Islay

Confirmed Speakers

• Carol Padden
  CAROL PADDEN is Professor of Communication at University of California, San Diego, and an affiliate member of the Center for Research in Language. Her main areas of research are sign language structure, culture and community and evolution of language.
• Mark Zaurov
  MARK ZAUROV lectures at universities such as the University of Hamburg and Humboldt University, Berlin and Centre for Deaf Studies (CDS), University of Bristol on topics related to Deaf Studies and Art, the Deaf Holocaust and Deaf Jews as a double cultural minority. He is the author of the book: Gehörlose Judeneine doppeltekulturelle Minderheit (Deaf Jews – A Double Cultural Minority).
• Shoshannah Stern
  SHOSHANNAH STERN presently teaches in the Deaf Studies Department at Cal State, Northridge. She is also a notable deaf actress with numerous appearances on television, stage, and film.
• Robert Arnold
  ROBERT ARNOLD has taught ASL and Deaf Studies courses for 20 years. He is currently teaching ASL full-time at Mt. San Antonio College. He studies the interactions between ASL and English.
• Eli Rosseter
  ELI ROSSETER has helped Interpretive Arson develop large-scale art projects and assisted in infrastructure at the Burning Man Festival. She is a single mother and self-taught software quality engineer who works at Square, a start-up in San Francisco.
• Leah Katz-Hernandez
  LEAH KATZ-HERNANDEZ is the Executive Director of Deaf Youth USA. She has also served in the White House’s internship program, worked in the White House Office of Public Engagement, served as a Legislative Correspondence intern in Steny Hoyer's office. She is the HSC Foundation and American Association of People with Disabilities’ Youth Transitions Fellow.
• Rezenet Moges
  REZENET MOGES has a BFA in Illustration and is getting her MA in Linguistic Anthropology at California State University, Long Beach. She received her first taste of linguistic-anthropological issues in her first research position as a sign language dictionary illustrator. Her main research interests encompass language ideology, sign language contact and language and gender.
• Michele Friedner
  MICHELE FRIEDNER is a PhD candidate in Medical Anthropology at the University of California, Berkeley- University of California, San Francisco. She currently serves as a post-doctoral fellow at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology. Michele's research analyzes how deaf young adults living in urban areas of India engage in practices of sociality and aspiration in their desires for "deaf development."
• Deanne Bray
  DEANNE BRAY is an actress known for her roles in NBC's "Heroes" and PAX TV's "Sue Thomas, F.B. Eye". She has also worked in the field of deaf education and has earned awards and accolades in both education and acting.
• Keith Nolan
  KEITH NOLAN taught at a high school deaf program for almost two years before deciding to participate in the Army ROTC program at UCLA. Since August of 2010, he has been training with Bravo Company of the Bruin Battalion.