Orientation to Deafness
RIT's Center for Professional Development (CPD) offers ongoing series of professional development classes and workshops relevant to deafness, deaf students and American Sign Language, among other topics.
Please refer to the RIT CPD website for listings of current offerings.
Learning Sign Language and Fingerspelling
Faculty and staff wishing to develop basic (or higher) sign language and/or fingerspelling skills may avail themselves of several campus resources.
The NTID Department of American Sign Language and Interpreting Education (ASLIE) offers formal courses at various levels that meet in both the NTID academic building (known as LBJ) and the Carey Building (HLC), usually for eight weeks per academic quarter. Advance registration is usually necessary, due to logistics and limited space. For further information, please contact ASLIE at (585) 475-6497 (V/TTY), or the Department of Science and Engineering Support (DSES) at (585) 475-2144 (V/TTY).
Currently, the Department of Science and Engineering Support is holding informal lunchtime sign language learning and practice sessions involving faculty, staff and deaf students. All are welcome to attend on a drop-in basis. These sessions are held every Wednesday in the DSES conference room, Gosnell A140. Snacks are served. For more information, please contact Sharon Rasmussen at (585) 475-2948 (V/TTY), slr5386@rit.edu.
Informal help in learning and practicing fingerspelling and basic sign language may be available directly from DSES faculty and/or staff. Additionally, some NTID students might be thrilled to be able to help interested faculty learn basic sign and fingerspelling skills.