Department
ASL and Deaf Studies

Office Location
  SLCC- 1215

Email Address
arlene.kelly@gallaudet.edu

A Baltimore native with Deaf parents, Arlene Blumenthal Kelly has been teaching at Gallaudet’s Department of ASL and Deaf Studies since August 1995. Prior to that, she was a researcher at the Gallaudet Research Institute and a librarian at the Tucson (Arizona) Public Library. 

Dr. Kelly’s B.A. (1977) is in English and M.A, (1992) in linguistics, both from Gallaudet College. Her doctorate (2001) is in American Studies from University of Maryland, College Park.  The title of her dissertation is “How Deaf Women Construct Teaching, Culture and Language, and Gender: An Ethnographic Study of ASL Teachers.”   

A frequent lecturer across the country, her topics cover various themes such Cultural Studies, Deaf History, Deaf Women and Fingerspelling.  Her published works have appeared in several journals, including American Annals of the Deaf and Disability Studies Quarterly.  She also serves on the advisory board of the ASL Program at the Frederick Community College. 

Dr. Kelly is married to Jim Kelly and they live in a farmhouse with their Border Collie and two cats.

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