Gallaudet partners with Ohlone College to advance educational opportunities for future sign language interpreters

Advancing Educational Opportunities for Interpreters

On March 2, 2016, Gallaudet University established a collaborative agreement with Ohlone College in Fremont, Calif., to advance educational opportunities for future sign language interpreters.

The partnership allows students in the two-year Interpreter Preparation Program at Ohlone to transfer credits into Gallaudet’s four-year Bachelor of Arts in Interpretation (BAI) program. At Gallaudet, students live and study with deaf and hard of hearing people from the United States and abroad on the University’s bilingual campus. Gallaudet has similar agreements with Central Piedmont Community College in Charlotte, N.C., Austin Community College in Austin, Texas, and Front Range Community College in Westminster, Colo.

Gallaudet is the only university in the world to offer interpretation programs from the bachelor’s level to the doctorate level within a sign language immersive environment. Gallaudet’s award-winning interactive interpretation laboratories prepare students for a high-demand career through hands-on training in a variety of medical, business, education, and government settings.

Graduates from Gallaudet’s interpretation degree programs work in a variety of settings for organizations, individuals, and government agencies. Alumni of the programs work in settings such as business, education, government, theatre, medicine, law, health care, and video relay.

The interpretation classes are optimized for ASL medium teaching and classrooms are equipped to serve the needs of the rapidly advancing field of interpretation. The department’s amenities include tools that allow for recording live and interactive interpreting role play, video conferencing for national and global collaboration among students and faculty, and private recording booths and central computer stations for individual and class activities. The Center for the Advancement of Interpretation and Translation Research includes a library, filming rooms, video relay services (VRS) simulation center, and student research bays with video and statistical software.

To learn more about Gallaudet’s Bachelor of Arts in Interpretation program, click here.