American Sign Language Teachers Association

Dr. Lawrence H. Forestal of Surprise, Arizona

President, 2009-2013

Larry is newly elected president of the ASLTA. Since 2004 he has held the Professional-level certificate. Larry is presently task force chair for strategies of preserving museum, ASL and deaf history under the NAD Culture and History Section (formerly Library Friends Section). While he was NAD president in 1984-1986, the NAD approved an official position paper to advocate for deaf and hard of hearing people’s human right to learn and use both languages: ASL and English in the United States and its territories. In 2009 Larry had a research manuscript: Attitudes of American Deaf Leaders toward Sign Language Interpreters published by VDM Verlag - Dr.Muller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG (ISBN: 978-3-639-17181-5) in Saarbrucken, Germany. He is former coordinator of ASL-Deaf Studies at San Diego State University.

Glenna Ashton, Vice President

Glenna R. Ashton now teaches ASL 1, 2, 3, 4 for hearing high school students. She has taught Deaf, hard of hearing, and hearing adult and K - 12 students in a wide variety of settings for over 25 years. She has mentored and evaluated teachers and interpreters through various professional organizations. Glenna has a B.S. in Deaf Education from Penn State U., a M.A. in Counseling with the Deaf from Gallaudet U., and an Ed.S. in Administration and Supervision from Nova U. Current certifications include the RID RSC, ASLTA Professional, SCPI Superior, and Florida teacher certification in Deaf Education, Administration, and ESOL. She was president of FASLTA (Florida ASLTA) for ten years. She has presented workshops on the ASLTA certification evaluation procedures, K-12 pedagogy, Deaf culture & history, ASL linguistics, and interpreting skills. She is continuing in her doctoral program at Union Institute & University.

Dorothy Wilkins, Secretary

Dorothy M. Wilkins is a professor and a director for ASL and ASL/English Interpreting Programs at Keuka College in Keuka Park, NY. Wilkins holds an ASLTA Professional Certificate. She has published and presented on topics such as ASL Literature, Themes and Symbols of Resistance, Affirmation, and Liberation in ASL Poetry, Deaf Cinema, Bilingual Discourse, and Deaf Women.

She is also a secretary for Greater Rochester Chapter of ASLTA (GRCASLTA). She is a core member of the New York Chapter of Deaf Bilingual Coalition (DBC). On the side, Dorothy is a certified Hatha Yoga Instructor, Reiki Master, and certified Theta Healer.

Betti Bonni, Treasurer

Betti Bonni holds the Professional level certificate from ASLTA and was appointed to the Board as treasurer in 2005 to fill the position vacated by Glenna Ashton, who was elected president. Betti was born and raised in Chicago, a product of the public school systems there before the term "mainstreaming" was even coined. She has her Bachelors in Social Work from RIT/NTID, Rochester, and her Masters in Educational Administration from California State University at Northridge. She also did one year of doctoral studies at the University of Colorado, Boulder in ASL Linguistics. She taught her first ASL class while a student at NTID in the early 70's, and has been teaching ever since.

Betti has held a variety of Board positions with different organizations (Minnesota RID, D.E.A.F., Inc. in Minnesota, Conference of Interpreter Trainers, several deaf clubs, etc.). She proudly displays the NSAD championship trophy won by the Colorado Thundersnow deaf women's softball team which she coached in 2001. Currently she is a full time faculty member of the Sign Language Interpretation Program at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Florida.

Keith M. Cagle, Certification/Evaluation Chair

Keith M. Cagle, M.A. currently is the chair and instructor at Central Piedmont Community College’s Interpreting Education program in Charlotte, North Carolina. Prior to this employment, he worked at Gardner-Webb University’s ASL Studies program for ten years. Currently Mr. Cagle is the doctoral student at the University of New Mexico in Albuquerque with a concentration in Educational Linguistics.

Mr. Cagle has been the chairperson of national organization of American Sign Language Teachers Association (ASLTA) Certification and Evaluation since 2000. He was the president, vice-president and secretary-treasurer of the national ASLTA, the vice-president of North Carolina ASLTA, and the first president and founder of Lilac Chapter of ASLTA in Rochester, New York.

Mr. Cagle has been giving numerous consulting services and presentations in related to ASL, Deaf culture, linguistics, curriculum and evaluation. He has produced some CD-Roms, videotapes and book related to the field of ASL and Deaf community.

Mr. Cagle has served on the following committees: NY State Dept of Education’s ASL Advisory group, NTID’s ASL 1-4 Outcomes, North Carolina State Dept of Public Instruction’s ASL Standards, and ASL 1-4 Screening with the University of Northern Colorado. Currently he is serving on the NC State Interpreting Licensure board and the national ASL Standards committee.

Colleen Evenstad, Chapter Chair

Colleen Evenstad, retired from teaching ASL at NTID/RIT, is our new Chapter Affiliation Chair. She taught American Sign Language in Minnesota and New York for more than 25 years. Colleen received a BA degree in Social Work from Gallaudet University and a MS degree in Teaching ASL from McDaniel College in Maryland. She also has the ASLTA Professional-level certificate. Colleen is a one of the most active board members of the Rochester Recreation Club for the Deaf. In addition, she is a social chair handling the club's social events and coordinating events for R.E.A.P. (RRCD Educational Awareness Program). Colleen’s hobbies are cooking, making something from “trash to treasure” (recycle), starting a worm farm, chatting with friends over coffee, and traveling. She attended St. John’s School for the Deaf in Milwaukee, Wisconsin where she acquired ASL and her knowledge of deaf culture. She is presently a part time ASL tutor.

Arkady Belozovsky, Professional Development Chair

Arkady Belozovsky of Framington, Massachusetts has accepted a Board position as our Professional Development Chair (PDC), effective on May 1, 2010.

Belozovsky is currently a lecturer of American Sign Language and Deaf Studies in the Center for Language Studies at Brown University in Providence, Rhode Island since 2005. Prior to his appointment at Brown University, he was a senior lecturer and the assistant director of the Sign Language Interpretation Program at the University of New Hampshire at Manchester for four years.

Belozovsky has taught American Sign Language, Deaf Studies, and Russian Sign Language (RSL) for university credit levels for the past 11 years. He has also provided various workshops and lectures in local, national, and international conferences. Since 1995, he has worked as a freelance Deaf Interpreter, providing service in a variety of settings and sign languages, for example, Russian Sign Language, ASL, and International Sign [Gestuno].

Belozovsky is the third generation of his Deaf family who grew up in Kharkov, Ukraine and immigrated as a young teen to the United States in 1989. He is a proud father of two charming Deaf sons. Good Luck, Arkady!