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American Sign Language - B.A.

COLLEGE: College of Arts and Sciences
DEPARTMENT: Department of Modern and Classical Language Studies
109 Satterfield Hall
Tel: 330-672-2150
E-mail:mcls@kent.edu
Web: www.kent.edu/cas/mcls

Resources:

 
DESCRIPTION: The Bachelor of Arts in American Sign Language (ASL) presents ASL as a culture- and community-based language that interacts with other world languages. Through techniques including immersion and bilingual-bicultural comparison classes, community interaction, research, lab activities and use of digital video technology, students gain documented proficiency in ASL, validity within the deaf community and networking within the professional community. 
CAREER OPPORTUNITIES:
 ASL majors are employed in a number of areas.  Some graduates go on to become interpreters in the community.  Community interpreting requires a 4 year degree; NIC licensing is preferred, see ASL at KSU’s website page on community interpreting: http://thorykksu.webs.com/communityinterpreting.htm.  Other graduates go on to teach ASL; a minor in second language education/pedagogy is required in order to obtain state licensure as needed to teach regular education K-12.  Other graduates go on to work in mental health settings, non-profit agencies, Community Centers for the Deaf, and Deaf-owned businesses (which often require additional skills and possible minors in information technology, business, sales and marketing, or office management).  Some graduates go into media or political advocacy, while others go on to graduate school in theater, library sciences, education, special education, medicine, legal studies, rehabilitation, linguistics and psychology.

For more on this topic, search the American Sign Language Pedagogy at Kent State.
ADMISSION
REQUIREMENTS:
 General Admissions for New Freshman: Students most likely to be admitted and succeed at the Kent Campus are those who have graduated with at least 16 units of the recommended college preparatory curriculum in high school, who have achieved a cumulative high school grade point average of 2.5 or higher (on a 4.0 scale), and whose composite ACT score is 21 or better (980 combined critical reading and math SAT score). For more information on admissions, visit the Admissions website for new freshmen. It is helpful to have been strong in English and language-related courses. 

General Admissions for Transfer Students: Generally, a transfer applicant who has taken 12 or more semester hours with a college cumulative GPA of at least 2.0 on a 4.0 scale may be admitted. An applicant who has taken fewer than 12 semester hours will be evaluated on both collegiate and high school records. For more information on admissions, visit the Admissions website for transfer students.
GRADUATION
REQUIREMENTS:
 Minimum 121 total credit hours  and  42 upper-division hours for graduation. Minimum 2.00 GPA overall and 2.00 GPA in major required for graduation.
CULMINATING REQUIREMENTS:
 Successful community service projects in ASL 29202, 39201, and 39202; documentation of a proficiency level of Intermediate or above on the Sign Language Proficiency Interview (administered off-site), and successful completion of the capstone project in ASL 49201.
LANGUAGE
REQUIREMENT:		 Yes
PROGRAM FEE:
 None
ACCREDITATION: The ASL major at KSU is the only program in the nation to have obtained national recognition and accreditation from the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE) and the American Council on the Teaching of Foreign Languages (ACTFL)
STUDY ABROAD/AWAY OPPORTUNITIES: The Sienna School for Liberal Arts, in Siena, Italy.  Scholarship opportunities are available.

There are many Study Abroad/Away Opportunities, for more information contact the Office of Global Education.
STUDENT
ORGANIZATIONS:
 American Sign Language Club
GRADUATE
PROGRAMS:
 School Psychology (M.Ed., Ed.S.), Secondary Education (M.A.T., M.Ed.), Special Education (Ed.S.), Translation (M.A.)

Alumni have successfully applied to multiple graduate programs including linguistics, rehabilitation, special education, library science, medicine, and political science.