Alumni authors

Dr. Kathy Jankowski, ’80, wrote a book, Agatha Tiegel Hanson: Our Places in the Sun, a biography of the first woman to receive a Bachelor of Arts degree from Gallaudet. “Barely fifteen years old in 1888, Agatha Tiegel entered the nation’s only college for deaf students after the college tentatively opened its doors to women. Amid male student and faculty hostility and skepticism, Agatha achieved exemplary academic success and became the first female to earn a BA degree from the college. Upon facing the most stringent campus restrictions and exclusion from male only organizations and activities at the college, Agatha cofounded a society for women students. Her prerequisite graduation presentation, the ‘Intellect of Woman’ was a powerful oratory, urging women’s right to their ‘places in the sun.’ Agatha’s journey marked by struggles and achievements highlight the life of an extraordinary deaf woman in the early years of history.” This 438-page volume is the culmination of years of extensive research. With 28 chapters, a prologue, and 50 pages of notes, it is both a scholarly treatise and a fascinating read. The book is available on amazon.com.

Jack R. Gannon, ’59 & H-’88, has published Get Your Elbow Off the Horn: Stories through the Years. This new book, Gannon’s fourth, is described as a collection of warm and amusing interactions and observations. They begin with Gannon’s rural childhood in the Ozarks and continue through his experiences as a student, educator, coach, husband, parent, and community leader. These vignettes reveal a down-to-earth family man who believed in making a difference one person at a time. The book is available at the Gallaudet University Press.