Weiner Family Research Award: Aileen Aldalur
recognizes and supports outstanding student research that adds to an understanding of diagnostic techniques and treatments aimed at improving mental health outcomes of individuals who are deaf

The recipient adapted a measure of acculturative stress for use with deaf individuals (SAFE-D).  In addition to giving national presentations on the topic, her manuscript on the scale’s development was accepted for publication in the American Psychological Association’s journal Rehabilitation Psychology. Her dissertation research focuses on adapting another scale that captures the bicultural aspects of acculturative stress.  In a two-part study, she conducted focus groups to identify unique acculturative stress issues faced by deaf, hard of hearing and deafblind individuals and developed a scale that includes other measures of psychological well-being or pathology, received feedback from content experts, and collected data from a national sample of respondents. Congratulations, Aileen Aldalur!

Graduate Student Scholarly Achievement Award: Alesia Allen

recognizes an outstanding scholarly project completed by a graduate student during his or her Gallaudet graduate program. This project, whether published or not, should be an exceptional piece of (written or signed) work that contributes to the scientific or professional understanding of some topic relevant to the subject matter of Gallaudet graduate programs.

The recipient was selected in recognition of her recent dissertation project that examined the psychological well-being of hard of hearing individuals, an infrequently researched topic, in part, given the various beliefs and theoretical perspectives regarding how hard of hearing people identify and navigate both hearing and deaf worlds. The results of the study add to the extant literature and will likely help to inform those mental health professionals who work with hard of hearing individuals. The recipient is also the first Black Deaf woman to earn a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology at Gallaudet University.  Congratulations, Alesia Allen!

Graduate Student Outstanding Achievement Award:

recognizes an outstanding graduate student who has demonstrated exceptional accomplishments in the graduate student role. This may include such considerations as high scholastic achievement, exceptional performance during practicum/internship assignments; outstanding service to Gallaudet or to the community at large, as well as related achievements in scholarship, research, or public service

Two recipients: Jesús Barreto Abrams and Vyron Kinson 

The first recipient is a self-identified trilingual (ASL, English, Spanish) Latino, who entered the Clinical Psychology Doctoral Program committed to learning about and working with deaf, hard of hearing, and deafblind individuals, seeing the need for psychological services in his home of Puerto Rico. In addition to exceptional performance in his required courses and clinical practica, he has committed himself to become a lifespan psychologist in order to provide needed services to young people and their families, completing the Graduate Certificate in Deaf and Hard of Hearing Infants, Toddlers, and Families: Collaboration and Leadership Program as well as a special topics course in pediatric neuropsychology.  He also created an open-source social media project to share basic information about neuroscience and neuropsychology in ASL, spending months investigating how to merge ASL and visual graphics to clearly present this information. He has been able to translate and share much of his learning through numerous presentations and scholarly materials. He has also taught several undergraduate psychology courses.  After he completes his clinical internship and dissertation project this summer, he will enter a highly coveted unique postdoctoral fellowship in multicultural neuropsychology in California. Congratulations, Jesús Barreto Abrams!

Graduate Student Outstanding Achievement Award 

The second recipient has worked in the mental health field for over 10 years and was the first person to receive the PDIC (Provisional Deaf Interpreter Credential) from the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. He is a business owner and teaches community ASL classes at the Atlanta Area School for the Deaf and serves as the National Black Deaf Advocates (NBDA) southern region representative.  An active member of the Georgia Association of the Deaf (GAD), the Georgia Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (GaRID), and the Atlanta chapter of the National Alliance of Black Interpreters (NAOBI-Atlanta), he is a voice for the Black Deaf community.  Congratulations, Vyron Kinson!

Outstanding Graduate Faculty Member Award: Dr. Brenda Nicodemus (nomination)

recognizes an individual who has made exemplary contributions to Gallaudet University’s graduate programs over the years. These might include service through student advisement, teaching, supervision, consultation, committee service, research or other related activities that have been of exceptional benefit to graduate education at Gallaudet University

During her time in the Department of Interpretation and Translation, the recipient has advised numerous masters and doctoral students not only during their time in their respective programs, but as they have launched into their academic careers. Students repeatedly name her as a favorite teacher of various courses ranging from interpreting skills courses to advanced courses on cognitive processing and research. She has supervised several doctoral research interns who have contributed to her own research projects – often bringing them on as additional authors on publications. She regularly consults with students and faculty on their own research endeavors as part of her work as the director of the Center for the Advancement of Interpretation Research (CAITR). Her scholarship has remained constant, regularly publishing her work on a number of research projects on her own and with co-researchers and giving presentations nationally and internationally. In addition, she gives back to the Deaf Community directly by maintaining her role as a private practice interpreter working in the local community as well as at conferences around the globe. Congratulations, Dr. Brenda Nicodemus!