HISTORY

The San Diego chapter of American Sign Language Teachers’ Association held its first general meeting on March 25, 2000, at the UCSD campus. The following SD-ASLTA members were present:

Sharon Allen, Barbara Buchanan, Jennifer Carmean, Shannon Casey, Bill Clary, John Crouch, Olin Fortney, Pat Griffith, Joe Halcott, John Hill, Tom Humphries, Mary Kane, Simone Laubenthal, Yoon Lee, Peggy Lott, Chuck Mason, Shelby McKenzie, Jade Morris, Colleen Smith and Melissa Smith.

Founding members (Allen, Buchanan, Casey, Fortney, Griffith, Halcott, Humphries, Laubenthal and Lee) drafted the original by-laws for the organization on December 10, 1999. Laura Thomas, the chapter liaison from the national ASLTA office, reviewed the by-laws and reported that they were “great”!

Membership fees for the San Diego Chapter were set at $10 per year (National ASLTA membership was $25 at the time).

At the first SD-ASLTA meeting, nominations were made for officers, a video about ASLTA certification was shown, and Tom Humphries provided a guest lecture about the history of professional ASL teacher organizations. After these presentations, a general election was held and the following officers were selected by the membership:

President:   Yoon Lee
Vice President:    Colleen Smith
Secretary:   Sharon Allen
Treasurer:    Pat Griffith
By-laws Chair:    Bill Clary and Joe Halcott, co-chairs
Nominations Chair:    Olin Fortney
Professional Development Chair:   Peggy Lott

CURRENT OFFICERS

	Name:	Barbara Buchanan, M.A.
	Position:	President
	Occupation:	ASL Professor at Mesa College
	E-mail:	not available
	Name:	Peggy Swartzel Lott, Ph.D.
	Position:	Vice-President
	Occupations:	Academic Coordinator of Sign Language Programs at University of California, San Diego; ASL Illustrator and DVD producer.
	E-mail:	vicepresident@sandiegoaslta.org
	Name:	Lindsay Cohen, M.A.
	Position:	Secretary
	Occupation:	College counselor for the deaf; ASL instructor.
	Email:	secretary@sandiegoaslta.org
	Name:	Reed Gershwind, M.B.A.
	Position:	Treasurer
	Occupation:	San Diego State University ASL Coordinator
	Email:	treasurer@sandiegoaslta.org
	Name:	Joe Halcott, M.A.
	Position:	Bylaws Chair
	Occupation:	Chair and professor of ASL department at San Diego Mesa College; doctoral student in Religious Studies.
	Email:	bylaws@sandiegoaslta.org
	Name:	Vacant
	Position:	Nomination Chair
	Name:	Melissa Herzig, M.A.
	Position:	Professional Development Co-Chair
	Occupation:	Teacher of deaf students at CVHS; Ass't Researcher at Laboratory of Language & Cognitive Neuroscience at SDSU; Doctoral student in Education Studies at UCSD.
	Email:	PDChair@sandiegoaslta.org
	Name:	Melissa Smith, M.A.
	Position:	Professional Development Co-Chair
	Occupation:	Associate Professor of ASL/English Interpreter Training Program at Palomar College; Ass't Director of Program for Interpreters in Educational Settings; Doctoral student in Education at UCSD.
	Email:	PDChair@sandiegoaslta.org
From left to right: Peggy Lott, Barbara Buchanan, Lindsay Cohen, and Reed Gershwind.