Keynote Speakers:
Dennis Cokely
Director, ASL Program,
North Eastern University, USA
Theme: Ethics and ProfessionalismFrank Harrington,
Senior Lecturer in Deaf Studies,
University of Central Lancashire, UK
Theme: Educational InterpretingMiranda Pickersgill,
Chief Executive,
Council for the Advancement of Communication with Deaf People, UK
Theme: Training/Qualifications
Contributors:
Cynthia Collward, Non-Academic Coordinator for Programs and Services, NTID @ RIT, USA
Sandra Dowe, Director, CSW Course at Barnfield College, Luton, UK
Lynne Eighinger, Director, Signs of Development, USA
Colleen Freeman, Coordinator of Interpreting Services for the College of Liberal Arts, NTID @ RIT, USA
Ben Karlin, Interpreter, St. Louis Psychiatric Rehabilitation Centre, USASharon Lee, Interpreter, Interpreters Direct, UK
Maureen Moose, Interpereter, New York, US
Mandy Mothersell, Interpreter, NTID @ RIT, USA
Jemina Napier, Honorary Research Associate, Renwick College, Australia
Joyce Pemberton, Coordinator of Interpreting Services for the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences, NTID @ RIT, USA
Rob Rodgers, Derby College for Deaf People, UK
Patty Sapere, Co-ordinator of Professional Development and In-Service Training, NTID @ RIT, USA
Biographies
Cynthia Collward has worked as an interpreter since 1984 and at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) at the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT) in Rochester, NY (USA) since the fall of 1989. She has held positions there as a full time staff interpreter, assistant Academic Coordinator, and is currently the Non-Academic Coordinator for RIT Programs and Services. Cynthia holds the rank of Senior Interpreter. She has taught professional development training sessions and has often worked as a mentor for both novice and experienced interpreters. Cynthia has been selected for international conferences, often works in "high visibility" settings and occasionally interprets theater. She holds Comprehensive Skills Certificate (CSC) from the National Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, Inc. (RID) in the USA.
In 1985 Cynthia earned a degree in Educational Interpreting from NTID. She is a member of the RID and has participated in local chapters, and has served on a national task force.
Dennis Cokely is currently the Director of the ASL Program and the Chair of the Modern Languages Department at Northeastern University in Boston, Massachusetts. Dennis is internationally known as a consultant and lecturer. For 15 years Dennis worked in various positions at Gallaudet University (as a teacher of elementary and high school students, an administrator, an Assistant Professor in the Graduate School, and as a Research Associate in the Linguistics Research Lab where he worked with William Stokoe). In 1985 he served as Director for a project funded by the Canadian government through the University of New Brunswick to develop a model curriculum for Interpreter Education programs. From 1983 through 1987 he served as the president of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID) and was instrumental in revising the RID's certification and testing program.
During the past several years he has conducted numerous training modules both in the United States and abroad on ASL semantics and developing and conducting diagnostic assessments of interpreters. Dennis received his doctorate in Sociolinguistics from Georgetown University and also has a Master's degree in Applied Linguistics. His publications include numerous articles, a series of five textbooks on American Sign Language (generally known as "The Green Books") which he co-authored with Charlotte Baker-Shenk, Sign Language Interpreters and Interpreting and Interpretation which he edited and A Sociolinguistic Model which has been translated into German and excerpted into Swedish and Japanese. A Sociolinguistic Model is widely used in the U.S. and Europe for interpreter education and has formed the foundation for formal diagnostic assessments of interpreters in the US, Canada and Europe. Through the company he co-founded, Sign Media, Inc., Dennis has produced and/or directed over 250 videotape programs focusing on American Sign Language, Deaf Culture, and Interpreter Education.
Sandra Dowe is a qualified teacher of the deaf and was head of the Bedfordshire Service for Hearing Impaired Children for fourteen years prior to reorganisation of the county in 1993. She then became home tutor and co-ordinator of CSW support for a deaf student and her account of this work 'Simon smiled' won the NASEN Stanley Segal Award in 1999. Sandra is currently director of the CSW Course at Barnfield College, Luton.
Lynne Eighinger, a native of Texas, is the founder of Signs of Development, LLC, a pioneer company devoted solely to the advancement of the profession of Sign Language interpreting. An internationally recognized professional, she presents on a diverse set of topics relating to the field of interpreting and business. Lynne also co-ordinates a new Interpreter Training Program at Southwestern Illinois College.
Lynne graduated Magna Cum Laude from SouthWest Collegiate Institute for the Deaf in Big Spring, Texas, one of her most memorable accomplishments. She was (and has been) the only hearing student in the general education program. She received her Bachelor’s degree in Organizational Leadership and her Masters in Business Administration from the John A. Simon School of Business, Maryville University. She is multi-certified including CI/CT with National Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf and the highest levels in North Carolina, and Missouri and a Level III obtained in 1985 in Texas. Her writing appears regularly in publications nationwide including the RID Views and PC Journal as well as in several state interpreting affiliate chapters’ newsletters. Lynne devotes her time and energies to promoting and improving the profession of Sign Language interpretation.
Colleen Freeman has been working as a full-time interpreter since 1981 and has been an interpreter at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology since 1983. In 1992, Colleen became the Coordinator of Interpreting Services for the College of Liberal Arts at NTID/RIT. Colleen holds IC/TC, OIC:C, OTC from RID, Inc. She has been a member of the RID Oral Task Force, which was implemented in 1992 by the RID to establish an Oral Certification Test. Colleen has traveled twice to Israel to present papers on Oral Interpreting Training in Third World Countries. She has presented numerous Oral Interpreter Training Workshops across the United States and Canada and has taught In-Service-Training courses for her colleagues at the Rochester Institute of Technology on this topic. She has also attended every Alexander Graham Bell International Convention since 1984 as an Oral Interpreter and was Co-Chair of the Interpreter Committee for the 1994 Convention. In addition, she has traveled to Russia, China and Korea as one of two interpreters for "People to People Citizens Ambassador Program."
Frank Harrington is Lecturer in Deaf Studies at the University of Central Lancashire. He is a qualified BSL/English interpreter, and has worked as a Communication Support Worker in Education, Community Interpreter, and Interpreting Service Manager before joining the University as a researcher in 1997.
Between 1998 and 2000, he was consultant to the Council for the Advancement of Communication with Deaf People (CACDP), overseeing the consultation on the Policy for the Registration of BSL/English Interpreters. He has worked as principal researcher on two recent projects at the University of Central Lancashire, both of which have focussed on interpreter-mediated discourse between deaf and hearing people. He has written a number of papers, articles and book chapters relating to Sign Language Interpreting and is co-author, with Graham H. Turner, of the book Interpreting Interpreting: Studies and reflections on Sign Language Interpreting.
Ben is a staff interpreter for the St. Louis Psychiatric Rehabilitation Center and is well known and respected internationally for his knowledge of interpreting in mental health. Ben is frequently published and is a lifelong learner and researcher on all aspects of interpreter-mediated interactions, linguistics and the impact of a third-party in mental health communication processes. He holds a Missouri Comprehensive Certification.
Sharon is a very experienced Sign Language Interpreter in a range of professional settings with a specialist knowledge of on-line interpreting. Sharon has been an interpreter for the voluntary sector, charities and local authorities during the past 10 years. She has recently set up Interpreters Direct with a colleague in 1999, which continues to grow under her guidance. Sharon graduated from Bristol University in 1993 in Deaf Studies and Interpreting. Having had an earlier background in Fine Arts in Sydney, Australia she worked as a Paralegal for an eminent entertainment law firm. She came to London in 1989 to broaden her experiences. In 1991 she became involved with the British Deaf Community. In 1997 she set up Infact! Interactive after completing a CD-ROM project under the guidance of Birkbeck College's Multimedia Authoring MSc course. She most recently qualified from "Raindance" - London with a Film Production Diploma and is currently completing a qualification at the British Film Institute (BFI) in Cultural Cinema Exhibition. Sharon continues to work as a Sign Language Interpreter, using her unique combination of skills to explore the role of e-video in the interpreting profession.
Maureen Moose lives in a rural area of northern New York where she provides training for educational interpreters, works as a freelance interpreter, and substitutes in the local school. Maureen has a MEd with a concentration in linguistics, a Bachelor degree in liberal studies and an Associate degree in interpreting from the National Technical Institute for the Deaf. Her main areas of interest are educational interpreting, language acquisition, and sociolinguistics but she also enjoys cross county skiing, backpacking and white water kayaking as time and weather allow.
Mandy Mothersell has been working as a full time interpreter since 1986. She is a graduate of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology, New York. Mandy has a variety of interpreting experiences, especially in the field of education. She spent several years interpreting in elementary and secondary schools followed by the last ten years at the post-secondary level at NTID/RIT. Mandy is a member of the National Registry of Interpreters (RID). In 2000 Mandy received a BS degree in Applied Arts and Sciences from RIT and is now working toward a Master's degree in deaf education.
Jemina Napier is a native BSL user who grew up in the British Deaf community. She began work as a BSL/ English interpreter in 1989, gaining entry to the CACDP register of interpreters in 1995. She has experience of interpreting in a range of settings, and specialised in mental health, conference, media and educational interpreting.
From 1996 she coordinated and taught on the Sign Language Interpreters Training Course at the City Lit in London for two years, and facilitated various professional development workshops for BSL interpreters on a freelance basis.
Jemina gained an MA in BSL/ English Interpreting from Durham University. The title of her dissertation was 'An analytical study of free interpretation and its use by British Sign Language interpreters'. In February 1998 she moved to Sydney, Australia to study full-time, and has since become accredited as an Auslan/English interpreter. She has recently completed her PhD thesis looking at linguistic coping strategies of sign language interpreters working in university settings. Now that she is no longer studying, Jemina is now working regularly as an interpreter and interpreter educator, but hopes to carry out further research on interpreting.
Joyce Pemberton has worked as an interpreter at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology since 1980. In 1986, Joyce became the Coordinator of Interpreting Services for the College of Imaging Arts and Sciences. Joyce holds an Interpreting Certificate/Transliteration Certificate from the National RID, Inc. She has earned a Bachelor of Science Degree in Community Service and Elementary Education from the University of Massachusetts in Amherst. Joyce has attended many Alexander Graham Bell International Conventions as an Oral Interpreter.
Miranda Pickersgill became Chief Executive of CACDP (the Council for the Advancement of Communication with Deaf People) in January 2000. CACDP is an awarding and examinations body in the area of assessments of communication skills used by and with deaf people (in the broadest sense of the term). These include British Sign Language and BSL/English interpreting. In addition, CACDP has responsibility for the register of BSL/English Interpreters and for registers of other professionals in the field.
Since joining CACDP, Miranda has been involved, with colleagues, in managing the transition to both the new assessment and new registration systems for interpreters. Miranda is herself a Qualified Interpreter. Prior to joining CACDP, Miranda was head of a support service for deaf children and young people in Leeds. She is a qualified Teacher of deaf children and her teaching career since 1973, spanned all phases from pre-school to adult education. Throughout this time she has promoted the use of BSL and was responsible for spearheading the movement towards sign bilingualism. As part of this development, the role and status of professionals, Deaf and hearing was addressed. The issue of training and qualifications turned out to be very relevant to her new role with CACDP.
Interpreting in educational settings has been a long-held interest and Miranda has also been president of LASER (the Language of Sign as an Educational Resource) since this organisation was established in the early 1980's to promote the use of BSL in education. Miranda believes strongly in the need for professional networks, with opportunities to share ideas, develop innovative ways of working and reflect on one's practice.
Rob is currently training and development manager at Derby College for Deaf People. He also works for EDEXCEL as an external verifier and in the last few years has been very involved in the rewriting and development of the Communication Support Worker course. Previously he has worked in FE sector colleges with a wide variety of professionals. He has been involved in training professionals at a variety of levels from Certificate in Education , City and Guilds 7307, Communication Support Worker courses, disability training and general staff development.
Rob is currently coming to the end of his first year studying for a doctorate in life long learning. He is married with two boys and this helps to keep the pressures of work in perspective.
Patty Sapere has been working as a full time interpreter since 1984. She is a graduate of the National Technical Institute for the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology. She has been working at NTID/RIT since 1992 as the Coordinator of Professional Development and In-Service Training. In 1999 Patty earned a B. S. degree in Applied Arts and Sciences from RIT. Patty holds the RID Certificate of Transliteration. She is a member of the National RID and the Conference of Interpreter Trainers (C.I.T.).
Prior to her employment at RIT Patty was instrumental in establishing an interpreter referral service in Spokane, WA. As the Coordinator of Interpreting Services for a three county area in Toledo, OH she developed an interpreter assessment instrument for the Ability Center of Greater Toledo. She worked for the State of OH to develop a statewide professional protocol/guidelines for interpreters working for the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation (Rehabilitation Services Commission) in the State of Ohio. She was on the feasibility study committee for the establishment of a four-year educational interpreting degree in the department of American Sign Language and Interpreting Education at RIT to be open for enrollment in the fall of 2001. Patty has presented at the National level for the American Society for Deaf Children on the topic of hearing and deaf sibling interactions. She has experience interpreting nationally and internationally.