The Drs. John S. & Betty J. Schuchman Deaf Documentary Center educates students in the documentary arts and explores the lives of deaf people through research, documentation and dissemination.
Through the process of discovery and documentation, the Schuchman Center focuses on significant historical issues and endangered cultural knowledge specific to deaf peoples. Using film, photography, and narrative writing, the Schuchman Center disseminates stories of the deaf experience. Programs and products advance discourse on deaf lives, promoting a new level of awareness. The Schuchman Center also serves as a humanities-based resource for information on culturally and technically accessible bilingual documentary presentation.

The Drs. John S. & Betty J. Schuchman Deaf Documentary Center adds to the public's knowledge of the humanities in four focused areas:

• Discovery of deaf-specific topics through fieldwork and historic research 

• Documentation via film, photography, and narrative writing

• Dissemination through film screenings, lectures, and discussions in public and classroom settings, exhibitions, articles, multimedia website presentations, and online bilingual (American Sign Language/English)publications

• Education in the documentary process for and with students

The Drs. John S. & Betty J. Schuchman Deaf Documentary Center seeks to enhance humanities scholarship through newly revealed perspectives on the meaning of deaf life, and by contrast, what it means to be hearing. Harnessing dispersed expertise the Schuchman Center takes an ambitious approach to building partnerships and offering courses, workshops, lectures, online and print publications, documentary films, exhibitions and web-based media that bring deaf history and contemporary life to the University and the public. A diverse team collaborates to discover, document, and disseminate humanities content while educating students in the documentary arts.