Newly tenured faculty share what they're planning next

Congratulations to the seven faculty members who earned tenure this summer! We caught up with them to ask about upcoming projects and goals for this year.

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Dr. Erin J. Farley

Associate Professor

Government

Farley is responsible for developing Gallaudet University’s Criminal Justice minor, which launched last year. Her research topics include the decriminalization/legalization of marijuana, impacts of COVID-19 on the criminal justice system, environmental crime, legal competency for Deaf defendants, the costs of mandatory ADA accommodations, and more. Farley has developed this work into numerous scholarly products, including conference presentations, program evaluation and applied research reports, and research-related articles.

What’s next: Farley has organized an interdisciplinary panel featuring Gallaudet faculty for the American Society of Criminology (ASC) Conference, which will be held in November in D.C. The panel, titled “An Examination of Social and Legal Policies and their impact in the Deaf Community,” will be led by discussant ​​Dr. Geoffrey Whitebread and include presentations by Sean Maiwald, Dr. Elizabeth Bowman McLaughlin, Dr. Gabriel Lomas, Dr. Hayley Stokar, and Farley. “This is an exciting opportunity not only for our faculty, but also to represent Gallaudet University,” says Farley, who will be sharing her findings on competency to stand trial reforms and their implications for Deaf defendants.

She is also continuing to collaborate with Whitebread on research related to marijuana/cannabis possession and subsequent fees and fines, and plans to start work examining the experience of d/Deaf and Hard of Hearing inmates at the federal level.

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Dr. Kara Hawthorne

Associate Professor

Hearing, Speech, and Language Sciences 

Hawthorne is passionate about strengthening education at the doctoral level at Gallaudet. She actively teaches and mentors students across the HSLS PhD, Speech-Language Pathology, and Audiology programs. She serves as the HSLS Coordinator and PhD Program Director and is a member of the Faculty Welfare Committee. 

Hawthorne often offers independent study courses to students juggling full-time jobs and other demands so they can still achieve their educational goals. When she arrived at Gallaudet, she didn’t know American Sign Language (ASL), but determined to be able to communicate directly with students and colleagues, she worked hard to achieve ASL proficiency. 

What’s next? Hawthorne is a co-Principal Investigator with Dr. Raja Kushalnagar on the Speech Accessibility Project, which aims to increase the accessibility of voice recognition technology for deaf individuals. “I’m really excited about my role in the Speech Accessibility Project. I’m also eager to devote more time to my research on improving the assessment of prosody for both spoken and signed languages,” she says. This research, which has been published in numerous peer-reviewed journals, focuses on prosody (tone of voice) and prosody challenges across multiple populations, including adults with intellectual disabilities, autistic children, and cochlear implant users. 

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Manuel “Mava” Vazquez

Associate Professor

Art and Media Design

Vazquez, who graduated from Gallaudet in 2006, developed his expertise in contemporary visual arts through his academic training and early professional experiences. His creative work focuses on identity, accessibility, and social justice, and he has exhibited in national juried shows and at major events, such as Miami Art Basel. Since joining the faculty in 2019, Vazquez has demonstrated a strong commitment to teaching, creative scholarship, and service. He has taught a range of courses in fine arts and media design, coordinated exhibitions for the Linda K. Jordan Gallery, and served in leadership roles, including as Director of the Tinkerlab.

What’s next: After spending the summer traveling to New York City, Miami, and Mexico City (where he visited Frida Kahlo’s home/studio), Vazquez is back and creating art at Red Dirt Studio in Mt. Rainier, MD. That is “where I now spend most of my time fabricating and painting,” he says. Stay tuned for details about an upcoming open studio event on November 9th.

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Annie Wiegand

Associate Professor and Co-Program Director

Theatre and Dance

The first professional Deaf lighting designer in the U.S. theatre industry, Wiegand has worked on numerous projects across the country. She was a member of the lighting design team for Deaf West’s 2015 Broadway revival of “Spring Awakening,” a Tony-nominated production that helped reshape the visibility of Deaf performers on national stages. She is also a resident artist with the disability-led performance company Kinetic Light. Last year, Wiegand successfully produced several ambitious projects, including the 70th anniversary celebration of the Gallaudet Dance Company, “Autocorrect Thinks I’m Dead,” and “Meat Expectations,” an original ASL musical.

What’s next: You can catch her lighting work this fall at the world premiere of “Another Kind of Silence,” a bilingual play by LM Feldman, at the City Theatre Company in Pittsburgh, PA. Fellow faculty member MoMo Holt is the Director of Artistic Sign Language. Wiegand will also be designing the lights for Kinetic Light’s newest movement piece, “The Next TiMes,” in New York City.

She is looking forward to producing the upcoming season at Gallaudet, which includes a visual gestural piece headed to Clin d’Oeil 2026, a student-run production of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show,” a compilation of 10-minute plays by Deaf writers, a movement piece with Anikaya Dance Theatre, a co-production with VOCA (Visionaries of the Creative Arts) about a Black family supporting their Deaf son’s search for belonging and equity, and the 71st annual Gallaudet Dance Company performance.

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Dr. Robert Whitaker

Associate Professor

School Psychology 

Whitaker, G-’96, has worked at Gallaudet for over 25 years, first as a school psychologist at the Clerc Center and for the last six as faculty. His favorite part about working here is the people. “I have so many friends and colleagues who have been supportive of my work and development. Gallaudet truly is a unique community, and I have been honored to be a part of it for so long,” he says.

After getting his degree in school psychology from Gallaudet, Whitaker received his doctorate in school psychology from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, focusing on neuropsychology and cognitive behavioral therapy. He is a nationally certified school psychologist and a licensed psychologist in Maryland and D.C. He holds a Diplomate in School Neurophsychology from the American Board of School Neuropsychology, a credential recognizing advanced expertise in this subspeciality of school psychology. He has also worked in private practice for over ten years. 

He strives to provide safe and accessible learning environments for his students, to whom he has taught assessment, neuroanatomy, behavioral therapeutic interventions, legal and ethical issues, and consultation. 

What’s next? Although he’s been focused mainly on teaching, Whitaker wants to get involved in more research. He researches and develops assessments for DHH individuals, one of which is called the Deaf/hard of hearing Ecological Assessment Form – Child, or DEAF-C, which aims to improve the quality and accuracy of psychological evaluations by gathering comprehensive ecological information. “Typical developmental history forms use a medical framework and not an ecological one, which can lead to diagnostic overshadowing for DHH children,” he explains.

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Dr. Geoffrey Whitebread

Associate Professor

Government

Director of the Master of Public Administration program since 2020, Whitebread was responsible for leading the revamp of the curriculum and the creation of the hybrid program. He has been teaching at Gallaudet University since 2006, and created more than 25 unique courses over his career to keep students interested and engaged! These topics — which reflect his multidisciplinary research agenda — include Public Leadership, Deaf Leadership, Research Methods (statistics), Genocide, Social Media, Organizational Culture, Employee Engagement, and Artificial Intelligence. 

What’s next: “I am particularly excited to teach more,” says Whitebread, who plans to adjust his focus to respond to recent events. “I think it’s important to continue to teach the fundamental concepts and skills, but also to be more intentional about teaching about how the public administration has changed over time. Many times, changes were not slow-moving, incremental changes, but were rather abrupt changes that came about as a result of a particular event or conflict.” He hopes that providing students with more historical perspective will help them make sense of the current environment.

As Vice Chair of the Faculty Senate, Whitebread also plans to continue strengthening faculty engagement. He was part of the ad hoc group (along with Chair Dr. Tonya Stremlau, Abbi Simons, Dr. Kara Hawthorne, Margaux Delotte-Bennnett, and Dr. Mohammad Obiedat) that spent part of the summer developing proposals for revising the faculty handbook to improve faculty experience with evaluation and the faculty workload. “I’m looking forward to sharing these proposals with faculty, and getting their ideas and feedback for how we can create an even better work environment,” he adds.

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Dr. Alicia K. Wooten

Associate Professor

Biology

Wooten has a Ph.D. in Molecular and Translational Medicine from Boston University and a B.S. in Biomedical Sciences from the Rochester Institute of Technology. Wooten’s research interests center on infectious diseases and STEM education, connecting immunology, education, and community engagement.

Wooten loves working closely with students and witnessing their growth. “There’s nothing quite like seeing a student wrestle with a challenging concept or strive to become a better learner, then being able to equip them with the tools and strategies they need to succeed. Watching those ‘lightbulb moments’ when it all clicks and their excitement takes off is truly the best part of the job,” she says.

Her commitment to Deaf education has led to funded collaborations to enhance STEM learning through the development and integration of technical American Sign Language (ASL) vocabulary. She was a lead organizer of an international STEM sign language summit, which welcomed participants from over 15 countries. The event’s participants explored how scientific concepts are communicated in different sign languages and how that impacts education and career outcomes for deaf people.

During the COVID-19 pandemic, Wooten supported the university’s public health communication by ensuring the accessibility of critical information in ASL and advising the administration on campus safety protocols.

Her passion for STEM education is evident off campus as well. She is a co-founder of Atomic Hands, a nonprofit organization dedicated to creating ASL-based STEM resources and fostering inclusive participation in science fields. 

What’s next? 

“Looking ahead, I’m especially excited to dive into wet lab research and make use of our tissue culture hood (affectionately named Fluffy) to introduce students to in vitro laboratory techniques beyond the traditional biology classroom. This has been a long time coming, and I can’t wait to train students in hands-on methods like tissue culture, western blotting, ELISAs, and cloning,” she says.