Working With Faculty

Transcript

2021, ASL English Interpretation graduate, Kirsten, is here to tell you firsthand how essential it is to connect with your faculty.

 I especially miss the ASL Center, a place where ASL students can go practice their signing and hangout. Faculty members come to and hang out with us so we can build those relationships outside of the classroom. Angie Malcomson and Diana Gorman are two professors that made a huge impact on my life. I don’t know if I would have graduated without them. Diana was my linguistics professor. I’m deaf and hard of hearing, and it was in her classes that I first experimented with hearing aids, and I also had my very first interpreters. She made me feel comfortable and accepted the entire time. With Diana I learned the love of the language. Angie was my interpreting professor. Her classes made me fall in love with interpreting all over again. She always worked hard with us to make sure that we could turn things in if we weren’t doing super well. I will always appreciate her flexibility during the pandemic and putting an emphasis on making sure that we were taking care of ourselves. Angie, also helped me learn how to advocate for myself and made sure I understood that I deserved access to education just like everybody else. She is the person that saved me when I needed one last credit to graduate. Immediately, she said that she would do an independent study with me and it ended up being one of the best experiences that I’ve had. Aggie always pushes me just enough to be the absolute best that I could be. The amount of care that Columbia faculty members put into their students continues to blow me away. In the ASL Department, our professors work hard to find deaf events in the community that we can go to, so we can network. We also get mentors in our practicum one class, so we can get industry experience and meet professional interpreters. Our professors work hard to make sure that we are as prepared as possible.

Kirsten, thank you so much for showing us the power of relationship building with your faculty. It’s obvious Columbia’s professors are dedicated to sharing their knowledge and experience with their students. Thanks again.