Jane Fernandes

Fernandes was raised in Worcester and is the daughter of Richard Paul and Mary Kathleen (nee Cosgrove) Kelleher. Her father was a lawyer and judge serving in Worcester, Barnstable, and Falmouth. Her mother was deaf and raised to speak, read, and write English. Born deaf, her parents chose to raise her the same way. She attended Worcester public schools before any state or federal laws requiring accommodations for her deafness. She received intensive hearing and speech instruction through a partnership between home and school. While Fernandes was attending graduate school, she decided to learn American Sign Language (ASL) and develop her involvement with the Deaf community.

Fernandes attended Trinity College, earning a B.A. degree in French and comparative literature, and the University of Iowa, where she earned her M.A. and Ph. D., both in comparative literature. At Iowa, she (as Jane Kelleher) received the Phillip G. Hubbard Human Rights Award. [4]

After graduating from Iowa, Fernandes coordinated the American Sign Language and Interpreting Programs at Northeastern University before coming to Gallaudet University as chair of Sign Communication. Her next move was to Honolulu, Hawaii where she established an Interpreter Education Program at Kapiolani Community College and then served for five years at the Hawaii School for the Deaf and the Blind [5] In Hawaii, she provided leadership that recognized American Sign Language as a bona fide language and understanding Hawaiian Sign Language as the sign of people native to the islands and acquired grants to teach parents of deaf children how to read books to their deaf children throughout the Hawaiian Islands and the Pacific Basin using American Sign Language. She received the Alice Cogswell Award in 1993 from Gallaudet University for valuable service on behalf of deaf citizens [6]

Upon her return to Gallaudet University in 1995, she served as Vice President of the National Deaf Education Center.[7] In accordance with the Education of the Deaf Act of 1986 [8] which authorized the National Deaf Education Center, Fernandes led the development, evaluation, and dissemination of projects to improve deaf education nationwide. Derived from three priorities: (1) literacy for all deaf children, (2) the transition from high school to postsecondary education, work, careers, and (3) family involvement in a deaf child's life, her leadership encompassed the nationally acclaimed Shared Reading Project,[9] Families Count! (Levels 1, 2, and 3), [10] Decision Maker, and The Nine Areas of Literacy books and videotapes. In 1999, she proposed the creation of the Cochlear Implant Education Center [11] at Kendall Demonstration Elementary School which was established in 2000. Through this inclusive initiative, she made it clear that American Sign Language and cochlear implant technology are both valuable to the development of deaf infants, toddlers, and youth.

Most critically, in 1996-97, she oversaw the racial integration of the Kendall Demonstration Elementary School and the Model Secondary School for the Deaf and seminal research into bilingual American Sign Language-English education for all Deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind students.

In 2000, President I. King Jordan named her provost of the university without consulting the faculty, a move which Jordan called "a terrible mistake".[12][13] In spite of a rough start, Fernandes' accomplishments included playing a lead role in Gallaudet's capital campaign that raised $28 million for the Sorenson Language and Communication Center, [14] a second comprehensive campaign that raised $39 million, $9 million over its goal, creating the World Deaf Leadership scholarship with funding from the Nippon Foundation, and tripling the dollar amount of research grants awarded -- including the National Science Foundation Science of Learning grant and a $1.2 million federal appropriation annually to support Biology and Genetics Research laboratories.[15]

Her signature work is reflected in the Board-approved strategic plan "New Directions for Academic Affairs" which called for Gallaudet University to model what it means to be an inclusive deaf university in all aspects of its operations, academic, and community life. {citation needed}

Upon the retirement of Jordan, she applied for the university presidency. In her application, Fernandes wrote:

Gallaudet’s mission holds both personal and professional meaning for me. I am a white Deaf woman, the daughter of a Deaf mother and a hearing father, with both Deaf and hearing brothers, all of whom are white people. The generations of white Deaf and hearing people in my family have never signed; they have always been oral people. Having grown up Deaf, I came to learn Sign Language relatively late, at the age of 23, while I was a graduate student at the University of Iowa. From that time on, I have embraced signing and visual communication as the keystone of Deaf education and now the uniting feature of Gallaudet’s diverse, Deaf community. While we respect a variety of communication modes and languages among Deaf people, we must also unite in affirming visucentric public discourse.[16]

Her presidential platform, "Many Ways of Being Deaf," articulated work to be done throughout the university to include, value, and respect students, faculty, and staff of all races and all ways of being deaf, hard of hearing, and deaf-blind. She called for Gallaudet University to become an inclusive deaf university of academic excellence.

Naming racism and audism as systemic issues at Gallaudet caused a strong reaction to Fernandes' appointment as Gallaudet University president. [17] Scores of students protested against her appointment. According to The Washington Post, "Students objected to the appointment of Jane Fernandes, who is Deaf and is currently the university's provost because she did not grow up using American Sign Language. Some students also criticized Fernandes for not having warm relations with students."[18] Protestors objected to Fernandes because she was "not Deaf enough." One flier handed out in the protest attacked her because "her mother and brother are deaf, but use spoken language." [19] When this did not resonate with the public, the protestors clarified that they believe she lacks the charisma to represent deaf people to the world. [20]

Protestors perceived that Fernandes, having learned ASL as an adult, was insufficiently committed to addressing the problem of audism (discrimination based on the ability to hear or behave in the manner of one who hears). The student paper took polls a few days before the selection. Of those faculty members who responded, 36% gave Fernandes an "acceptable" rating, compared to 53% and 64% for two other finalists. [21]

On October 29, 2006, six months after the Board selected her as president, but before she had assumed the position, the Board of Trustees of Gallaudet University rescinded her contract to be the ninth President of Gallaudet. [22]

She served as a Senior Fellow at the Johnnetta B. Cole Global Diversity and Inclusion Institute. As Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of North Carolina at Asheville, she and her team collaborated on a partnership resulting in Asheville hosting the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy on its campus. She was widely applauded for her successful efforts to increase diversity, equity, and inclusion throughout the university's operations. She teamed with Chancellor Anne Ponder in fundraising to establish three endowed professorships and she secured significant support from private foundations.

At Guilford College, she succeeded Kent Chabotar on July 1, 2014, becoming the first woman to hold this position.[23] Fernandes was formally inaugurated as the first female and the ninth president of Guilford College.[24]

In partnership with the campus community, she launched the Guilford Edge, innovative and shared student experiences, consisting of learning collaboratively, integrating advising, leading ethically, and rallying campus spirit. She is credited with investing in core values-based restorations to provide healthy and safe accommodations and preserve building infrastructure for centuries to come. The College's construction and restoration team designed collaborative teaching and learning spaces to support the Guilford Edge. [] The establishment of a Cabinet-level Vice President of Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion resulted in diversity being central to every College decision. [] She supported gender equity in athletic participation, practice, and experience necessary for the student body.

In her seventh year, Fernandes announced plans to step away as Guilford College's president effective July 1, 2021, when she will transition to a faculty role. [25]

She is a Founding member of the Presidents' Alliance on Higher Education and Immigration, where she is currently a Steering Committee member. Formed in 2017, the college and university leaders' alliance is dedicated to increasing public awareness of how immigration policies and practices impact students, college campuses, and communities. [26] Fernandes advocated on behalf of Guilford College's DACA students and alumni for a bipartisan Congressionally approved path to citizenship. [27] On July 31, 2020, Guilford College achieved victory in a federal lawsuit on behalf of international students at Guilford College and throughout the nation. [28]

• Dr. Fernandes' appointment at the Wayback Machine (archived June 9, 2007)
• Washington Post coverage of the controversy: May 2 May 3 May 5 May 10 May 15