Gallaudet welcomes three new Board of Trustees members

On August 17, Gallaudet Board of Trustees acting chair, Duane Halliburton, announced the appointments of three new Board of Trustees members to the campus community.

Dear Campus Community:

Gallaudet University announces the appointment of three new members of its Board of Trustees: Linda Campbell, Ph.D., Jose “Pepe” Cervantes, ’05, and Gregory J. Hlibok, Esq. ’90. Each new board member embodies the spirit of our community and brings talent, expertise, and energy to our board. We are very fortunate to have them on our team to continue to strengthen the mission and vision of our University. As an aquatic environmental scientist, Dr. Campbell studies contaminants in the environment and freshwater food web interactions across Canada and around the world, including sub-Saharan Africa, China and South America. Campbell has published over 65 peer-reviewed journal articles, presented over 150 papers at conferences across the world, and has been invited to over 15 different organizations and universities to share her research.

Campbell is on the Canadian Hearing Society’s Provincial Board of Directors, having been on the executive committee, recently completed a term as the chair of the governance committee, and was on the 2014-2015 Chief Executive Officer search committee. She previously served on the Board of Directors of the Halifax Regional Affiliate of the Society of Deaf & Hard of Hearing Nova Scotians (SDHHNS), and presided over the International Association of Great Lakes Research Board.

Campbell holds a Senior Research Fellow as a professor at Saint Mary’s University in Nova Scotia, Canada. Prior to her current job, she was a tenured faculty member who held a prestigious Canada Research Chair award at Queen’s University’s School of Environmental Studies and Department of Biology. She has supervised over 40 research theses by graduate and undergraduate students at both universities.

Campbell holds a Ph.D. in biology from the University of Waterloo, a master’s degree in biological sciences and an honors bachelor of science degree in zoology, both from the University of Alberta.

Cervantes has extensive experience with humanitarian-based leadership efforts, through managing services for military service members, Veterans, and in leading community and youth projects.

He served seven years on the San Diego Community College District’s Trustees Advisory Council for one of the largest community college districts in the country, with over 130,000 students annually, and was involved in fostering partnerships between the district and community organizations. He spent six years on the City of San Diego Commission on Gang Prevention and Intervention. Cervantes was appointed by the Mayor of San Diego and received recognition for his work in identifying, reducing, preventing, and intervening with gang activity through implementing various programs that targeted at risk youth.

Later, Cervantes served on detail as assistant director of the Veteran Affairs Record Management Center, in which he was responsible for day-to-day operations and supervision of over 400 employees, and provided leadership oversight of the station budget and staffing requirements.

Cervantes currently is the supervisory analyst/program manager for the Office of Field Operations within the U.S. Department of Veteran Affairs. He is responsible for leading a team assisting the Deputy Undersecretary of Field Operations with the management and oversight of 56 Regional Offices of the Veteran Benefits Administration, comprising over 20,000 employees.

Cervantes completed Harvard University’s Senior Executive Fellows Program, coursework at the Treasury Executive Institute, and numerous Veteran Affairs programs. He has completed doctorate coursework in educational leadership as well. Cervantes earned a master’s degree in public administration from San Diego State University and a bachelor’s degree in economics and finance from Gallaudet in 2005. He is married to Jordan Cervantes, ’04, and has two deaf children enrolled at Kendall Demonstration Elementary School.

Hlibok is an accomplished lawyer and community leader who has devoted many years of his professional life to advocating for equality and accessibility for people with disabilities.

To many, Hlibok is remembered as a student leader during the Deaf President Now movement at Gallaudet in 1988. The leadership he displayed earned him recognition by television network ABC as its Person of the Week. He is a member of several deaf advocacy organizations, including National Association of the Deaf, Telecommunications of the Deaf, Inc., Maryland Association of the Deaf, and Howard County Association of the Deaf. In October 2015, he received Individual Leadership Award from the Howard County Commission on Disability Issues. He is the current president of the Board of Trustees of his alma mater, Lexington School for the Deaf and Center.

For a number of years he worked at the Federal Communications Commission as chief of the Disability Rights Office in the Consumer and Governmental Affairs Bureau. He oversaw rulemaking proceedings designed to ensure accessibility for persons with disabilities including the implementation of the 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act and the ongoing development of Telecommunications Relay Service (TRS) and various issues on accessibility of communication technologies.

Hlibok is currently the general counsel and compliance officer for video relay service provider ZVRS. He has a bachelor’s degree in government from Gallaudet and a JD from Hofstra University School of Law. He is married to Charmaine Jacobs Hlibok, G-’95, and has four children.

Each of these individuals has unequivocally advanced their respective organizations. Their wisdom and experience will be paramount to Gallaudet University at this exciting time in our history. Please join me in welcoming them to our community and once again, expressing appreciation for the outstanding contributions of our retiring trustees, Ms. Heather Harker, Mr. Dick Kinney and Dr. Richard Ladner.

Kind regards,Duane Halliburton
Acting Chair, Board of Trustees