Augustana hires ASL staff to replace summer resignations
Augustana’s American Sign Language (ASL) department experienced difficulties this summer when three of four faculty members resigned following the 2023-2024 school year.
For students like Emma Krutsinger, a senior and ASL interpreting major, this news was alarming. Krutsinger is currently in her seventh year of college. She has transferred twice in pursuit of her ASL degree, finally landing at Augustana.
A sign language interpreting degree has been Krutsinger’s goal since high school, but her plans were shaken this past June when ASL students received an email from Laurie Daily, Dean of the School of Education, that three of Augustana’s ASL staff, including the program director, resigned.
“After we got notice that this was happening, we were all quite worried,” Krutsinger said. “We all began to text our professor and ask, ‘What's going on? Are we okay?’ To think we're going into our senior year with half of our professors leaving us was quite a big hit, at least to our confidence and to our belief in our education.”
Krutsinger is on track to graduate in May of 2025 and believes the effects of staff changes on ASL students will be minimal. The biggest disruption, Krutsinger said, is mentorship.
“[Senior ASL students] will start an internship at the beginning of the spring semester, so we're all working towards that right now,” Krutsinger said. “I think the only difference is that we're a little bit more on our own to find internships. To say that [the resignations] didn't suck would be a gigantic lie because we all built really hard relationships with [the former professors].”
Daily, the executive hiring team and ASL faculty worked quickly to fill these vacancies so students could complete their degrees on time.
In response to resignations, Steen took over as program director, and Angela Ellman and Mychal Hadrich moved into full-time roles.
“[Ellman and Hadrich have] experience with Augustana and quality teaching,” Provost Joel Johnson said. “They know the institution, they know the students and now they're able to take on a bigger role with us, so we feel good about them joining our ranks in a full-time capacity, and we continue to hire in that area because we have such demand.”
Ellman is now an assistant professor for the Sign Language Interpreting Program and recently received her master’s degree in Sign Language Education from Gallaudet University. Born deaf, Ellman is passionate about ASL education.
ASL is growing in popularity as the third most commonly taught language in the United States. According to Ellman, course offerings are expanding due to high demand – amid the loss of professors, the ASL Program remains strong.
Hadrich is also now an assistant professor, teaching ASL and interpreting courses. He received his bachelor's degree in Sign Language Interpreting from Augustana in 2012 and his master’s degree in Interpreting Studies. During graduate school, Hadrich served as a student teacher for the Intro to Interpreting course at Augustana.
“It was a shock for myself and the interpreting community to get the news that several cherished and highly skilled interpreters and educators had resigned,” Hadrich said. “However, one thing that hasn't changed has been the strong collaboration and support of the local Deaf community.”
Appointing new staff so quickly was difficult, as the hiring process typically begins further in advance. Johnson commends Augustana faculty for their roles in ensuring the future of the ASL program.
“I really give all kinds of credit to Dean Laurie Daily and the new program director, Carmen Steen, for just going at a furious pace to try to get people in place to serve the needs of our students this fall,” Johnson said.
