Tentative Program Goals:

• To encourage leadership growth in Deaf individuals
• To encourage entrepreneurship
• To encourage political activism
• To encourage intellectualism
• To endorse activities for Deaf children, young adults and adults that help these individuals develop leadership skills
• To help provide activities that teach leadership
• To endorse and financially support Deaf Leaders in activities, such as attending conferences, designing activities that encourage independence and growth, increase literacy among the Deaf, increase employment among the Deaf, and similar work.

NOTE: This program is in the works, not officially established! Applications are not available at this time.

We are collecting funds to get the program established.

The ultimate measure of a man
is not where he stands in moments of comfort,
but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

 

Nancy M. [Johnson] Resh Nancy Mae Resh (Cortland, Ohio) passed away on November 15, 2010. She was born (Nancy Mae Johnson, Virginia) September 4, 1958. Nancy was a natural leader who made a dramatic impact upon several communities, both Deaf and hearing. She earned her B.A. in Psychology from Gallaudet University in 1983; she was a member of Chi Omega Psi sorority, and she made the Dean's list in 1983. She earned her M.Ed. in Rehabilitation Counseling from Kent State University in 2000. She has won two awards: Woman of the Year (2001) and the James Denison Spirit Award (2010, for the faculty member who contributed the most to the spirit of the ASL Program at Kent State University). She was an active member of Ohio Association for the Deaf, National Association for the Deaf, and National Black Deaf Advocacy. She frequently worked both inside and outside the Deaf community all her life, successfully building numerous bridges between the two worlds. She accomplished this diplomatic mission by playing many roles.

She was the Director of Services for the Youngstown Hearing & Speech Center (Youngstown Community Services for the Deaf), for which she also co-hosted an annual Super Deaf Camp for children in the summer. She also worked as a Rehabilitation Counselor for the Deaf for the Bureau for Vocational Rehabilitation and Ohio Rehabilitation Services Commission, helping numerous deaf and hard-of-hearing clients all over the Northeast Ohio area. She organized an annual Deaf Culture Town Hall Meeting, participated on various diversity panels, and helped with several events in the northeast Ohio area (Deaf Awareness Days, Valley Junior Achievement, Trumbull County Deaf Youth Group). She was Co-Chairperson of the DEAFair in 2007 and served as the 2009 Ohio Association for the Deaf Conference Speaker Coordinator, as the Children's Corner Coordinator of DEAFair Event. She was Co-Leader of the Ebony Ladies Golf Club Fundraiser for children with disabilities and established the annual OAD Junior Golf Clinic in 2010, served as a Deaf consultant in the structuring of the CRC for Deaf Counselors, and served as Grant Manager for an RCD grant (since 2007).

After teaching as a part-time instructor on several Kent State University campuses (Kent, Salem and Trumbull), Professor Resh became a full time professor at Kent State University Trumbull. In addition to teaching American Sign Language classes, she served on a steering committee to establish standards for post-secondary ASL programs for all Kent State University campuses. She encouraged her students to become involved with the area Deaf community, including the organization of the Annual Halloween Party each Fall Semester and the Annual Easter Party each Spring Semester. She was an active member of the Kent State University Trumbull Diversity Council, helping to bring numerous Deaf culture experiences to the campus and community. Last year, she served as Sign Master for and also co-produced the play For Every Man, Woman and Child—a modern morality play inspired by EVERYMAN in both contemporary spoken English and American Sign Language; this was performed at both the Kent Trumbull Theatre and at the International Conference on Medieval Studies (Albany, NY). Prior to her too-soon departure, she was working on several projects, including: a film project entitled Inside the Deaf Culture: Ohio (a collection of local Deaf and hard-of-hearing folks' stories), the co-production of a film documentary on the above mentioned play performance experience, and several (forthcoming) co-written pedagogical and/or scholarly articles.

WRITTEN BY:
Carol L. Robinson

CONTRIBUTORS:
Linda Mahmood
Caroline Copeland
Chris Popadak
Sheila Owolabi