Rhonda Jennings-Arey

Dr. Rhonda Jennings-Arey has over twenty years of teaching experience at the K-12 level. She started to love teaching when she tutored Food/Nutrition to Gallaudet students during her senior year and cooking classes during the summers when Gallaudet had a camp for CODA kids. She worked as a Bus Aide for Kendall Demonstration Elementary School before deciding to major in Deaf Education. She worked at the Maryland Schools for the Deaf in both Frederick and Columbia before returning to her alma mater, the Virginia School for the Deaf and the Blind (VSDB) in Staunton, Virginia.  Rhonda has taught all courses in the elementary school, social studies in the middle, and English and American Sign Language (ASL) in the high school level. She also taught ASL as a second language for the hearing students and hearing blind students. She also coached volleyball and cheerleading and was an Academic Bowl coach.

While at VSDB, she was responsible for teaching ASL to the hearing faculty and staff at VSDB and helping them meet their SLPI (sign language proficiency interview) levels. She helped VSDB become a bilingual school for the Deaf Department along with a colleague after being trained by the Delaware School for the Deaf, and then provided training to the faculty and staff at VSDB until her departure. In addition to this, she helped bring Conference of Educational Administrators of Schools and Programs for the Deaf (CEASD) accreditation to the school.

At the post-secondary level, Rhonda has nineteen years of experience teaching college and university students. Rhonda has worked as an adjunct at the J. Sargent Reynolds Community College, Tidewater Community College, Radford University, Gallaudet University, McDaniel College, Towson State University, University of Louisville, Blue Ridge Community College, Piedmont Virginia Community College, and University of Virginia. She worked full time at the University of Louisville and University of Virginia as an Assistant Professor. She has taught online synchronous, online asynchronous, hybrid and face-to-face platforms.

She has an American Sign Language Teacher’s Association (ASLTA) certification at the Master level and endorsements in ASL instruction, Administration and Supervision, English, Reading Specialist, and Deaf Education through the state of Virginia and Maryland teacher’s licenses. She has been involved with several Deaf organizations such as her VSDB alumni association where she is a secretary, the local Deaf club where she is a treasurer, and the ASLTA board where she is a secretary. She helped found Virginia American Sign Language Teacher’s Association where she served as a president for eight years. She also has experience working as an Interpreter Rater, and Interpreter Educator. She is currently certified by RID as a Certified Deaf Interpreter where she works as a freelance interpreter. Her hobbies contain reading, camping, playing with her dogs and grandchildren, and traveling. She currently works at Gallaudet University as an Instructional Designer.

Educational Background

Graduate Certification - December 2021

Gallaudet University, Washington, DC

Deaf Cultural Studies

Doctor of Philosophy - May 2016

Capella University, Minneapolis, MN

Post-Secondary and Adult Education

Master of Arts - July 2013

Gallaudet University, Washington, DC

Sign Language Teaching/Education

Post Graduate Certification - July 2007

Johns Hopkins University, Columbia, MD

School Administration and Supervision for Special Education Leaders

Post Graduate Certification - July 2005

McDaniel College Westminster, MD

Literacy Specialist

Master of Arts - May 1994

Gallaudet University, Washington, DC

Deaf Education: Elementary

Bachelor of Science - May 1989

Gallaudet University, Washington, DC

Home Economics: Food/Nutrition