• Ph.D., University of Arizona, Language, Reading and Culture, 2000.
• M.Ed., Western Maryland College (presently McDaniel College), Deaf Education, 1987.
• B.S., University of Nebraska, Elementary Education, 1986.

Laurene E. Simms is culturally Deaf, African-American educator and a professor/director of the Deaf Education program at Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C. After graduating from the Indiana School for the Deaf (ISD), Indianapolis, Indiana, she received a B.S. Degree in Elementary Education from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and a M.Ed. in Deaf Education from Western Maryland College, Westminster, Maryland. She received a Ph.D. Degree in Language, Reading, and Culture from the University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona.

Laurene has hands-on experience in the implementation of an American Sign Language and English bilingual environment for Deaf and Hard of Hearing children and is an acknowledged expert on the topic of using ASL/English as the languages of instruction as well as multiculturalism.

Multiculturalism/social justice; literacy research; advocacy of Deaf People of Color; Early Childhood Education; diversified teaching/pedagogy; Deaf Education History; International Deaf Education; American Sign Language and English Bilingualism; travel and cycle

Elementary Education & K-12 Deaf Education

• Vita