Roberta "Bobbi" Cordano (born November 29, 1963)[1] is the 11th president of Gallaudet University.[2][3] Cordano is the first deaf woman and the first openly LGBT person to become president of Gallaudet University; she is openly lesbian.[4]

Roberta Cordano
11th President of Gallaudet University
Assumed office
January 1, 2016
Preceded byT. Alan Hurwitz
Personal details
Born (1963-11-29) November 29, 1963 (age 60)

Life

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Cordano obtained her Juris Doctor degree at the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1990. She was assistant attorney general for Minnesota.[5] She was assistant dean at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.[6][7]

Cordano was awarded the Hubert Humphrey award by the University of Wisconsin.[8] She is among the first ten deaf women in the United States to have earned a Juris Doctor (JD) degree and is among the first 50 deaf women to have earned a doctoral degree, overall.[9]

Cordano is the first deaf woman to become president of Gallaudet University. Elisabeth Zinser, a hearing woman, held the Gallaudet presidency for less than one week amidst the March 1988 Deaf President Now protests. Zinser was never officially installed as president before her resignation.[10]

References

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  1. ^ The Herald-Press (Saint Joseph, Michigan), December 13, 1963, p. 5.
  2. ^ "News & Stories | Gallaudet University".
  3. ^ Presidential Search Finalists
  4. ^ Staff, Queer Forty (March 22, 2023). "Top honor for first deaf, openly lesbian university president".
  5. ^ "Her Own Way to the Top: AAUW". www.aauw.org. Archived from the original on 2016-05-30.
  6. ^ "Faculty and Staff | Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs". Archived from the original on 2007-08-10.
  7. ^ State of Minnesota proclamation of Roberta J. Cordano Day, Sept 30 2016
  8. ^ Roberta Cordano '90 Wins Humphrey Award at Univ of Wisconsin site
  9. ^ Holcomb, Mabs and Sharon Wood. 1989. Deaf Women--A Parade through the Decades. Berkeley, CA: Dawn Sign Press, p. 87.
  10. ^ GU: President-Select
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External media
Audio
  Gallaudet President Navigates From World Of Hearing To Sound Leadership Of The Deaf, NPR, January 21, 2017
  WMAU Radio Interview of Gallaudet University's President Roberta Cordano, 11/21/2016
Video
  Gallaudet President Cordano lectures at UW Linguistics/ASL, University of Washington, Jan 12, 2018

Further reading

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Academic offices
Preceded by President of Gallaudet University
January 1, 2016 – present
Succeeded by
Incumbent