Deaf Community Studies (BA)
Learn ASL quickly through full immersion
Learn ASL quickly through full immersion
As a student in Madonna’s Deaf Community Studies program, you will be part of a community dedicated to Deaf cultural studies in Michigan. In addition to studying a rigorous language curriculum, you will gain an in-depth understanding of the unique features and needs of the Deaf community, which will make you an invaluable asset in any field where Deaf services are provided. As the first and only university in Michigan to offer a bachelor’s degree in Deaf Community Studies, when you choose Madonna, you are choosing the leader in the field.
Founded in 1975, The Sign Language Studies (SLS) department at Madonna University was one of the first baccalaureate programs of its kind in the United States. The program boasts an international reputation and serves as an academic and cultural resource for both Deaf and hearing people throughout Michigan. A signature Madonna University program, SLS is one reflection of the institution's value of education for service.
A Deaf Community Studies degree prepares you to work directly alongside and on behalf of the Deaf community - not as an interpreter, but as a cultural liaison, advocate, and service provider. Coursework builds ASL fluency alongside working knowledge of the legal, educational, and social systems Deaf people navigate, and a required Field Placement puts you to work in a community-based service organization, school, or vocational rehabilitation setting before you graduate.
By the time you finish, you'll be equipped to:
After earning her BA in Sign Language Interpreting with a minor in Deaf Community Studies (’19), Karen continues to work in the Toledo area as a freelance interpreter primarily in religious settings, but also remains involved in the Deaf Community and its organizations in both Michigan and Ohio.
While interpreting was to be the primary focus at Madonna University, a conflict of personal schedules led her to add Deaf Community Studies as a minor which “led me to the most wonderful experiences, classes, organizations and people. My minor has allowed me to work for and along side amazing Deaf professionals and organizations. Because of my minor and its practicum, I worked with The Holley Institute, Toledo Catholic Diocese, and Madonna University Sign Language Studies Department."
Karen continues to volunteer with several organizations serving the Deaf Community and attributes her involvement to Madonna University’s Deaf Community Studies curriculum.
"I made valuable contacts and gained insight and experience I would not have gotten without the Deaf Community Study minor. However, it is just not the experience, but the wealth of knowledge and depth of understanding that the additional classes provided. I must admit that the required Deaf Community Study classes were my favorite classes!"
Madonna also offers Sign Language Interpreting Studies, and ASL Education majors, which come from the same core foundation in ASL and Deaf culture while featuring coursework specific to each career path, along with a minor in American Sign Language for students who want to build ASL skills alongside another area of study.
Ph.D., Heriot-Watt University
M.A., Oakland University
B.A., Madonna University
734-432-5618, 1405
Dan McDougall, CSC, is the chair of the Sign Language Studies department. He joined the full time faculty of Madonna University in 2007. He has been a certified interpreter since 1986, specializing in shadowed interpreting for the theatre.
Dan founded TerpTheatre, and is an internationally recognized authority on interpreted theatre (see www.terptheatre.com). He has an extensive background in nonprofit program development and fundraising. He is an alumnus of the SLS department (1986), and holds an MA in Linguistics from Oakland University (1991).
The SLS department awarded him Distinguished Alumnus in 2005. He teaches in the areas of interpretation, advanced American Sign Language, and linguistics.
Jennifer Berrigan is an Assistant Professor in the Sign Language Studies department. A Michigan School for the Deaf alumni, Jennifer attended Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. In 2005, she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Biology. She continued for her master’s degree in Sign Language Education at Gallaudet University and graduated in 2017.
Amongst her education, she worked as an intern at Tufts University and James Madison University. She also has worked as the SLPI Coordinator for the MI Department of Education LIO. In 2015, Berrigan competed as a snowboarder at the Winter Deaflympics. Berrigan is no stranger to teaching higher education, working most recently as an ASL instructor in Arizona and Michigan.
Berrigan’s goal is to promote better communication access to foster a stronger educational based future for Deaf children.
M.S., Rochester Institute of Technology
B.S., Rochester Institute of Technology
VP: 734.237.3058, 1405
Bretagne Whitford is an Assistant Professor in the Sign Language Studies department. Bretagne went to Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. and Rochester Institute of Technology in Rochester, NY. In 2009, she graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Psychology with a minor in Business Administration and Public Policy. She continued on for her master’s degree in Deaf Education, acquired in 2011.
Amongst her education, she worked in a research lab and acquired her research interest in deaf children and the familial characteristics that would have an impact on their literacy. She also takes a fascination with ASL assessments and how to accurately document an individual’s ASL proficiency. She had a paper published in 2011 titled Deaf Individuals’ Bilingual Abilities: American Sign Language Proficiency, Reading Skills, and Family Characteristics in Psychology Journal (Vol. 2, No 1, 18-32).
She takes pride teaching sign language particularly, keen to the fact that she is their Deaf role model and provides the students with the appropriate mental and language framework as they enter the Deaf community.
B.A., Madonna University
A.A., Schoolcraft Community College
734-432-5616, 1405
