The Learning Center for the Deaf (TLC) has announced the recipient of the 2024 Warren Schwab Memorial Award is Dr. Joseph C. Hill.
Dr. Hill will receive the award during TLC’s 2024 spring fundraiser on Friday, May 10th.
Dr. Hill is an Associate Professor in the Department of ASL and Interpreting Education, Associate Director of the Center on Culture and Language, and Assistant Dean for Faculty Recruitment and Retention at Rochester Institute of Technology’s National Technical Institutes for the Deaf (RIT/NTID).
Raised in Cincinnati, Ohio, in a family of deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals, he experienced both self-contained and mainstream educational settings. He holds a Bachelor of Science in Systems Analysis from Miami University and master's and doctoral degrees in linguistics from Gallaudet University.
Dr. Hill's research focuses on socio-historical and linguistic aspects of Black American Sign Language and Deaf community attitudes and ideologies toward signing varieties. He co-authored "The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL" and contributed to "Language Attitudes in the American Deaf Community." As an associate producer for "Signing Black in America," he collaborated with the Language & Life Project at North Carolina State University. Dr. Hill has taught at the University of North Carolina at Greensboro and RIT and has published works on interpreting education and social justice in interpreting.
The Warren Schwab Memorial Award is presented annually to an individual or organization that has worked tirelessly to empower and advance Deaf Education. This award honors TLC Founder Warren Schwab’s passion and commitment to creating an educational environment where language and communication are most important.