The Center for Education Advancement of the Deaf (CEAD) is proud to announce that two of its FSL researchers, Jasmin Rivera and Nathaniel Macariola, recently completed their Master’s Degree in Sign Language Education from the prestigious Gallaudet University, the world’s only liberal arts university for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing students.

Both graduates also received The Dr. Nathie Marbury Award which is given to a graduate student who influences significant systemic change in the field of sign language education. The award also gives light to the accomplishments of Dr. Nathie, the first Black Deaf woman to be admitted to the US National Leadership Training Program. “She was focused on embracing Deaf culture in education and the teaching of ASL and ASL Linguistics. She was a masterful storyteller, artistic performer, and teacher.”

Before completing their master’s degree, Jasmin and Nathaniel trained between 2018 and 2022 under the renowned Sign Linguist and professor Dr. James Woodward through the Benilde diploma course on Sign Language Documentation.

The Gallaudet University Commencement Exercises are on May 10, 2024 at the university’s Field House, Washington, DC, USA.
Jasmin is the team leader of the FSL Corpus and Signbank project while Nathaniel is the team leader of the FSL Grammar and Dictionary project. Both are CEAD-MLITEDCE projects which contribute to support the vision of Benilde Deaf School (BDS) to be an exemplary Deaf-centered Bilingual-Bicultural Education.

CEAD advances the academic success of Filipino Deaf Learners through Deaf-Centered Education, Research, Linguistics, and Innovation