Alumnus Tim Albert builds connections everywhere he goes

M. Tim Albert, ’02 & G-’04, has had a long, storied journey and career in the deaf community.

“Everywhere I go, people are always coming up and greeting me like an old friend,” Albert says while flashing his signature smile. “It doesn’t matter where I am. Texas, California, D.C. Somebody will walk up saying they know me. Sometimes I have to think for a minute before I remember them!”

Many of those connections were made during Albert’s time in the Gallaudet Social Work program, where Albert earned his bachelor’s and master’s degrees.

Finding deaf culture

Albert was born and raised in New Orleans, Louisiana. He is the oldest of four siblings and the only deaf person in his family. Growing up, he and his family communicated through home signs. At school, he used Signed Exact English (SEE). Neither language gave him full access to communication. To express himself, he developed his artistic side through drawing and painting.

One day, as a middle schooler, Albert met a local Deaf person who told him about Louisiana School for the Deaf (LSD), 80 miles to the northwest in Baton Rouge. Albert couldn’t believe it.

“I didn’t buy that story,” Albert says. “Before then, I had no idea that there was a rich deaf community.”

Soon after, his mother received a flyer for a summer camp at LSD. Albert begged his parents to go. He spent two weeks on the sprawling campus, surrounded by signing and Black Deaf peers for the first time in his life. When his parents came to pick him up, he asked them if he could attend LSD. They said no, reluctant to let him live in the school dorms in Baton Rouge. 

Three years later, Albert attended a mainstream high school in New Orleans. When he tried to join the football team, the coach and the family doctor wouldn’t allow him to play. Albert pointed out to his mother that LSD had a football team, and she finally let him go.

At age 16, Albert entered LSD as a student. It was a culture shock. Everybody signed so fast that he couldn’t keep up. He was also taken aback by the expressiveness of American Sign Language (ASL). When using SEE, his face and limbs stayed still. His peers at LSD used their entire body to communicate with more richness than he realized possible.

“I lived deaf culture and ASL twenty-four hours a day,” Albert says. “I was only there for three years, but it felt like I finally had unlimited opportunity.”

Finding community in Rochester

At mainstream schools, teachers didn’t have high expectations for Albert, so he had never connected with reading or academics. The deaf teachers at LSD encouraged him to start taking his schoolwork seriously. He thrived academically and started reading more than ever before.

Albert looked up to his teachers as proud deaf professionals. When he asked them where they went to school, almost all of them said Gallaudet University. At the time, Albert didn’t know anything about Gallaudet, but he wanted to follow in their footsteps.

As a liberal arts university, Gallaudet’s English proficiency requirements were robust. Because he had entered LSD at age 16, Albert’s language skills were still catching up to his peers. As a high school senior, he sent an application to Gallaudet, but wasn’t accepted. His LSD counselor suggested a detour: the National Technical Institute of the Deaf at Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT/NTID).

Albert arrived at RIT/NTID and dove headfirst into the welcoming community. He  wanted to major in social work, but the school’s program was closing. Instead, he returned to his love of the arts. In 1997, he graduated with his AAS in Imaging Technology. While the degree gave him useful career skills, Albert still felt drawn to the social work field.

“I looked up to my mom as a kid,” says Albert. “She worked at a daycare center in New Orleans. She could engage with anyone, regardless of their background or identity. I always wanted to be like her. I wanted to help people and benefit the deaf community.”

With more experience and education under his belt, Albert was ready for Gallaudet. He arrived in Washington, D.C. in 1998.

Growing at Gallaudet

Albert decided to spend his time at Gallaudet fully focused on his education. When he felt stressed and overwhelmed he was encouraged by professors like Dr. Marquessa Brown; Dr. Teresa Crowe, G-’92; Dr. Elizabeth Moore, ’81, G-’94, & PhD ’11; Dr. Martha Sheridan, ’77; and Dr. Barbara White, ’76.

“Tim was an exceptional student characterized by his warm and affable demeanor,” Dr. Moore remembers. “He demonstrated a strong commitment to pursuing a career as a social worker.”

As part of his degree track, Albert got an internship with the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Liaison Unit at the Washington D.C. Metropolitan Police department. He embraced helping deaf community members navigate the law enforcement system.

“If I didn’t get into the social work field, I don’t know where I’d be today,” Albert says. “I love deep community work. It’s challenging and fulfilling.”

He continued to impress his professors. “He was driven and had strong leadership skills,” Dr. Sheridan recalls. “Those characteristics, as well as his sense of integrity and empathy in his interactions with others, have served him well in his career.”

Albert’s warm demeanor resonated with his classmates and teachers. Dr Crowe remembers, “His people skills are outstanding. He’s a great listener, support person, and innovator. All the skills he honed were applied immediately after graduation and are evident in his many achievements and accomplishments. It was my pleasure and honor to teach him throughout his time at Gallaudet.”

Albert graduated with his B.A. in Social Work in 2002. With the encouragement of his teachers, he then entered graduate school, receiving his M.A. in Social Work in 2004.

Albert’s time at Gallaudet also helped him find his identity as a Black Deaf person. While he was studying for his master’s degree, he served a year as President of District of Columbia Black Deaf Advocates (DCBDA). Later, he would serve as President of National Black Deaf Advocates (NBDA) from 2015-2017.

Dr. Moore remembers, “Tim demonstrated his social work expertise by collaborating with affiliated chapters of Black Deaf Advocates. He directed the NBDA’s Youth Empowerment Summit (YES), which trained Black Deaf youth from diverse schools across the nation to become advocates for human rights and justice.”

Full circle

After Gallaudet, Albert worked for Georgia School for the Deaf in the city of Cave Spring. They had just created a new Social Worker position for the first time since their founding in 1846. Albert was the first person to fill the role. Four years later, he was promoted to Assistant Director of Residential Services.

In 2014, Albert moved to the Midwest to be closer to his late wife, Stephanie Smith Albert, G-’04, who worked in Ohio. He found a job at Indiana School for the Deaf in Indianapolis as Dean of Middle School and High School students.

One day, Smith Albert revealed that she had come up with a bold plan. RIT/NTID had two positions open. If both she and Albert got those jobs, they could live and work in the same place.

The plan worked. Smith Albert became RIT/NTID’s first ever Director of Diversity and Inclusion. Albert became the RIT/NTID Student Life Team Director, a position he still holds today. In his role, he oversees events, activities, and workshops for RIT/NTID students. He also supervises four Student Life staff members.

“I started working at RIT/NTID twenty years after I graduated,” Albert says. “It feels like full circle. Everybody knows me at RIT.”

Grateful to Gallaudet

Albert is an avid runner who has participated in 5K events around the United States. He and his current wife, Michelle Williams-Albert, love to walk around Rochester with their dogs. You often can find him at local deaf sporting events cheering in the crowd. He’s also a board member for Rochester School for the Deaf.

Albert has stayed connected to Gallaudet, as well. He serves as an Advisory Board Member for Gallaudet’s Center for Black Deaf Studies. Albert credits his Gallaudet experience for helping to give him the education and confidence he needed to find his way.

“I’ll never forget how everybody supported me at Gallaudet,” says Albert. “The teachers always talked with me and checked in. My classmates always helped me with my homework and projects. It touched my heart. I’m so grateful to the Gallaudet community.”

His former professor Dr. White says, “Even after more than two decades, I can remember Tim not only as an outstanding student but as a person who radiated genuine warmth with a ready smile and a natural ability to engage with others. I am not surprised that he has had a successful career as a social worker and is now Student Life Team Director for NTID.”

“My time in the Gallaudet Social Work program taught me how to work with students today,” Albert says. It gave me empathy, and helped me turn theory into practice. If it wasn’t for Gallaudet, I’m not sure where I’d be. Not where I am now.”

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Gallaudet offers bachelor’s and master’s degrees in social work. To learn more, visit the Social Work webpage.