What The School of ASL at NCU Wants You to Know…

One of the main areas of study within North Central University’s College of Arts and Sciences is the School of ASL. Professor Regina Daniels is the director of the School of American Sign Language. 

Daniels said that, “I always tell students do not think that if you take an ASL class you have to be an interpreter. If you don’t feel called to be one, the bottom line is to take the class and learn how to communicate and learn about deaf culture and its history. Many of our students are taking ASL classes even though they are involved in other fields. Just because it isn’t your calling doesn’t mean you can’t try and learn the basics of ASL to communicate and we don’t expect you to be perfect at sign language. Deaf people just appreciate knowing you are trying to communicate with them, even if it is very minimal.”

There are two deaf students at NCU, Nathan and Hannah Sorenson. Nathan is an Education major who recently graduated in spring of 2022, and Hannah is a Creative Writing major. These students are able to partner with our interpreter students in order to learn from each other. Daniels shed some light on what her interpreting students are planning to do post-graduation.

She said, “Some of our interpreting students are doing freelance work, which means they could be working in legal settings, medical settings, mental health settings, so students will learn the terminology and the concepts of those differing fields for interpreting from other areas in CAS.” Getting other content from the various courses within CAS will also benefit the interpreters when they go out to the community. 

Daniels said, “We just had a curriculum review a couple of weeks ago with a consultant, Bill Ross. In the past, ASL classes and Interpreting classes have been very separate. But they feel disconnected. I (ASL director) and Sydney Groveman (Interpreting director) have been working together and realized the content I am teaching and the content she is teaching is so separate that students will get confused. Right now we are trying to merge the classes and content. So that we can align topics to match throughout the year. We are updating the curriculum to make it relevant and up to date, to follow the trends within ASL.”

Daniels explains that the Dean Libengood of CAS is doing an amazing job at helping the ASL program feel included and be supportive of what the department needs. At NCU, you can get education degrees while growing your faith in a Pentecostal University environment. This is a great opportunity for faith-driven students to pursue their careers. Be sure to follow CAS on social media: Facebook, Instagram, and LinkedIn for more information and real life student highlights.

College of Arts and Sciences (CAS)

The College of Arts and Sciences (CAS) at North Central University in Minneapolis, Minnesota provides a world-class, liberal arts education. The College of Arts and Sciences is the stepping stone to your future, refining your talent and taking you to the next level. Components you can expect to see as a CAS student include experiential learning, 1-on-1 experiences, hands-on work and job placement/ opportunities. For more information regarding our programs: Education,  Psychology, Social Work,  Communication, Journalism,  English, Math, Biology and American Sign Language (ASL), click here. 

Love Your Neighbor Initiative

Love Your Neighbor (LYN) is an Initiative based out of North Central University’s College of Arts and Sciences, in Minneapolis, Minnesota. The Love Your Neighbor website is a student-led, student-organized and student-developed site designed to showcase student accomplishments, opportunities and achievements within CAS. The development of students goes far beyond the classroom. NCU provides an urban environment in which experiential learning and faith coexist to shape students into real difference-makers. For more information on LYN click here.