International Journalists Tour Gallaudet

Nearly a dozen foreign journalists visited Gallaudet University March 27 as part of an on-the-record media tour coordinated by Gallaudet University’s Office of Communications and Public Relations and the U.S. Department of State Foreign Press Center. The Foreign Press Center provides support for 1,700 international journalists based in the United States.

Reporters from Austria, China, Egypt, Qatar, Russia, Taiwan, United Arab Emirates, and Canada attended the three-hour tour. The event consisted of an historical tour of campus, led by Michael Olson, Archives Preservation Specialist and Patrick Baker, Visitors Center Coordinator; a look inside the DeafSpace buildings including the new dorm that is currently under construction, LLRH6, and SLCC, with Hansel Bauman, Director of Campus Design and Planning and Robert Sirvage, DeafSpace Specialist and Adjunct Professor; a visit to the Brain and Language Lab (BL2) led by Dr. Laura-Ann Petitto, lab director; a sit-down interview with President T. Alan Hurwitz about Gallaudet’s role in advocacy and other key legislation that exists to protect the rights of people with disabilities; and the event wrapped up with a tour of the Deaf Peace Corps exhibit in the Student Academic Center with Jean Bergey, Outreach Liaison, and Norma Moran, a former Peace Corps volunteer, followed by one-on-one interviews with international students.

The media tour served a dual purpose: to introduce Gallaudet University to the foreign journalists and to raise awareness about what the world’s only accredited liberal arts university for deaf and hard of hearing students can do for others around the world.