By Bri Brands 

The American Sign Language (ASL) program within the Department of Languages, Linguistics, Literatures, and Cultures works to highlight culture as well as language instruction in its courses. 

“I’ll say it until the day I die, but you can’t divorce the two,” said Micheal Ballard, assistant professor of instruction and ASL program director for the 2026-27 academic year. “You can’t separate language and culture. Without language, culture wouldn’t exist, and without culture, the language wouldn’t exist.”  

To help reinforce and teach Deaf culture, all ASL courses—whether introductory or advanced— are taught in a “voice off classroom,” said Rebecca Clark, associate professor and current program director.  

In the voice off environment, students practice getting each other's attention with visual cues, such as a tap on their shoulder, a wave in their line of sight, or flickering the classroom lights. 

“Our classes build a really strong community because there’s so much peer interaction,” Clark said. 

Recreating that cultural environment helps to prepare students for real world experiences in the Deaf community.  

“We practice immersion here in the classroom for one hour per day, and then going out into the world, hearing students have a better relationship with Deaf culture. That allows hearing and Deaf people to better socialize with each other,” Ballard said.

Within the ASL program, faculty members like Clark and Ballard are hoping to address the need for ASL interpreters in the state of Iowa. There are currently over 3,000 Deaf or hard of hearing children living in the state, and only about 50 certified ASL interpreters.  

Through a partnership with the Iowa School for the Deaf, ASL students can join the Interpreting Intensive Study (IS) program. They take a language assessment and, if they pass it, a two-year online course that allows them to home in on interpreter skills and eventually become state-licensed, working interpreters. 

To become nationally certified, however, a person needs a bachelor's degree before taking the exam. So, despite having a strong collaboration with the IS program, Ballard and Clark both addressed the need for the state of Iowa to offer an interpreter training bachelor's program.  

“There is a desperate need for American Sign Language interpreters in the state of Iowa, in every realm of life—educational, medical, legal, you name it—and we really need more interpreters,” Clark said. “As a fairly large American Sign Language Program, with very interested students, we would love to grow our program to be able to train them to work as American Sign Language interpreters.” 

With seven full-time faculty members, 134 current ASL students with a minor in ASL, and over 350 enrolled students in ASL courses each semester, the program is the largest it has ever been.  

Such large numbers allow for more programming, outreach, and events, including a weeklong series of events in September for International Week of the Deaf, a Lunch and Learn program for medical students in the Carver College of Medicine, and, most recently, an ASL immersion retreat hosted by faculty.  

The retreat, hosted over a weekend in April, saw 116 attendees from Iowa, Minnesota, Missouri, Illinois, Wisconsin, and even New York. While some were University of Iowa students and faculty, others were ASL students, ASL interpreters, and Deaf community members.  

Events at the retreat included scavenger hunts, presentations, ASL literature performances by famous Deaf performer Dack Virnig, and other fun conversational activities.  

“We wanted to put on an ASL immersion retreat to help enhance student language skills and give them the opportunity to immerse themselves in the language and culture for more than a class period,” said Clark. “It also enticed the Deaf community to come interact with signers for an entire weekend. Participants reflected very positively on it.”  

During the retreat, Ballard noticed students learned the importance of collectivism in Deaf culture.  

“American culture is very individualistic, but Deaf culture is the opposite,” he said. “It is a collectivist culture. The students are learning that in the classroom, but once they’re out, they can see how what they’ve learned connects to experience outside and they can be more successful in navigating between the two cultures.”  

Most people enroll in ASL courses out of curiosity and the chance to try something new, Clark said, but often stick with the coursework and even declare a minor because they enjoy getting to communicate with Deaf people, learn about Deaf culture, and compare it to their own upbringing. 

Ballard said the high amount of interest in the program right now is important, as Deaf people are in all fields of work and all professions.  

“[Being able to sign] establishes important relationships,” he said “We’re all human relationship-seeking people. We all want relations. We all have need for that connection.”