(Posted 10-19-00)
IMMEDIATE RELEASE
News Service Contact: Steve Gilliam, 336-334-5371

EDUCATIONAL INTERPRETER PROGRAM AT UNCG
EXPANDING THROUGH $558,948 FEDERAL GRANT
 

Dr. Shroyer Dr. Compton

GREENSBORO—The Education of Deaf Children Program at The University of North Carolina at Greensboro will expand its sign language interpreter program to additional institutions throughout the Southeast during the next three years.

The expansion is being funded through a $558,948 grant from the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Preparation with annual appropriations of $186,316. The UNCG undergraduate program prepares sign language interpreters to work with deaf children in educational settings.

The continuing grant creates a “partnership” approach with the other schools. Students will take course work at their participating home institutions. They will then be able to take six or seven courses in sign language interpretation at UNCG over three summers. When they graduate, they will receive degrees from their home institutions.

North Carolina institutions that will participate in the program are the University of North Carolina at Asheville, Appalachian State University in Boone, North Carolina Central University in Durham, Barton College in Wilson and Lenoir-Rhyne College in Hickory. Out-of-state schools in the program will be Converse College in Spartanburg, S.C., and Eastern Shore Community College in Melfa, Va.

Dr. Edgar H. Shroyer and Dr. Mary V. Compton received the grant. Both are faculty members in the UNCG Department of Specialized Education Services, which houses the Education of Deaf Children Program. The program they direct at UNCG is one of only 10 in the United States that lead to a bachelor’s degree with a specialization in educational interpreting. The curriculum is modeled on guidelines established by the national Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf and the Council on Education of the Deaf.

“The need is out there and this additional grant allows us to expand and continue our collaboration with other universities to prepare educational interpreters,” said Shroyer. “It’s an expansion of the program that was started at UNCG in 1992. By working with these other institutions, we can help meet a critical need throughout the Southeast for educational interpreters.”

UNCG coordinates internships and other activities of the students at the partnership schools. Students from the schools take summer courses at UNCG in sign language, interpreting and deaf education. The grant pays the cost of the students’ summer study at UNCG and provides a stipend. Curt Brandon, a specialist in education interpreting, works with the students and their institutions to select the appropriate classes and teaches the summer classes at UNCG.

“We will be blending courses at the other schools with the specialized interpreting and sign language courses at UNCG,” said Compton. “No other institution in North Carolina, either public or private, offers the kind of specialized training in educational interpreting that we offer here at UNCG.”

 The grant provides traineeship funds to cover the cost of tuition, fees, room and board and a stipend for eligible students. During the summer of 2000, 26 students took classes at UNCG. Next summer, the maximum number will be 40.

Currently, 39 students are enrolled in the program, which started at UNCG in 1992 with an award of approximately $300,000 for the first three years. A full-time program director, Glenda Torres, has since been added. Students who have received bachelor’s degrees in educational interpreting are employed across the United States.

National statistics indicate that 82 percent of all children who are deaf or hard-of-hearing are taught in public schools. North Carolina has approximately 2,200 such children, Shroyer said. Of that number, approximately 1,700 are educated in the public schools with the remainder attending the state’s three residential schools for the deaf.

Another aspect of the partnership is retention, or keeping the trained educational interpreters in their local communities. “The common sense idea is that many people tend to settle in the area where they went to college and where they have some familiarity,” said Shroyer. “By broadening the instructional program to other institutions in the Southeast, I believe that students will provide educational interpreting services near where they complete their degrees.”

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