an authentic interactive environment.

On-site tutors in ASL, math, writing, and other subjects will be available. There will be a Resident ASL Language Adviser/ Program Coordinator living on-site. Apartments will be equipped with emergency and door signal lighting systems.

One of the goals for ASL Academic Village is to include international Deaf students from around the world, beginning with students from “Sign of Hope” in Ghana, Africa, building the program through grants and scholarships to sponsor additional international Deaf students who want to live in a supportive ASL based environment.

The purpose of this workshop is to gather ideas of how YOU see this Village and what you think should be part of this plan. Some of you may be familiar with other models of a similar nature and can share ideas gathered from other’s experiences and successes with similar models as well as generate new ideas. Roll up your sleeves and bring your ideas to share as we build ASL Academic Village together.