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University Welcome Home Address
Once the address concludes, in person attendees can enjoy an evening of fun at Bison Fest on the Gallaudet mall and meet peers, faculty, staff and get equipped for the Fall ’23 semester while enjoying games, food, and more!
Be sure to show up and make it a wonderful welcome back to Gallaudet.
12:00 p.m. ET | Elstad AuditoriumElstad Auditorium doors open
12:30 p.m. ET | Elstad AuditoriumWelcome Home Address by President Cordano
4:00-7:00 p.m. ET | Gallaudet MallBison FestBison Fest will have resources, fun activities, food, games where all campus community members will be able to meet and kick off the year right!
[Video Start] [English]
Hello and welcome. We welcome you regardless of wherever you are, welcome home.
You know, this is where I would usually be giving my welcome home address.
Here in Elstad auditorium, but like you, we are doing things a little bit differently this year.
There is a sense of loss that comes with this experience and feelings of disappointment. However, what we have been doing up to this point
has been remarkable, and it still is.
A year ago none of us could have imagined that we would be starting our new
academic year remotely this fall. Never would we have imagined that we
would be called to create a Gallaudet experience not only on our beloved 99-acre campus, but also in a virtual community.
The global pandemic has challenged us and provided opportunities like never
before. We now have the opportunity to learn,
grow, and expand the reach of our signing community and vibrancy of our language.
Each one of you had to adapt. in fact, all of us have been able to adapt
We are all in this together and together we will succeed.
Our lives have been turned upside down by the pandemic, there’s no doubt about that
and the groundswell of activism regarding the black lives matter movement has opened our eyes to the realities of
this world. The things that we have been used to doing up to this point are now needing to change.
Yes, many things are still uncertain and we may not always have the clarity for what to do next.
Yet, if history has taught us anything and as we have seen throughout our presidency, what has never been more true than in
the past six months is that deaf people are resilient.
We are able to adapt and problem solve and we do so as a collective community and innovation is in our dna
that resilience and innovation have shown up time and time again.
As we continue to assure that our principles and values for supporting our community and especially those around equity
are front and center in all of our decision making. Our university was one of the first campuses to decide early on
and announce that we would be remote for this fall. I am grateful to our community for recognizing early on the magnitude of
the challenges we were facing with the pandemic. I am also grateful that we made the decision to focus our efforts on
providing an excellent remote learning experience for our students and solid working experience for our employees this fall.
It was important for us to do so thank you for making it happen. I would like to share two quick small examples yet significant in nature
from the disruption this past spring due to the pandemic. For our university students with no other place to go to,
we kept them safe here on our campus. Literally, overnight our faculty and staff, as well
as the Clerc Center, transformed their teaching into a complete online learning experience and created a virtual community quite an
amazing feat. The results were extraordinary on the university side 99% of our student body completed their
spring semester, which is quite astounding and it did not stop there.
Over the summer 93% of our faculty went back to school themselves to continue their learning and receive
training to achieve their online teaching certification. They also continue their learning in bilingual pedagogy and
in multicultural and trauma-informed teaching practices. As well as optimizing the use of our learning management system.
Since March, we have become a premier online remote learning institution.
From K-12th grade programs through our doctoral programs and including opportunities for lifelong learning.
Now, it has always been our goal to expand our online offerings.
However, COVID-19 accelerated that process for us and
rewrote the plans that will guide our work over the next three to five years. Now that’s significant, your and our collective resilience and innovation
has shown up time and time again allowing us to continually adapt along the way it is the reason why we are here today,
starting this new academic year with even more persistence and determination than ever before.
You got this. We got this.
Gallaudet is not just a place or a physical location, we have always known that it’s both the campus
and the people that make Gallaudet what it is. Each of us contributes to Gallaudet in our own unique way
and each of us gives a part of ourselves and what we have come to learn is that
No matter where we are, the Gallaudet experience is a part of who we all are.
It lives within us and as we each share that part of ourselves with each other
it creates what Gallaudet is all about. Now, to our newest class of incoming
students– both first-year and transfer students– you know, despite the disappointment of not being on campus physically
were determined to not let that stop you. You made the decision to begin your
college education here. We are grateful congratulations and
welcome! We are excited to see you begin the very first virtual campus experience at Gallaudet.
This will now be the place that you call home for the next few years.
You are now a part of our process as we look to redefine what Gallaudet will
become in the future through this process of transformation. To our returning underclassmen upperclassmen and graduate students,
we welcome you back home. Welcome to an experience that I know is
new for you as well. This new way of learning will be something that will benefit you for years to come again.
Welcome home we are relying on you to help us create the virtual community
experience that we look to provide for all of our students, especially our incoming students.
And to our faculty who have remained steadfast in your commitment to our
students. We welcome you home.
Thank you for your commitment to our students, which was demonstrated by you investing time over the summer
in order to prepare for incorporating new teaching methods in your work.
We appreciate your dedication and we appreciate all of you.
You are critical to the success of our community’s experiences going forward.
Thank you again and welcome home. And to our staff who have supported us over the spring and into the summer in
order to maintain campus operations and to prepare for all of us to return to campus whenever it is safe for us to do so.
We thank you for all of your hard work and we welcome you home as well.
Last year we rolled out our 10-year vision called the Gallaudet Promise:
Excellence in Learning and Discovery. During the State of the University
address last January, I emphasized that Gallaudet is becoming.
In our journey of becoming, our focus is on ensuring that we improve the
conditions and lives of our deaf community members
with all of the different intersectionalities and wide spectrum of identities that members hold within our community.
This vision focuses on three critical imperatives
they are: Bilingualism, Equity and Belonging, and Innovation.
These imperatives must be at the heart of our plans and decisions as we look to carry out our three key priorities.
These three key priorities include: extraordinary learning and academic excellence across the life span,
knowledge creation and discovery, and signing ecosystems and career success.
Our intent was to develop a two to three year plan last spring while engaging members of our community in this process.
Well, we have learned that the best-laid plans
get written during a pandemic and in a time of racial reckoning.
The durability of a vision is tested by its ability to be relevant
especially during disruptive times and unexpected life-changing events,
like we have just experienced. Our strategic vision the Gallaudet Promise:
Excellence in Learning and Discovery has withstood the challenge of the COVID-19 pandemic,
through our summer of racial reckoning alongside of our commitments made to
being an anti-racist community and university, and in addition to the experience of moving to become
a virtual university where all of our interactions happen in the cloud.
We have seen how the actions and the innovation from the members of our community since the spring
have enhanced our virtual and remote learning experience. It has also enhanced our research labs and procedures and practices
throughout this past spring as well as summer. Through it all the Gallaudet Promise still remains strong.
It is truly remarkable it is remarkable to see how your decisions and actions continue to affirm that vision.
This is all possible because of the strength that lies within each and every one of you.
It is also possible due to the strength of our collective community. This is all possible because we are Gallaudet.
We are now beginning the academic year of 2020- 2021 and I would like to take this time
to share five important areas of work for this year. This work ties into our 10-year vision the Gallaudet Promise
and will be integrated into the imperatives and three priorities as a part of this plan.
The University Leadership Team will be sharing information with you
and engaging you in key areas of work throughout this fall.
This work first includes the Gallaudet Way Forward, where we focus on
reopening Gallaudet’s campus so that people can start returning to Kendall Green.
The COVID-19 pandemic has impacted many communities significantly,
including ours. the Executive Team has identified eight principles
to guide Gallaudet’s pandemic response and decision making.
The guiding principles are:
Cherish every member of our community focus on your health.
Safety and well-being. Equitably meet each person’s needs.
Commit to open communication for all.
Promote language vibrancy and value our bilingual
community. Value innovation creativity and adaptability.
Commit to academic continuity and accessibility. We, the Gallaudet community, are all in this together.
The second area of work relates to equity and belonging in our anti-racism plan.
We will continue to share our plans and vision as it unfolds regarding our anti-racism commitment.
We will continue to support black lives matter and its 13 guiding principles.
We will provide and require additional training for the officers at the Department of Public Safety,
including training on implicit and explicit bias, non-violent communication, and American Sign Language and Deaf
culture. We will ensure that student engagement especially from student organizations of
color be part of the hiring process for the Department of Public Safety we will provide and require additional
anti-racism training for staff and faculty.
We will increase the diversity of our student body our staff our faculty and our teachers.
We will share on our website by July 2020 and then annually demographic information
about our student body, staff, faculty, and teachers.
We will increase diversity in our leadership. We will prioritize engagement with and
outreach to deaf organizations of color to recruit for positions we will continue to include student input in the hiring
process. We will strengthen our policies and procedures prohibiting racism, including the
establishment of a new hate bias incident reporting response protocol.
The transforming the work experience committee, led by the majority of BIPOC identified individuals will
review and update human resources delivery models, systems, policies, and procedures while
incorporating an anti-racist framework. We will conduct a thorough review of the Department of Public Safety’s policies and practices we will conduct a thorough
review of all campus structures, names, and signs.
We will establish specific success measurements for accountability. The third area is the bilingual mission
where we will be sharing the important work and the analysis of what’s happened thus far as well as some of the plans for moving
forward with our commitment towards bilingualism. The next area relates to the reimagining of our academics.
You may have seen a great deal of information shared about the transformational changes happening within academic affairs.
We will continue to share with you the important work that is happening in areas of teaching, learning, and research.
The last area of focus is what we consider the “front porch” of Gallaudet, which is on the corner of Florida Avenue and Sixth Street.
We have two significant initiatives happening there, and you will be hearing more about one of them very soon.
This is the Kendall Division II memorial and the work being done on our campus and how the memorial then ties into our vision for Creativity Way
along the Sixth Street corridor. The five areas of work that I just mentioned are
essential to our success as a university. If we collaborate with one another operate in unity and support one another,
what we will then be able to achieve related to these key areas of focus will be remarkable
and Gallaudet will transform.
Let us all remember to listen to each other and to learn and grow and live out our values.
Let us find the humanity in each other as all of us face challenges in our personal and professional lives
take time to be kind to each other, take time to recognize the suffering and
losses people are experiencing, and take time to share love and empathy.
These seemingly small steps become gigantic steps for building trust care and support in the marathon that lies ahead of us.
Sometimes we need to slow down and be willing to listen to each other and to invite each other to reflect so that we can move forward together
this patience is worth it it actually contributes to accelerating our progress over time.
I’m not just saying this to you, I’m also setting this expectation for myself as
president. We saw the benefits of this time and time again
as we navigated the COVID-19 pandemic last spring and our racial reckoning over the summer.
I invite all of us to make this commitment together individually and as a community
as we transform and as we become let us be reminded again that we
are resilient. At no other university on this planet is
our story even possible, I welcome you back
once again for the 2020-2021 academic year. I remain inspired by this
community, especially our students. We are Bison strong, and we will move forward together in the
spirit of unity and collaboration. Welcome home!
[Video End]
WELCOME TO GALLAUDET UNIVERSITY
LIVE
S
INTERPRETER:
WELCOME BACK GALLAUDET!
♪ ♪
WELCOME BACK GALLAUDET! SIGNERS
WELCOME BACK GALLAUDET! WELCOME BACK GALLAUDET!
HELLO, EVERYONE. HELLO AND WELCOME I AM MELISSA RAMIREZ YEATS YOU KNOW ME AS
THE HOST OF ELMIRA. AND I AM A PROUD ALUMN OF G
GALLAUDET AND I’M PROUD TO WELCOME YOU TO TODAY’S EVENT.
I KNOW IT IS NICE TO STAND UP HERE. I AM FEELING THE FIVE YOU HAVE.
THOSE BATONS ARE ACTIVATED BY THE MUSIC. THE LIGHTS ARE ACTIVATED WHEN
THE SOUND IS RECEIVED. SO, GALLAUDET IS A AUDIBLE PLACE FOR ME. A PLACE TO IDENTIFY YOUR
IDENTITY. MY IDENTITY BEGAN HERE WHEN I
WAS ABLE TO FIND MY IDENTITY AS SOMEBODY WHO IS DEAF. WHEN I CAME HERE THERE WERE SO MANY CHANGES.
I WAS ON MY INSTAGRAM THIS MORNING SAYING GALLAUDET FEELS LIKE HOME TO ME.
ALTHOUGH THERE HAVE BEEN CHANGES. ALTHOUGH SO MANY UNKNOWNS AHEAD WE HAVE TO WEAR A MASK. THAT FEELING THAT MAKES
GALLAUDET GALLAUDET IS STILL THERE. YOU KNOW GALLAUDET IS WHAT IT IS BECAUSE OF US BEING HERE ON CAMPUS. IT IS GREAT TO HAVE YOU HERE.
SO, I HOPE YOU ALL ENJOY TODAY. I HAVE AN AWESOME OPPORTUNITY HERE TO WELCOME YOU TO THE START OF THE SCHOOL YEAR. AND I WOULD LIKE TO BEGIN BY
WELCOMING SOMEONE HERE TO THE STAGE. WE HAVE A COUPLE OF
REPRESENTATIVES WHO WILL BE JOINING ME ON STAGE. PLEASE COME AND JOIN ME.
>> HEY, EVERYBODY. REALLY QUICKLY.
DO WE KNOW THE WAVES? LET’S DO A WAVE TO KICK US OFF THIS AFTERNOON.
DO WE KNOW THE WAVES? LET’S DO A WAVE TO KICK US OFF THIS AFTERNOON. THANK YOU FOR PARTICIPATING IN
OUR WAVE. GOOD AFTERNOON EVERYONE.
I AM AUBREY MORMON I AM YOUR
SGE PRESIDENT. >> HELLO
>> HELLO EVERYONE MY NAME IS JAVIER MOLDANA AND I AM YOUR
SGE VICE PRESIDENT. >> I AM YASMINE HOLDEN I AM
MAJORING IN PSYCHOLOGY AND I PLAY SOCCER HERE AT GALLAUDET. >> >> HELLO I AM SUMMER SIEGER I
AM IN INTERPRETING MAJOR AND SENIOR NOW. HOPING TO BECOME A CERTIFIED DEAF INTERPRETER.
WELCOME HOME TRAN 17S.
>> GREAT TO SEE YOU ARE YOU HAPPY TO BE ON CAMPUS? >> YES WE ARE. I SO LOOK FORWARD FOR ALL OF YOU
I LOOK FORWARD TO WHAT COMES AHEAD. WHAT LIES AHEAD AND BEST OF LUCK TO YOU ALL. >> ONE MORE TIME LET’S GIVE IT A
GO.
>> IT IS ALWAYS SO SPECIAL TO SEE THE STUDENT AND WHAT THEY ARE DOING. THEIR JOURNEY IN LIFE. IT IS GREAT FOR ME TO REFLECT ON MY OWN JOURNEY. I HAVE TO SAY THERE’S A SPECIAL FILM WE WILL WATCH IN A FEW MOMENTS. BEFORE WE DO THAT I WANT YOU TO
WELCOME ME IN WELCOMING OUR PRESIDENT PRESIDENT BOBBI CORDANO.
♪
>> Pres. Cordano: HELLO, EVERYONE. IT IS GREAT TO SEE YOU AND I’M SURE THE PEOPLE ON LINE CANNOT SEE YOUR SIGNERS LIGHT SABERS.
>> THE BANDANNA CANNOT STOP OUR SPIRIT. >> Pres. Cordano: IT CAN NEVER STOP US WHAT YOU MAY BE WONDERING WHY WE ARE STANDING SO FAR APART ON STAGE AND HAVE THE MASK OFF.
WE KNOW DC IS STRICT WHEN IT COMES TO MASK POLICIES WE WANT YOU TO CONTINUE YOUR MASK. AS LONG AS WE ARE SOCIALLY
DISTANCE WE CAN TAKE OFF THE MASK. WE WANTED TO MAKE SURE YOU HAVE CLEAR ACCESS TO OUR COMMUNICATION SO WE WILL NOT WEAR A MASK ON STAGE. WITH THAT I HOPE YOU ARE READY TO WATCH THIS FILM. LET’S SEE IT.
WITH THAT I HOPE YOU ARE READY TO WATCH THIS FILM. LET’S SEE IT.
HIM AND HIM HIM HIM HIM HIM HIM
HIM HIM HIM
CAN YOU BELIEVE IT? THAT WAS SOMETHING ELSE.
LET ME TELL YOU. NOW WE ARE BACK TOGETHER AGAIN ON CAMPUS, IN PERSON AND
GALLAUDET IS STILL STRONG.
IT GOES TO SHOW WE DO BETTER WHEN TOGETHER. >> AND THIS IS PROOF OF THAT. >> WOW! IT IS SO TRUE. WELCOME HOME!
WELCOME HOME, EVERYONE.
I HAVE TO SAY THAT FILM WAS PRETTY INCREDIBLE. AS I WATCH THAT FILM I THINK ABOUT ONE WORD AND IT IS ALL ABOUT CONNECTION. ISN’T IT. 18 MONTHS IS HOW LONG WE WERE APART. 18 MONTHS OF LOOK AT THE DAYS AND HOURS IT REPRESENT.
AND IT STILL FELT LIKE WE HAD THAT CONNECTION. ALTHOUGH THAT TIME PASSED THAT GALLAUDET REMAIN STRONG.
>> IT IS PRETTY REMARKABLE. THIRD USED TO BE A SIGNED WE WOULD USE TO TALK ABOUT FACE-TO-FACE LEARNING OR IN PERSON LEARNING.
AND THE PANDEMIC CAME WE CHANGED THE SIGN FOR HOW WE SIGNED THE VIRTUAL LEARNING EXPERIENCE.
THE ONE WE WERE USING BEFORE DID NOT NECESSARILY SHOW THE CONNECTION THAT STILL REMAINS THROUGH THE VIRTUAL EXPERIENCE. BUT THE ONE WE USE NOW STILL
DENOTES THAT SENTIMENT. WE HAVE BEEN CONNECTED THE LAST 139 DAYS, THREE HOURS AND 39 MINUTES. BUT YOU HAVE HAD ENOUGH OF THAT AND BACK TO BE ON CAMPUS. >> NEW ENERGY, NEW SPIRIT.
I THINK ABOUT THE STUDENT AND I WONDER WHAT THE EXPERIENCE IS BEEN LIKE FOR THEM THE LAST 18 MONTHS. >> IT IS FASCINATING WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT IT. YOU HAVE TO ASK STUDENTS TO TELL US. EVEN WITH INCOMING FRESHMEN,
INCOMING STUDENTS. THEY ARE THE ONES WHO FINISHED AND COMPLETED HIGH SCHOOL DURING THE PANDEMIC. THEY MANAGED TO GRADUATE OR HIGH
SCHOOL. THE SAME IS TRUE FOR MY SON. WAS A HIGH SCHOOL SENIOR I SAW HOW HARD IT WAS TO GET THROUGH THE LAST YEAR. SO KUDOS, CONGRATULATIONS FRESHMEN YOU HAVE COMPLETED HIGH SCHOOL AND NOW YOU ARE HERE AT GALLAUDET SERVING OTHER INCOMING
FRESHMAN. AND SOPHOMORES, SAID IN YOUR STUDENTS. IT IS AMAZING TO THINK ABOUT. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME AND
GALLAUDET THAT A STUDENT CLASS HAS STARTED AS FRESHMEN, AS
SOPHOMORES NEVER HAVING BEEN HERE. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME THEY STEPPED ONTO OUR STOMPING GROUNDS WELCOME TO SOPHOMORES.
THEY SURVIVED THE FIRST YEAR EXPERIENCE WITHOUT HAVING THE RAT FUNERAL ALL DAYS.
THAT TO THINK OF THESE TRADITIONS THEY HAD TO DO WHEN VIRTUAL. AND WE ARE PROUD OF ALL OF OUR STUDENTS.
THIS CLASS IN PARTICULAR THE MAJORITY ARE BACK.
THIS IS PROBABLY THE BEST RETENTION RATES. THIS SEEMS THE HIGHEST RETENTION RATE WITH THE SPECIFIC CLASS. >> THAT IS GREAT. >> AND THEY MANAGED IT VIRTUALLY.
WE ARE PROUD OF YOU FOR FINISHING YOUR FIRST YEAR IN A VIRTUAL LEARNING ENVIRONMENT. IT IS GREAT TO HAVE YOU ON CAMPUS. CONGRATULATIONS FOR ALL YOU HAVE DONE TO GET HERE. AND WITH JUNIORS THEY CONGRATULATIONS FOR ALL YOU HAVE DONE TO GET HERE.
AND WITH JUNIORS THEY WERE ONLY AT GALLAUDET SIX MONTH BEFORE THE PANDEMIC IT AND SENT HOME.
THEY WERE ONLY HERE ON OUR CAMPUS SIX MONTHS.
THEY DID WHAT THEY NEEDED TO MAKE SURE THEY PERSISTED THROUGH THEIR TIME HERE. AND ARE NOW HERE AS A CLASS OF JUNIORS. WHEN THEY LEFT CAMPUS THEY WERE FRESHMAN. NOW THEY ARE COMING BACK AS JUNIORS.
AND FOR OUR SENIOR CLASS THEY WERE ONLY HERE ON CAMPUS 18 MONTHS BEFORE HAVING TO GO
ELSEWHERE. AND THEY ARE BACK HOME TO HAVE THE RIGHT OF THIRD LIKE TO HAVE FUN WITH ALL THEIR CLASSMATES.
LIKE THEY DID WHEN FIRST YEAR AS FRESHMEN THE BEST SENIOR YEAR EVER.
FOR UPPERCLASSMAN THE MESSAGE I WANT TO SHARE WITH YOU. IS THAT ALL OF OUR GALLAUDET TRADITIONS STUDENTS HAVE DONE ON
CAMPUS. WHEN YOU THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU HAVE HELD IN TERMS OF THOSE TRADITIONS. OUR UNDERCLASSMEN WILL HAVE TO ADHERE TO THOSE TO CONTINUE KEEPING THEM ALIVE.
BUT THERE MIGHT BE SOME TRADITIONS YOU WANT TO IMPROVE UPON OR DO BETTER WITH. OR EVEN CHANGE. THINK ABOUT WHAT YOU MIGHT LIKE TO ADD TO SOME OF THESE TRADITIONS BECAUSE OF WHAT WE HAVE FLIPPED THROUGH WITH THE PANDEMIC.
>> HONESTLY YOU ARE PART OF A HISTORICAL MOMENT.
HISTORY IS YOURS FOR THE MAKING. I KNOW THERE ARE SO MANY STORIES OF PEOPLE BEING HERE ON CAMPUS. ESPECIALLY YOU BEING HERE ALONE. I KNOW EVERYONE HAS STORIES TO SHARE ABOUT THEIR EXPERIENCE.
WHAT WE WOULD LIKE YOU TO DO. WE WILL TURN ON THE HOUSE LIGHTS. LOOK TO THE PERSON NEXT TO YOU AND SHARE ONE STORY. SOMETHING MEMORABLE ABOUT YOUR LAST 18 MONTHS. HOW YOU SPENT 539 DAYS, THREE HOURS AND 30 MINUTES. SHARE ONE STORY THAT WILL STAY
WITH YOU. ONE QUICK STORY IF YOU DO NOT MIND SHARING WITH YOUR NEIGHBOR. LET’S DO THAT NOW.
A L L RIGH T
EVERYONE THANK YOU FOR SHARING YOUR STORIES. YOU KNOW I LOVE JOURNALISM I LOVE STORIES.
THIS IS A GREAT OPPORTUNITY TO HEAR YOUR STORIES. THERE WAS A LOT OF TIME FOR SELF REFLECTION WE HAVE SPENT. SOMEONE IN THE BACK SAID THEY HAD MORE TIME WITH THEIR CAT THAN THEY OTHERWISE WOULD HAVE. THAT IS GREAT. > THAT IS GREAT.
>> AND SOMEBODY SHARED ABOUT THE FAMILY BEING IN ANOTHER COUNTRY.
AND IT WAS ONE YEAR BEFORE THEY COULD FLY TO SEE THEM. >> PEOPLE WERE SEPARATE FROM THEIR FAMILY BECAUSE OF THE PANDEMIC. SOME CHOSE TO STAY HERE AND SOME CAME TO THEIR HOME COUNTRY.
I SAW SOME FACULTY AND SOME CHOSE TO STAY HERE AND SOME CAME TO THEIR HOME COUNTRY. I SAW SOME FACULTY AND STAFF HERE AT GALLAUDET AND SOME OF
THE FACULTY AND STAFF HAD STARTED RIGHT BEFORE THE
PANDEMIC. SOME OF THEM HAD NEVER BEEN TO CAMPUS WHEN HIRED. SOME STARTED WORKING REMOTELY
AND HAD NEVER BEEN ON CAMPUS. THEY HAVE BEEN PROBABLY WORKING LONGER IN A REMOTE SETTING THAN ON CAMPUS.
IT IS WONDERFUL TO SEE THERE HAVE BEEN DIFFERENT LIVED EXPERIENCES DURING THIS TIME. >> IT IS IMPORTANT TO TAKE TIME AND APPRECIATE ALL YOU HAVE BEEN THROUGH.
>> YOU KNOW, THESE WORDS REMEMBER, RECOGNIZE AND
APPRECIATE. BEFORE COVID HAPPENED I THINK WE TOOK A LOT OF THINGS FOR
GRANTED. DIDN’T WE? WHEN IT CAME TO TECHNOLOGY AND NEW DEVELOPMENT, SOCIAL MEDIA. VERY OFTEN WE TURN TO THOSE THINGS INSTEAD OF BEING TOGETHER FACE TO FACE. BUT ONE FORCED TO BE ALONE WE
COULD CONNECT VIRTUALLY. BUT NOW BEING BACK ON CAMPUS WE
VALUE THE TIME WE HAVE. ENCOURAGE YOU TO BE INVOLVED WITH EVERYTHING YOU CAN. NOW THAT THE PANDEMIC HAS ALLOWED US TO HAVE OPPORTUNITIES TO COME TOGETHER.
DRAW FROM THOSE EXPERIENCES OF BEING TOGETHER. SHARE YOUR STORIES. HERE AT GALLAUDET WE WILL SHARE
STORIES OF WHAT IT WAS LIKE DURING THE PANDEMIC. TAKE SOME TIME. YOU WILL SEE STORIES SHARE YOUR STORIES WE ASK YOU DO THAT.
BECAUSE YOU ARE PART OF THE HISTORY OF THIS CAMPUS.
I AM SO LOOKING FORWARD TO WELCOMING EVERYONE HOME TODAY. AND ON THAT NOTE I AM THRILLED TO HEAR WHAT OUR PRESIDENT HERE HAS TO SHARE WITH US TODAY.
>> THANK YOU, MELISSA AND THANK YOU FOR GETTING AS WARMED UP. THANK YOU FOR GETTING US STARTED AND AS ALUMN AN OF THIS
UNIVERSITY. NOTHING CAN STOP THAT. >> IF I CAN NEGOTIATE THIS MASK. HAPPY TO BE HERE. GOODBYE EVERYONE.
>> Pres. Cordano: I WOULD LIKE TO BEGIN TODAY. THE BEST WAY FOR WHICH I CAN
OPEN AND THAT IS TO EXTEND MY GRATITUDE TO EACH AND EVERY ONE OF YOU.
WE ARE HERE BACK TOGETHER, IN PERSON, ON OUR CAMPUS BECAUSE OF ALL OF WHAT YOU HAVE DONE. WE HAVE BEEN SUCCESSFUL TOGETHER
OVER THE 539 DAYS, 30 MINUTES. AND ALL OF THOSE HOURS.
MAKING SURE WE WERE HERE, THAT LEARNING COULD HAPPEN. WE WENT VIRTUALLY OVERNIGHT AND ABLE TO ACCOMPLISH THAT BECAUSE OF ALL OF YOU. WE WERE SUCCESSFUL IN MANAGING COVID ON OUR CAMPUS. IF REMEMBER THERE WERE PEOPLE
LIVING HERE THROUGHOUT THE
PANDEMIC. WE HAD ESSENTIAL EMPLOYEES COMING TO OUR CAMPUS TO WORK. WE WERE ABLE TO MANAGE THE PANDEMIC ON CAMPUS WITH THE PEOPLE STILL HERE. INCLUDING OUR STUDENTS.
AND NOW WE RETURNED.
WE ARE BACK TOGETHER AGAIN. AGAIN THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU HAVE DONE.
AT OUR MOST RECENT PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT WEEK. I THINK THE SAID A NICE TONE FOR WHAT IS TO COME.
DURING THAT WEEK WE HAD ALL LEARNED TOGETHER WHAT WE MUST
FOCUS ON. IT IS THE A, B, C’S.
WHAT THIS ALL POINTS TO IS THAT IF WE CAN LOOK TO ALL OF OUR
SHARED LIVED EXPERIENCES. AND EXHIBIT AND SHARE COMPASSION WITH ONE ANOTHER. IT WILL BE
EASIER TO ADAPT TO WHAT IS NEEDED. WHEN WE ARE ABLE TO ADOPT WHAT IS NEEDED FOR EACH OF
US WE CAN FIND THE RIGHT BALANCE. THAT BALANCE IS WHAT WE
NEED TO SUCCESSFULLY NAVIGATE THE CHANGE OF WHICH TO COME. IN THE TRANSFORMATION THAT COMES AHEAD. I THINK WE CAN ALL AGREE
THESE ARE THREE IMPORTANT CONCEPTS THAT WILL HELP US SUCCEED TOGETHER. OVER THE LAST
18 MONTHS WE HAVE BEEN CONFRONTED WITH MANY UNEXPECTED CHALLENGES. THINKS THAT HAVE
COME UP ALONG THE WAY WE NEVER REALIZED WHAT HAPPENED. AND WE WERE ABLE TO MAKE OUR WAY
THROUGH IT BECAUSE WE WORKED TOGETHER. AND THAT IS THE ANSWER FOR ALL OF US. WE REALLY DREW
FROM DEEP-ROOTED VALUES. THESE
VALUES THAT HAVE BEEN INSTILLED IN EVERYTHING WE HAVE BEEN DOING UP UNTIL NOW. THESE VALUES WERE
ANNOUNCED DURING THE PANDEMIC IN
VARIOUS PRESENTATIONS. SOME PEOPLE MIGHT HAVE SEEN THEM BEFORE. FOR OTHERS THIS IS NEW. AND AFTER THESE VALUES WERE
ESTABLISHED WE ALSO DEVELOPED THE COVID-19 GUIDING PRINCIPLES.
AND WE HAVE THE ACROSTIC BISON TO SAY WHAT THESE VALUES ARE WE WANT TO CONTINUE TO BUILD UPON.
FOR WHAT WILL TAKE US THROUGH THIS TIME THAT IS TO COME. THIS
IS THE OPPORTUNITY TO SEE WHAT DEEP-ROOTED VALUES ARE FOR ALL OF US TO KEEP US TOGETHER. HERE THEY ARE.
>> Pres. Cordano: WE ARE SO EXCITED TO BE WELCOMING STUDENTS BACK TO CAMPUS AGAIN. WE HAVE
MADE IT. STUDENTS ARE NOW TOGETHER. AND I WANT TO TAKE
THIS TIME TO REMIND OUR STUDENTS. TO REMIND EVERYONE BE IT FACULTY, STAFF ANYONE PART OF
THE GALLAUDET COMMUNITY THAT WHAT IS IMPORTANT. IS THAT
GALLAUDET BELONGS TO ALL OF US.
IT IS YOURS. IT IS MINE. IT IS OURS. AGAIN, GALLAUDET IS WHAT
WE ALL CREATE IT TO BE. IT IS WHAT WE MAKE OF IT. TO ALLOW OUR
VISION AND MISSION TO BE REALIZED. AND AGAIN GALLAUDET BELONGS TO ALL OF US. OUR
COMMUNITY CARES. WE CARE FOR OURSELVES. WE CARE FOR EACH
OTHER. WE CARE FOR OUR COMMUNITY. BOTH HERE AND AROUND
THE WORLD. AND HOW WE CARE FOR EACH OTHER THROUGH THE PANDEMIC. IF THERE IS INFORMATION TO SHARE
HOW WE CAN BE SUCCESSFUL, HOW WE CAN CARE FOR ONE ANOTHER. TO
MAKE SURE WE ARE ALL SAFE. WE ARE A SMALL BUT MIGHTY COMMUNITY AND WE HAVE IMPLEMENTED MANY
PROTECTIVE MEASURES TO KEEP US SAFE. AND THESE SAFEGUARDS THAT
WE HAVE ESTABLISHED ARE ALSO FLEXIBLE ENOUGH FOR US TO CHANGE THEM IF AND WHEN NEEDED. THE
BEST PROTECTIVE MEASURE WE HAVE THAT IS AVAILABLE TO US. ARE THE VACCINES. AND IF YOU LOOK AT THE
NUMBERS HERE ON THE SLIDE. THAT IS PRETTY AMAZING. NOT FOR OUR
GALLAUDET, I THINK IT LOOKS NOTHING LIKE A GOOD COMPETITION. AND THE CLARC CENTER IS PROUD
THEY HAVE GOTTEN TO 100 PERCENT VACCINATION CENTER. AND GALLAUDET IS 90 PERCENT. WHICH IS WONDERFUL COMPARED TO OTHER PLACES. WE ARE FAR AHEAD OF NUMBERS ELSEWHERE. BUT FOR THE UNIVERSITY YOU HAVE TEN PERCENT THE CLERC CENTER IS ABOVE YOU CAN YOU RISE TO THE CHALLENGE
AND GET YOURSELF THERE. I THINK YOU CAN GET YOURSELF THERE.
NOTHING LIKE A HEALTHY COMPETITION FOR OUR COMMUNITY.
SO, WE ARE LOOKING AT THE SCIENCE. WE ARE LOOKING AT THE EVIDENCE. WHEN WE ARE VACCINATED WE ARE SAFER AS A COMMUNITY. BUT
THE VACCINE IS NOT ENOUGH. WE HAVE OTHER SAFEGUARDS THAT ARE IN PLACE AS WELL. IT IS ALSO
IMPORTANT FOR US TO ABIDE BY THE WEARING OF MASKS. WHEN WE MASK UP, WE ARE SAFER
AS A RESULT. [LAUGHTER] AND THERE IS ONE THING ELSE I WANTED
TO MENTION ABOUT THE VACCINES. WHEN YOU LOOK AT THESE NUMBERS IN TEN TERMS OF THE VACCINATION RATE 90
PERCENT OR 100 PERCENT. WHEN WE LOOK AT THE REST OF THE DC COMMUNITY THE VACCINATION RATE
IS 57 PERCENT. THAT MEANS MANY ARE VACCINATED BUT WHEN TRAVELING OFF-CAMPUS WE NEED TO MAKE SURE WE CONTINUE TO PROTECT OURSELVES. BY WEARING MASKS WHEN
OFF-CAMPUS. AND I WANTED TO SHARE SOME INTERESTING INFORMATION ABOUT THE WEARING OF MASKS. SINCE THE PANDEMIC
STARTED HERE AT GALLAUDET WE HAVE ORDERED 85,000 MASKS OUR
COMMUNITY TO USE. OVER THE LAST 18 MONTHS, ACTUALLY DOWN IN
NUMBER. IN BRIEF COMMENTARY I HAVE ASKED SOMEONE. MAYBE A PUBLIC CAMPAIGN I’M LOOKING TO
SPG LEADERSHIP BECAUSE AT SOME
POINT WE WILL HAVE TO LOOK AT RECYCLING OR REUSING THOSE MASKS
IT A 5000 ENDING IN THE TRASH. I DO NOT THINK SO. I DO NOT THINK THE EARTH COULD BEAR. PLEASE WASH AND REUSE YOUR MASK WHEN POSSIBLE. NOW THERE IS A VIDEO
WE WOULD LIKE TO SHOW REGARDING
THE WEARING OF MASKS.
THE REASON I MASK SO I CAN CONTINUE BEING IN CLASS IN
PERSON. THE REASON I WEAR A MASK IS TO KEEP THE INTERPRETER COMMUNITY SAFE. THE CAMPUS SAFE. THE REASON I WEAR A MASK IS TO MAKE SURE EVERYONE IS SAFE. >> I WEAR A MASK TO PROTECT OUR SACRED COMMUNITY.
>> Pres. Cordano: BE A PART OF THE HASHTAG WHY I MASK CAMPAIGN
TO MAKE SURE WE KEEP ONE ANOTHER SAFE. NOW WE HAVE SEEN THE DELTA
VARIANT IS ON THE RISE. THERE MIGHT BE OTHER VARIANTS TO COME. IT IS IMPORTANT WE TAKE TIME TO REMEMBER THAT WE WILL SEE THERE ARE POSITIVE COVID CASES ON OUR
CAMPUS. AND IT IS IMPORTANT WE REMEMBER THAT WE WILL BE ABLE TO MANAGE AND CAN MANAGE ANYTIME THAT IS THE CASE. WE HAVE
COMPLETE CONTROL AND THE FULL CAPABILITY OF BEING ABLE TO KEEP OUR COMMUNITY SAFE. AND HOW WE
WILL DO THAT IS THROUGH WEEKLY
TESTING. ANOTHER BRIEF STORY TO SHARE WITH ALL OF YOU IS I HAD
STARTED TESTING SEVERAL MONTHS AGO. I THINK LATE IN THE SPRING MAYBE EARLY SUMMER. I CAN’T REMEMBER WHEN THAT STARTED. WHEN I CAME IN I THOUGHT DO I HAVE TO DO ALL THIS TESTING? I AM NOW GRATEFUL FOR THE WEEKLY TESTING. I AM RELIEVED KNOWING I HAVE TESTED NEGATIVE. I HOPE YOU
WILL JOIN ME AND OTHERS FOR THE FACT WE HAVE THOSE TESTING CAPABILITIES. HERE ON OUR CAMPUS. DON’T SEE IT AS A BURDEN BECAUSE IT IS SOMETHING THAT WILL MAKE SURE ALL OF US ARE SAFE. WHEN GALLAUDET THERE ARE
2000 WE DO EVERY WEEK TESTE. THAT IS IMPORTANT IS TO MAINTAIN OUR SAFETY . IF AND WHEN THERE
IS A POSITIVE CASE ON OUR CAMPUS EARLY DETECTION IS KEY TO WEEKLY
TESTING. AND WITH ANY POSITIVE
TEST THAT HAPPENS IN OUR CAMPUS WITH QUARANTINE AND ISOLATION ROOMS IN DESIGNATED AREAS OF OUR CAMPUS. AND WE ALSO HAVE CONTACT
TRACING MECHANISM. AND WITH
WEEKLY TESTING THERE IS A LIMITED WINDOW OF TIME THAT WE KNOW WE CAN DO THE MOST CRITICAL AND MOST EFFICIENT CONTACT TRACING. TO MAKE SURE THAT
EVERYONE IS SAFE. THESE ARE ALL NECESSARY PROTECTIVE MEASURES FOR OUR OWN SAFETY. THE REASON WHY THIS IS SO IMPORTANT. THE
REASON WE NEED TO ABIDE BY THESE BEST PRACTICE AND THE LIVING
WEARING A MASK RIGHT IF YOU HAVE NOT BEEN VACCINATED GET A VACCINE. I KNOW THERE ARE OTHER PEOPLE WHO HAVE YET TO COME TO OUR VACCINE WHO HAVE NOT BEEN VACCINATED YET. WE HAVE TO THINK ABOUT THE CHILDREN ON OUR CAMPUS UNDER THE AGE OF 12. AT THE
CLERC THAT CANNOT BE VACCINES.
OUR FAMILY MEMBERS WERE THERE MIGHT BE CHILDREN IN YOUR HOUSEHOLD UNDER THE AGE OF 12 WHO CANNOT GET A VACCINE. AND
THERE ARE PEOPLE WITH MEDICAL REASONS. SYSTEMS ARE COMPROMISED AND CANNOT GET THE VACCINE. WHEN
WE DO OUR PART WE ARE ABLE TO PROTECT THEM AND DO OUR PART. IT HAS PROVEN TO BE EFFECTIVE. AND IT IS SOMETHING YOU NEED TO MAKE SURE WE DO TO ABIDE BY. IN ORDER
TO HAVE BREAKTHROUGH CASES FOR THOSE OF US VACCINATED. IF WE ARE NOT VACCINATED THAT COULD LEAD TO MORE SERIOUS ILLNESSES. AND MAYBE EVEN WORSE. WE WANT TO PREVENT THAT FROM HAPPENING FOR YOU. FOR OUR COMMUNITY AND ANY MEMBER OF OUR COMMUNITY. YOU ARE
ALL A PART OF THIS COMMUNITY. WE CARE FOR EACH AND EVERY ONE OF
YOU. AND WE CAN REMAIN SAFE WHEN WE DO THIS TOGETHER. BECAUSE WE ARE BETTER TOGETHER.
LEARNING HAPPENS BEST WHEN WE ARE IN COMMUNITY. AND WHEN WE
LOOK TO GALLAUDET JOURNEY IN
BECOMING WE HAVE REALIZED THAT
LEARNING BEST HAPPENS WHEN PART OF COMMUNITY. BECAUSE LEARNING IS A COMMUNITY ACT. AND ONE WE
LOOK TO SEE HOW GALLAUDET IT’S GONE THROUGH THE PROCESS OF
BECOMING WHAT CONTINUES TO LIGHT AHEAD. WE HAVE BEEN ABLE TO BE
SUCCESSFUL THROUGH LEARNING TOGETHER. AND WE WILL CONTINUE
TO DO SO IN THIS NEXT SEMESTER. FOR WE WILL HOST IN DEPTH DIALOGUE FOR OUR COMMUNITY. YOU KNOW, THROUGH THE VIRTUAL
EXPERIENCE WE HAVE SEEN SOME FATIGUE. IT IS GREAT WE CAN BE IN PERSON, FACE TO FACE IMPRISONMENT AND BE PART OF THESE DIALOGUES IN PERSON. THE TOPICS FOR THESE DIALOGUES
INCLUDE ANTIRACISM, BILINGUALISM, OPERATIONAL TRANSFORMATION, AND THE STUDENT EXPERIENCE. THERE WILL BE
CONVERSATIONS TO COME AND WE WELCOME YOU TO JOIN IN ON WHAT
THOSE DIALOGUES ARE. IN THESE CONVERSATIONS WE WILL LEARN ABOUT THE PROGRESS THAT HAS BEEN MADE UP UNTIL THIS POINT. AND WE WILL ALSO LEARN ABOUT WHAT IS STILL LEFT TO DO. WHERE THAT WORK IS THAT LIES AHEAD. I THINK
IT IS IMPORTANT TO STAY CONNECTED TO BE ENGAGED. SO THAT GALLAUDET CAN CONTINUE ON ITS
JOURNEY THROUGH TRANSFORMATION.
AND THESE FOUR TOPICS ARE FOR ALL OF OUR COMMUNITY MEMBERS.
FACULTY MEMBERS, STAFF,
STUDENTS. FOR OUR ALUMNI BOARD OF TRUSTEES MEMBERS OF THE COMMUNITY MEMBERS AT LARGE.
EVERYONE IS WELCOME TO
PARTICIPATE. THE NUMBER ONE PRIORITY FOR GALLAUDET AND THE CLERC CENTER ONLINE AND IN
PERSON IS TO PROVIDE THE ULTIMATE TOP-NOTCH STUDENT EXPERIENCE. IT SIMPLY ASKED TO
BE FIRST CLASS. AND IF OUR
STUDENTS DON’T HAVE THE ULTIMATE STUDENT EXPERIENCE THAN WHAT IS THE WHOLE POINT OF WHY WE EXIST? AGAIN, IT HAS TO BE WORLD-CLASS,
INCOMPARABLE. WHEN WE THINK ABOUT THE GALLAUDET PROMISE AND
OUR MISSION. OUR WHOLE GOAL IN ALL THAT WE DO. I HAVE HEARD
STORIES SHARED FROM GENERATIONS AND GENERATIONS OF OUR ALUMNI. AND ALL OF THEM HAVE SAID THE MOST IMPORTANT THING WE DO IN
TERMS OF PASSING ON TRADITIONS TO ONE ANOTHER. IS TO ALSO PASS ON THAT WHOLE VALUE OF LOVE, OF LEARNING. INSTILLED FROM THE
YOUNGEST MEMBERS OF OUR COMMUNITY TO THE OLDEST. WE NEVER STOP LEARNING. AND HERE AT
GALLAUDET WE HAVE CONTINUED TO
BUILD THAT WORLD-CLASS STUDENT EXPERIENCE. AND THAT WON’T STOP.
THE YEAR AHEAD WILL BE AMAZING.
AND THERE WILL BE SOME NEW THINGS THAT HAVE BEEN ESTABLISHED. NEW SERVICES AND
EXPERIENCES THAT WILL BE AVAILABLE TO YOU ALL. HERE IS A LITTLE BIT ABOUT THAT.
>> Pres. Cordano: THERE IS A LOT OF HARD WORK THAT WENT INTO THIS. AND IT WAS DONE BY A LOT
OF WONDERFUL PEOPLE. THEY ARE THE ONES THAT MADE ALL OF THIS POSSIBLE. AGAIN THANK YOU FOR ALL THE HARD WORK YOU HAVE DONE.
I HAVE TO SAY THAT A LOT OF THESE CHANGES. THE FIRST RATE STUDENT EXPERIENCES COULD NOT BE MADE POSSIBLE WITHOUT THE GALLAUDET TWO GA GALO GALLAU
ROLE OF LEADERS. SEND IT AND I WANT TO TAKE SOME TIME TO ACKNOWLEDGE THEM TO THANK YOU THEM . IT IS A GROUP I AM HONORED TO BE A PART OF TWO CIRCUIT HELP ME
WELCOME OUR EXECUTIVE LEADERSHIP TEAM PLEASE JOIN ME ON STAGE.
AND WHERE IS DOCTOR SIMMS STILL
MAKING HER WAY TO THE STAGE.
THE TEAM THAT IS HERE HAS MADE HISTORY. THIS IS THE FIRST TIME GALLAUDET IN GALLAUDET IS
PREDOMINANTLY DEAF LED. THIS IS THE MOST DIVERSE
LEADERSHIP TEAM AS WELL. WHEN WE LOOK BACK TO THE DEAF PRESIDENT
NOW THAT WAS LEADING THE WAY FOR THE FIRST DEPTH PRESIDENT OF THE UNIVERSITY. SINCE THEN GALLAUDET
DEAF, HOW WE ARE AS ASSIGNING
INDIVIDUALS AND WHAT WE CONTRIBUTE TO THE WORLD. THANK
YOU ALL. YOU KNOW I AM PROUD AND HONORED TO BE SERVING ALONGSIDE ALL OF YOU. AND THANK YOU FOR THIS HONOR. I WANT YOU ALL TO TAKE A MOMENT TO INTRODUCE
YOURSELVES TELL US YOUR NAME AND TITLE. QUICK HELLO EVERYONE I AM BRANDI RARUS, I LEAD
UNDERGRADUATE ADMISSIONS. >> HELLO EVERYONE I AM HEATHER
PARKER AND HER WORK IN THE OFFICE OF THE PRESIDENT CHIEF OF STAFF.
>> IT IS HARD TO SEE SOME OF
YOUR SPELLING. THANK YOU FOR THAT ADVICE, BOBBI, I AM
DOMINIQUE LACY CHIEF OPERATING OFFICER.
>> I AM SUE JACOBY FOR THE
GALLAUDET PROMISE. >> I AM JEFF LEWIS INTERIM
PROVOST. >> HELLO, EVERYONE I AM CAROLYN
MCHASKELL AND THE FOUNDING
DIRECTOR FOR THE BLACK DEAF
DEAF STUDIES AND A FACULTY MEMBER IN THE BLACK DEAF STUDIES. WELCOME, WELCOME,
WELCOME. >> HELLO, EVERYONE. I AM
ELIZABETH MOORE AND I AM THE CHIEF DIVERSITY OFFICER. >> HELLO EVERYONE I AM BRAD
HERMES THE NEW CFO AT
GALLAUDET. >> HELLO EVERYONE I AM TRAVIS I AMEEL,
AME IEEIEMEL, DEAN OF STUDENT AFFAA HUGE SHOUT OUT TO OUR STUDENTS. >> HELLO EVERYONE. SEND AT IT I
AM LAURENE SIMMS, IS THAT SLOW
ENOUGH FOR YOU. I AM THE CHIEF BILINGUAL OFFICER.
>> Jeff: ARGUE TRE TN’ TT T THE
>> I AM THE INTERIM CHIEF
BILINGUAL OFFICER. WELCOME TO GALLAUDET EVERYONE. >> Pres. Cordano: THANK YOU
AGAIN .
. DOCTOR MCHASKELL CAN YOU STAY
ON STAGE WITH ME?
I HAVE AN ANNOUNCEMENT HERE VERY SOON. I WANTED YOU TO BE ON STAGE FOR THAT. BUT BEFORE I
CLOSE BEFORE I SHARE MY FINAL REMARKS I WANT TO KEEP MY DISTANCE HERE. BEFORE I SHARE MY FINAL REMARKS I WANTED TO SAY
THIS AFTERNOON THE CENTER FOR BLACK DEAF STUDIES WILL BE HOSTING ITS FIRST OPEN HOUSE. AND THAT WILL BE FROM TWO TO
4 O’CLOCK. AND WHERE WILL THAT BE HELD?
>> I WISH IT COULD BE OUTDOORS WE COULD PLAN FOR AN OUTDOOR CELEBRATION. BUT BECAUSE THE WEATHER IS NOT COOPERATING WITH THE SWEATY CHANGE IN OUR VENUE. WE WILL BE IN THE GUKCC INDOORS
IN THE BALLROOM. >> Pres. Cordano: DO NOT LET RAIN STOP YOU FROM CELEBRATING A SPECIAL DAY FOR THIS OPEN HOUSE.
>> PLEASE COME WE HAVE BEEN WAITING ONE YEAR TO WELCOME YOU TO THE CENTER FOR BLACK DEAF
STUDIES. IT HAS BEEN 359 DAYS. I BELIEVE 539 DAYS.
>> MY GOODNESS. >> WE ARE THRILLED TO WELCOME ALL OF YOU I WILL SEE YOU AT 2:00 PM. >> Pres. Cordano: I KNOW THAT IS
WHERE THERE WILL BE A SPECIFIC ANNOUNCEMENT MADE. WHAT IS THAT SPECIFIC ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT? >> WE WILL BE MAKING AN ANNOUNCEMENT ABOUT THE KINDELL
SCHOOL DIVISION TO MEMORIAL.
THE ONGOING EFFORT ON BEHALF OF OUR COMMUNITY. IT IS TIME TO CHANGE THE NAME OF THE MEMORIAL. I WILL NOT TELL YOU THE NEW NAME. I WANT YOU TO HAVE A
LITTLE CURIOSITY. I WILL SEE YOU THERE. >> Pres. Cordano: THANK YOU FOR ALL YOU HAVE BEEN DOING AND YOUR TEAM. WE’RE LOOKING FORWARD TO CELEBRATING WITH ALL OF YOU. THERE IS NO OPEN HOUSE THAT COULD NOT BE MADE POSSIBLE
WITHOUT THE GATHERING OF PEOPLE. AND MAKING SURE YOU HAVE TIME TO ATTEMPTED PUT DOWN YOUR PHONES, TAKE A LITTLE TIME TO GO TO THAT EVENT. >> INDEED. SEE YOU THERE.
>> Pres. Cordano: IN CLOSING. I WOULD LIKE TO SHARE SOME REFLECTIONS WITH YOU. AND IT BEGAN WITH THE VIDEO I HAD MADE
ONE AT YELLOWSTONE PARK THAT MADE ME THINK ABOUT THE GALLAUDET COMMUNITY WHILE I WAS
THERE. SO TAKE A LOOK.
WE ARE LIKE THE BISON. WE ARE A
COLLECTIVE GROUP. IN MOVING FORWARD IN EVERY WHICH WAY WE MAKE SURE TO SEE ALL THAT IS HAPPENING AT ALL TIMES. TO ENSURE EACH OTHER’S SAFETY AND
MAKE SURE WE ARE ALL TOGETHER.
WITH THE BISON THE PACE THEMSELVES TO MAKE SURE THE GROUP IS NOT LOST. YOU HAVE THE BISON OUT IN FRONT THAT GO TO
CHECK OUT AND LEAD THE WAY. THERE IN THE MIDDLE THE CALVES
ARE GOING SLOWER AND BEHIND ARE THE STRONG AND STURDY BISON. AS THEY MOVE THEY WORK TOGETHER AS
A TEAM. AND WE, LIKE THE BISON,
MUST DO THE SAME THING. WE MUST WORK TOGETHER. WE MUST ADAPT. WE MUST SHOW COMPASSION FOR EACH OTHER AND STAY CONNECTED. IN
ORDER TO FIND THE BALANCE THAT YOU SEE THAT IS POSSIBLE
ANYWHERE YOU GO. WHEN WE ADAPT,
FIND BALANCE, SHOW COMPASSION. THAT IS WHAT WILL BE MOST CRITICAL FOR ALL OF US. TAKE A LOOK AROUND. WE ARE THAT HERD WE
ARE THE BISON. AND THERE IS NO OTHER HEARD IN THE WORLD LIKE THIS ONE FOR IT THAT WE ARE THE
GALLAUDET BISON. AND AGAIN WELCOME HOME, THANK YOU.
so
[Music]
communications again and it’s great to be back with all of you
you may not know you me some of you may already know me but i’ll share a little bit of who i am i got graduated from
gallaudet in 2010 i was a major in psychology which is of
course the best major on campus the department of psychology hands down
and i travailed the world and did all kinds of things and i started a masters in media
entrepreneurship and i had many many years of experience
in pr and communications film and media and you name it
and all of that comes back to gallaudet university and all of it has made me a
great storyteller government is an amazing place
i talked about working in university communications here and i had the pleasure of working with president bobby
cordano and then going to bbo and working there and on the side i
worked for apple and amazon media facebook meta and many many more
organizations but once again gallaudet is home it’s the whole destroyed
and it’s made me who i am now before i became a state storyteller
i went through a lot of changes and i have to tell you about that and i have to introduce him to our president
[Applause] look at her shoes
all for you it’s all for you you can’t touch that
love you bobby oh storm welcome home thank you
you know today’s theme that we’ll be talking about is change and in thinking about gallaudet and the
the part that it played in your life can you tell us more about your own journey and what that change is like for you
i’ve got a number of changes that i can talk about but there have been many milestones that i really want to share
and there was one in particular dr jane norman who was the founder of the gallaudet
museum and she had many legacy moments at the university in university communications
and in the community and worldwide but when i was a graduate student here in my first graduate program in counseling
at the time i thought i was going to become a school counselor and she saw something in me that i didn’t even know
she told me that i was a filmmaker and a storyteller and she suggested that i
submit a film to the deaf film festival now to let you know my undergraduate
i uh studied just a bit but in graduate school i studied quite a lot and
she lit a fire in me which caused me to create a film that has submitted
and i had to decide whether i was going to play it safe or whether i was going to
go for it so i resigned from my graduate program to pursue my passion
in filmmaking and i was terrified to tell my parents you know black parents
don’t play you know that right my dad i told my dad and he was going to be okay but i really wasn’t having it
my mom was having a cigarette and i told her i was going to get a degree in media and film and she looked
at me and said okay and my mom said whatever you start make
sure you finish it and i promised her that i was going to do just that
and she put the cigarette out and that was the light of the
spark that lit the flame for me in my career so it all started here at gallaudet i was in your shoes back then
and once again the change is scary but it comes with the power of yes
you are here literally everyone sitting here faculty
staff continuing students whomever is in this room you are here because you said
yes to gallaudet university that’s the power of yes and i was a part of that
yes and we’re going to create more of that and you really talked about so many
things that we all need to hear you know parts of our own journey that we might be going through right now even for the
campus you know with groups in particular our staff students and faculty and alum i
know that they’re all joining and watching us here today and it’s just really so hard to hear the stories that you’ve shared with us today’s storm so
thank you for that absolutely and every one of us shares in that i agree
all right with that i think we’re going to move forward in the program and i would like to open by saying this is one
of my most favorite events of the year and the reason why i love this day in
particular and the welcome home event is because we get to welcome you back home we get to welcome you here
so [Applause]
our staff our faculty our alumni and our entire community welcome home
and bobby do you know who the heart of this university is it’s our students of
course but who leads our students the organization i want to say hello to each one of them
you know i have to say that we are our future and they are learning here about
leadership and engagement making the students be involved in the things that are happening here putting their ideas
into practice and that’s why we are so grateful for our student leaders who are really taking the charge of leadership
and i think the other students who are here you can always support them and follow in that success you know it’s important for us to
remember to always welcome our new signers so that they can also be fully engaged and immersed in our community
here so welcome to our designers and therefore let me say from the bottom of my heart gallaudet
there is no other place in the world like this and i’m still here i’m coming
back after all these years and i’ll be back more it’s like the wizard of oz you know there’s no place like home
you know i wish my shoes were a little bit more bump and blue so when i click my heels i know it’s going to take me
home i think you’re going to have to get those yellow slippers instead of the red ones maybe something that’s similar to
what i’m wearing today what size are you
doing
again thank you so much thank you storm i really appreciate you sharing your
stories with us her story is quite fascinating to hear and it’s one of the
many stories that exist here in this room and in this community
these are the stories of gallaudet
storm story like our stories are stories of change
it’s about perseverance and it’s really about thriving
you know there’s a wonderful book written by the name of octavia butler
and the name of the book is the parable of the sower
and in the opening of the book the very first chapter appears a poem
and it states all that you touch
you change and all that you change
changes you and the only lasting truth
is change [Applause]
so today our welcome home event is really focusing on the theme of change
and i know that we have all learned through the covet 19 pandemic which is now an endemic
that when we need to engage in change anything is possible especially when we work together
that is what is most important and then the year that lies ahead
it’s not any different we must continue to lead and to do so together
when i’m talking about we that includes our students our staff our faculty and our alumni
we must continue to show the commitment to strengthening gallaudet for the future and to do so together
and i know that you might be sitting in your seat wondering oh boy here we go talking about change
and i know that it’s an aversion to some and i know that people don’t like to
always talk about it and when you think about it we as humans we’re not designed for change we often
want to resist change and in gallaudet’s last six years
we have been in the process of becoming of change
and the truth is is that what we have learned in the last few years in the last six years of this presidency
our presidency what has been constant is change
and when we think about what’s a part of change and what is experienced and if we take a
closer look at the work and it really reveal all that is present
when change occurs and what we can learn from it and why it’s so often
hard to do change is often hard
because it means that we are losing something there’s a loss of something that’s familiar to us
and oftentimes it’s something that’s very important to us and there’s a famous leadership quote
that states what people resist
is not change per se but loss
and i want you to keep that in the back of your mind for right now i will be mentioning it again later
you know what is leading change here at gallaudet is the gallagher promise
the gallaudet promise has two different meanings it’s a promise of what we are capable of
and what we aspire to do it shows all of what’s possible it’s the
promise of our potential
the gallaudet promise is a 10-year vision that leads our time here at gallaudet
starting with what’s here on the left it’s the five grand challenges
this is the challenges that are facing our deaf hard of hearing and deaf-blind communities and all of the diversity
that comes within our sub-communities here and what we are navigating
we are navigating this change in order to create lasting impact to respond to the needs of our community
the values that are guiding our change are really led
by foundational aspects known as the three key imperatives belonging and equity
innovation for impact and the bilingual mission the imperatives are here in the chart
below and they all lead to our three key priorities there on the
right the priorities are the work of gallaudet and what we are looking to accomplish
[Music] and the beautiful space that is a part of all this is really at the heart of it
all it’s that middle section it’s about us retelling our story
that is where the action happens that’s where it all occurs and that’s what leads us to change
in retelling our story what this means is that we have to
continue to create new stories of our community which includes yours yours
yours and yours all of our collective stories
are ones that need to be interwoven to form the beautiful tapestry that is
our collective narrative those various stories will showcase to the world
who we are and the best of our people and the talents that we all hold
and the most important part of this is the value that we show to the world
and what we can contribute as deaf hard of hearing and deafblind individuals we have value to the world
and some call that deaf gain might have heard that concept before
and i think that the vision regarding the gallaudet promise is one that is great
and what we are doing with this vision is leading our change that is true
but we also must keep in mind that our community does not only exist here in our campus it is a global
community and we are still impacted by many of the significant forces that
are elsewhere and the changes and disruptors that exist all of that has a direct impact on our
daily lived experience and our work and some of those significant massive life-altering changes the examples of
those are here before you take a look at this video
and every time i see these changes on the video i realize that any time that we go home
and watch the news and see what they’re talking about we’re seeing stories that are like those that we’ve just seen
every single day it has an impact on our families it has an impact on our communities and the
cities in which we live in and it has an impact on our country that is for sure and they also have an impact on us
individually and impact our well-being
so the work that we have to do here at gallaudet is so critical to be sure that everyone feels supported
as we are navigating through to providing the impact that we’re looking to realize and having that
impact in the global community and i want to share some stories about what’s happening here at gallaudet that
is strengthening us here on our campus as well as elsewhere but some of these
changes are a direct response to what is happening outside of gallaudet
some changes are happening in local areas where maybe not everyone is engaged in certain pieces of the work
but what everyone is doing here at gallaudet is important work from our students our staff and our
faculty all of our work together is significant and important and i want to start
talking about this work regarding our faculty and what they’re doing one of the changes that is happening in
higher education today is people are questioning the value of a higher education there are challenges that exist in
higher ed and our faculty are not engaging in the status quo over the last several years
our faculty have been working diligently to redesign academic affairs it used to be that we had 16 departments that have
not been restructured into five schools those departments have now changed into
what we are now calling academic programs our faculty are now leading the way
re-evaluating their current programs and course offerings and creating new courses and opportunities for our
students to get you prepared for the 21st century
and our faculty are also creating new centers that are in direct response and
have direct ties to what we are experiencing as it relates to societal issues two
great examples of that are the center for black deaf studies and the center for democracy in deaf america
our faculty are evolving and working together differently than they have before in order to respond to the
complex world issues that exist and the various challenges that are out there to be sure
that a liberal education really can be a part of the work that we are doing that is really what gets to
part of it and i want to thank our faculty for your leadership and all of your hard work
[Music] [Applause] and now i want to talk to our students
you know like storms had said that’s really kind of the hearts of our university campus and
when we talk about change for our students i want to focus more on a personal level and now it’s your third
week here on campus and i notice that many students especially those who are new who are transfer students
many of you have gone home for the summer and are back to campus or this is your first
time to campus if you’re new and you’ve left your family your friends your loved ones those familiar
communities to relocate and to be a part of the community here at gallaudet
so this is a new community that you’re coming into and you are creating a new community of friends
ones that those relationships will be life lasting
those are friendships and relationships that you will carry with you forever and we are so happy to have our students
back again welcome home to our students
and now to our staff our staff
you know to recognize that we need to be strong in facing what exists outside of gallaudet is that we need to make sure
that we are strong and stable on the inside and one great example of what our staff
has been engaging in is the project regarding workday workday is a completely new
digital enterprise system that exists now at gallaudet that will
transform hr finance equal operating programs and what we are going to be adding later
on regarding the student experience all of that will be a part of the workday software and our staff have been leading
this effort of massive change and transformation and they have worked tirelessly on this i know that we’ve had
staff who’ve been working on it all weekend last weekend and will continue to do so this weekend because we will be launching it on september 26th and we
are so grateful to our staff for all of your hard work every single day for what you do to support gallaudet and allowing
us to remain strong thank you again to our staff
another change to gallaudet is that our campus looks and feels a little bit different now
there have been some impacts that we’ve experienced because of climate change some due to the pandemic
a few examples that i can give you one being the library where we’ve had to close down the merrill learning center
because we had some water issues there the rain was a direct impact closing the building and we are now paving the way
to get ourselves to bring online a world-class learning conference here
right on our campus and that will be happening in the future
we are also making progress in building the new memorial
which is the louise b miller pathways and garden memorial
and this will be near where the kellogg conference hotel is currently located right outside of it where that will all be changed to honor the history and the
story the legacy of louise b miller and her deaf sons
and we have started a 23 million dollar campaign last year and we currently raised over seven million dollars for
this campaign
and we are now in the process of working with our indigenous communities as well as our alumni and students
to rename the building building 103 which is right across the street from this auditorium
and our alumni specifically reached out and talked to gallaudet about the
importance of being able to share the cultural and ethnic heritage of our
various communities and indigenous communities to make sure that these stories are shared accurately
holistically on our campus and that will all be taking place this year
and for our students with the pandemic we recognize that we need to have more
outside recreational spaces for you so one of the renovations that you will see that will be happening this year is the
renovation of hanson plaza over by the cafeteria so we will be making sure to put in more recreational gathering
spaces for all of our students i’m sure that you’re going to enjoy that oh i love the fact that you’re using
your phone and your flashlight to be able to provide the visual that great positive feedback
so that in terms of our history we are changing and our story is becoming more inclusive
we are expanding from where we have been before where the stories that we told were centered on the white death experience
and now we are inclusive of all of the stories of our community and this change
is important
the reason why we are changing is because we want to continue to be a world-class teaching and learning
institution that is our work
to be able to maintain excellence and to maintain our stellar reputation
and now i want to go back to talking about that concept of loss which i told you to keep
in the back of your minds for a short period of time you know there’s a wonderful graphic or an image that i want to show you about
navigating change and what that looks like especially when we’re experiencing loss so take a look
um
uh
such a great visual description thank you to university communications for all of your hard work and this presentation
and supporting this event so when looking at this model when we are on when we are navigating
change and uncertainty uncertainty exists and i’ll actually start with talking about the ending first the
ending is where we see things that may need to change or be stopped or that’s something that we will lose in
order for us to be able to engage in the process of change so this ending phase when it starts to
happen and we disassociate ourselves from that move to a neutral zone
that shift you know causes us to feel uncertain at times
you know that space requires us to really take a further look at what some new possibilities are that can come or
to be willing to try new things or even explore and experiment
you know accepting the fact that you are in this unsettling time or uncertain zone
and one of the things about life is that it’s important to know how to be able to sit within that uncertainty and be
present to it and acknowledge the fact that that’s what you’re going through and trust the fact that what you are
learning by being in that neutral zone while you are continuing to learn and to work
together that being in that phase will eventually allow you to be able to shift
and focus on new projects that are to come and new beginnings and possibilities for the future
so the old way of doing things will be completed as you shift to the neutral zone and
then you focus on what lies ahead new possibilities calling you into the
future
this happens every single day you know some people might be in different phases at different points of
their work and in their lives we are not always in that same place all together but this allows us to be able to build
our own self-awareness of where we might be in our work and in our lives
and being open to curiosity allows us to be able to engage in change
and that’s where growth can happen learning and teaching does not only
happen within the classrooms here at gallaudet learning and teaching happens every sing
every single place in this community and it happens when we are all building the gallaudet community to a place in which
we all feel strong where we’re able to engage in various projects and organizations and
activities programs and even designing curriculum i mean the list goes on
you know change happens best not when we are in isolation from one another
change happens best when we all support one another have each other’s back
look out for one another anytime that we might see that a person is alone
bringing them in to provide them the necessary support so that they also feel included and that they feel a part
of this community when we do that our community and this collective will be successful
we need to make sure that we are supporting one another looking out for each other in every single thing that we
do
and now again talking to our students i want to ask you to be open to
exploring new possibilities and new programs that we have to offer you
we have a new program which is the esports gaming program that we are starting this fall
we also have a new dedicated space for our multicultural student programs with
some new wonderful leadership and that’s present over at the jsath building
and we have new academic programs that gallaudet is offering including the list that you see here on the screen
[Music] and we were excited to put them up there because our you know graduate programs will be brought online but that shows to
our undergraduate students some future possibilities for you and programs that you might like to pursue in the near
future we recognize that we are bringing on these programs and there are still more to come especially for our undergraduate
students and that will be happening over the next couple of years we are still continuing to make those changes with
our faculty’s leadership our faculty at the undergraduate level
are now currently doing an evaluation of the majors and minors and programs that we currently offer
to continue to make sure that we are using the best expertise that our faculty have their knowledge the
training that they bring and making sure that that is interwoven into opportunities that will continue to
prepare our students for the future our faculty are here for all of us
to allow us to learn and to really support the vision of the gallaudet promise and priority
number one learning across the lifespan
and again all of these programs and what we are doing is a part of priority number one with the scalab comes
so when we all learn and work together we are able to move forward with one
another and do so together in order to navigate this change
and that’s what will help really realize the vision of the gallaudet promise
and allow it to become come to fruition
it is important that we all really hold to the possibilities
and the promise that exists in the work that we have to do in the year ahead and i know that we can do
this we’ve got this
and now i am proud to share that gallaudet is launching a new
campaign called i am gallaudet
and you can see that here on the shirt that i’m wearing
the reason why we are doing this campaign is because it will continue to show the world the best of who we are
and it will really shine a light on the impact of gallaudet
the diversity and the intersectional identities that are all part of our community
it will show the stellar reputation of gallaudet
it will highlight the top-notch champ student experience that we often
talk about and it will continue to have an impact on the world especially with our alum
and what they are doing take a look at this teaser
right
you know it’s hard for me to see the audience but i’m wondering how will people sign hashtag i am gallant i know
that there are different ways to sign that so how would you all sign this
hell like this oh like that okay
i am gallaudet
other ways great
yeah i’ve seen different forms of this referring to the heart of gallaudet but the beauty of this
is that we don’t have just one way to define i am gallaudet
and i leave that to you to best define that as you’d like
however a way that you would like to express it
i am gallaudet you are gallaudet you and you and you are gallaudet
each one of us is gallaudet and we are gallaudet
[Applause]
and if you remember when i opened with a poem from octavia butler regarding change
in the spirit of that poem of octavia butler modifying it to fit our community
i say when you touch gallaudet you change gallaudet
when gallaudet touches you it changes you go out to the world
and change the world and do so together
we are retelling our story [Applause]
[Music] [Applause] that’s my story as well
the story of change are we ready
i think we’re all ready again thank you so much storm thank you president bobby
one more thing can i can i get some of those shoes from you oh i’ll have to find out where i got
them from and i’ll make sure to share that with you too come on you gotta get me some all right
i’ll be sure to do that thank you president bobby
let me see your lights come on who’s ready where are they and
come on university communications for this campaign oh my god let me see the lights we are the world
we know gallaudet
all right so keep those on you know when you go to an apple event they have all these things that they do
to try to get you enticed into what they’re going to be up to that this is your opportunity to see the
very first advertisement of this new campaign you are the first ones to see
it next week the whole world will see it yeah we’ll laugh about that but you are
the rest the first
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