• B.A., Gallaudet University, 1974
• M.A., Western Maryland College, 1977

Hazel, a proud native of Baton Rouge, LA, retired from the Louisiana School for the Deaf after working there for for 28 years. During her time there, she was the Physical Education Supervisor/Athletic Director. Hazel also worked as a Student Center Coordinator for four years and taught for six years.  Prior to teaching at the Louisiana School for the Deaf, Hazel also worked as a teacher for three years at Alabama School for the Deaf.

Upon returning to Louisiana after Alabama, Hazel has served on various committees and boards that are too numerous to list. Hazel now volunteers for Hospice, is currently an active  member of the following organizations: Louisiana Association of the Deaf,  New Orleans Black Deaf Advocates, Lafayette Athletic Association of the Deaf, Louisiana Acadiana Deaf-Blind citizens, Louisiana Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, National Association of the Deaf, Deaf Women United, and Deaf Seniors of America.  

When Hazel was a student at Gallaudet, she participated mostly in sports playing field hockey, swimming, and basketball. Hazel is also a member of the Phi Kappa Zeta sorority.

Hazel and her husband, Edward Wood, '74 have two grown children who are also Gallaudet alumni, and four grandsons, one of which is currently living with them, the other is in the US Coast Guard and stationed in Mississippi, and two live in Baton Rouge, LA near where Hazel and Ed live.