Dreams of Doctorate Come True for St. Rita's Grad

Sally Ann Zwicker is making history at the University of Cincinnati and across the nation's deaf community as she graduates with her doctorate in education. Zwicker is believed to be the second profoundly deaf person to graduate with a doctorate from UC's College of Education.

Zwicker refers to herself as "capital D" Deaf, which is culturally deaf. Both of her parents as well as her brother are profoundly deaf, so Zwicker first learned to communicate by using American Sign Language (ASL) and she does not communicate vocally.

Zwicker learned English as her second language. ASL is its own language, the same as English, French or German are different languages from each other. In fact, the lack of emphasis on ASL in programs to train teachers for the deaf was one of the alarming findings in Zwicker s dissertation.

Zwicker's study examined 42 of the nation's graduate level teacher preparation programs of deaf and hard of hearing students. She explored not only how teachers are prepared for competence in communication but also the cultural considerations of working with students who are deaf and hard of hearing. She says her research found that most teacher preparation programs do not have any deaf faculty members, and numbers were just as dismal for deaf or hard of hearing pre-service teachers.

Zwicker says she also found little diversity in the teacher training programs and inadequate instruction and opportunity for teachers to learn sign language and Deaf culture.

"The feedback she received from the teacher educators may reflect an acceptance of assumptions and past research about students who are deaf and hard of hearing," says UC Education Professor Anne Bauer, Zwicker s dissertation advisor. "There is often minimal preparation in sign language, even though teachers are using ASL to teach, and there are comments like, 'Oh, they don't need to sign very well because they'll learn that on the job.' Well, think about that a minute. I have a fifth grader, and that would be like telling me, 'Oh, Mickey's new teacher doesn't speak English very well, but she'll muddle around and I'm sure by the end of the year she'll be fluent.'"

"Historically, kids who are deaf and hard of hearing have incredible underachievement," Bauer continued. "The average academic achievement is around the three-and-a-half to fourth grade level for those who have graduated from high school. It's always been explained away by their problems -- their language difficulties, for example instead of looking at the fact that there's a great possibility they received inadequate language input their entire school career."

Communicating via sign language through her best friend and fellow doctoral graduate, Chachie Joseph, Zwicker added that her own parents did not finish high school. Because of their experience in the "oral school system," Zwicker says her parents decided to send her and her brother to a deaf residential school. She grew up in Golf Manor and graduated from St. Rita School for the Deaf in 1986. She adds she does not believe she would ever have achieved so much academically if she had been educated in an oral environment. Her brother also continues to advance academically, and is presently earning his master's degree in deaf education from Western Maryland College in Westminister, Maryland.

Zwicker met and became friends with Joseph when she earned her bachelor's and master s degrees from Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., an institution that is internationally recognized for educating students who are deaf and hard of hearing. She decided to pursue her doctorate at UC on the suggestion of the first profoundly deaf doctoral graduate from UC's College of Education, Harvey Corson, who became the first deaf superintendent of Kentucky School for the Deaf in Danville, Kentucky in 1994.

Zwicker was able to face the challenges of attending an institution with a majority population of hearing students. She says her UC experience taught her to become assertive, and officials at the Office of Disability Services say Zwicker and Joseph were instrumental in getting the position of deaf coordinator added to the office.

"I want to emphasize strongly that Chachie Joseph was an enormous source of strength and support," continued Zwicker. "When faced with erratic services and other barriers on account of being Deaf, she worked hard with me to ensure I had equal access. Most importantly, she understood what I was going through. Her ability to share my experiences is exceptional."

Zwicker also wants to thank her dissertation advisor, Anne Bauer for opening doors to professional opportunities at UC, and two interpreters she worked with at UC, Pauli Griffis and Cathy Cody. "By being dependable, professional, and asking for feedback to make sure they were meeting my needs, they were very professional to work with."

Zwicker is presently living in Florida, and spent the past school year teaching seventh and eighth grade middle school in St. Augustine. Joseph also lives in Florida and works at the Gallaudet Regional Center, Flager College.

"I think she is a great example," Bauer says of Zwicker. "If I were the parent of a child who was deaf, I would want her to be their teacher, because she could demonstrate that you can go far academically, and there aren't many models in the deaf community of people who have succeeded academically."