Gloria Nathanson

Email: Gloria@dendros.com

Meet Dr. Gloria Nathanson, a highly interdisciplinary learner and a passionate teacher who is also a Dendros Associate!

Dr. Nathanson, or Gloria, is devoted to service and advocacy work around Deaf* people of all ages. She graduated from the University of Minnesota with a self-designed and directed bachelor’s degree (B.S.) in Language Development with Emphasis on those with Hearing Loss. She challenged the deficiency framework that most of the Communication Disorders training programs are built on regarding people with hearing loss and presents a healthy and positive framework for this population instead. She went on and got her Doctorate of Audiology (AuD) at Gallaudet University.

Dr. Nathanson is immersed in multiple fields of work due to her strong interdisciplinary background and community affiliations. She is a licensed audiologist in Minnesota and currently works as an educational audiologist at Minnesota State Academies. She is also a Certified Deaf interpreter. She previously worked in the ASL and Interpreting Department at St. Catherine University, so she is familiar with the interpreting/interpreter training profession. However, she is not affiliated or contracted with any training programs or agencies right now. She is employed as a Deaf Mentor with Lutheran Social Services of Minnesota, where she supports hearing and deaf families with children who have hearing loss and is interested in learning ASL and Deaf culture. She teaches undergraduate and graduate courses for other professionals that work with deaf/hard of hearing people at several colleges and universities around the country, including McDaniel College and Gallaudet University, as well as continuing education courses for ASLTA (ASL Teachers Association). She serves on several state advisory boards, including Early Hearing Detection and Intervention through Minnesota Department of Health and Deaf and Hard of Hearing Advisory through Minnesota Department of Education.

Gloria is from a multiple-generation deaf family and is a mom of four children, two of whom are deaf. She does not have a lot of free time but is always dedicated to making the systems work better for Deaf* communities and American Sign Language. Examples of her efforts include legislative work to change the statute regarding allowing Deaf Interpreters to be able to work as Educational Interpreters in ECE-12+ settings. Also, she prompted the fix of a systematic barrier that prevented KODAs (children of Deaf parents) who had ASL as their first language to access English Language Learning services in Minnesota. Again, this interdisciplinary background is a strength of hers as she can appreciate multiple perspectives and understand the systematic and interactive global structures that uphold them.

(Deaf* means all and any form of ways of being related to deafness, this includes other identities such as DeafBlind, Hard of Hearing, DeafPlus, and more).