President's WELCOME

Its my pleasure and honor to welcome you all to the 52nd annual Conference of the Association of College Educators - Deaf and Hard of Hearing (ACE-DHH)! This year we are hosting our conference in beautiful Denver, Colorado. I hope that everyone makes the time to explore our host city when you’re not busy with all the experiences our conference has to offer.

Our theme this year is “Advancing Deaf Education: Transformative and Innovative Approaches Grounded in Research.” This theme asks questions related to teacher preparation programs, current teachers, educational systems, deaf students’ experiences, partnerships and collaborations, and graduate programs. This expansive theme asks us to look beyond the challenges of our field and work towards innovation and transformation.

The idea of transformation and innovation is timely and important work. Every year, deaf, deafblind, deafdisabled, late deafened, and hard of hearing children enter the educational system, and it is our duty to work towards developing more accessible and empowering learning environments. It can be easy to fall into a cycle of identifying challenges; it is harder to view those challenges as opportunities for transformation. However, this act is the very essence of change.

Like many of you, ACEDHH is my research home-away-from-home - I so treasure the time I have to connect with each of you, learn from your work, and reflect on myself and the work that I do every day. I hope that this year brings you opportunities to learn new things, challenge your prior thinking, make a new collegial or professional connection, and reconnect with old friends. May this year’s conference be transformative.

With gratitude,

Dr. Jessica Scott