B.A. in Interpretation Program

Through an ASL-immersion experience and resources such as our award-winning interactive laboratory, you will be prepared to work in a variety of settings. Our interpretation program is open to students who are deaf, hard of hearing and hearing.

Gallaudet University is the only university in the world that offers both an undergraduate and a graduate degree in ASL-English Interpretation. Gallaudet provides a unique opportunity for interpretation majors to live, study, and interact with Deaf people from the United States and around the world.

The B.A. in Interpretation (BAI) program consists of a comprehensive, sequenced, and integrated series of courses and experiences that are intended to provide students with knowledge, fieldwork, techniques and interpreting skills in interactive interpreting in education, medical, business and government settings. The interpreting internship varies from student to student. The BAI program mainly is in a four-year format and consists of 36 credits in the major, which includes coursework, fieldwork and field internship. Students take supporting courses in ASL and Deaf studies, biology, business, communication studies, linguistics and psychology, Part-time study is also available.

Deaf and hard of hearing prospective students must first be accepted through Undergraduate Admissions in order to apply for the BAI program. The process for declaring your major in BAI will begin upon arrival of your first semester and you will work with your Academic Advisor at this time.

In 1856, Amos Kendall, a postmaster general during two presidential administrations, donated two acres of his estate in northeast Washington, D.C. to establish a school and housing for 12 deaf and six blind students. The following year, Kendall persuaded Congress to incorporate the new school, which was called the Columbia Institution for the Instruction of the Deaf and Dumb and Blind. Edward Miner Gallaudet, the son of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet, founder of the first school for deaf students in the United States, became the new school's superintendent.

Congress authorized the institution to confer college degrees in 1864, and President Abraham Lincoln signed the bill into law. Gallaudet was made president of the institution, including the college, which that year had eight students enrolled. He presided over the first commencement in June 1869 when three young men received diplomas. Their diplomas were signed by President Ulysses S. Grant, and to this day the diplomas of all Gallaudet graduates are signed by the presiding U.S. president.

In 1894 the name of the college portion of the institution was changed to Gallaudet College in honor of Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and through an act of Congress in 1954, the entire institution became known as Gallaudet College.

Today, Gallaudet is viewed by deaf and hearing people alike as a primary resource for all things related to deaf people, including educational and career opportunities; open communication and visual learning; deaf history and culture; American Sign Language; and the impact of technology on the deaf community.