Sorenson Community Spotlight: NTID President Dr. Gerard Buckley

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Before he rides off into the sunset, he sat down with us and shared his journey, his insights on how NTID has changed over the years, and why it’s more important than ever that there is a technical college for the deaf.

TRANSCRIPT

Dr. Buckley’s Journey

Hi, I’m Gerry Buckley. This is my sign name. So, I did actually graduate from NTID back in ‘78. I am a product of NTID.

I’m originally from Saint Louis, Missouri. That’s where I grew up. And then I came to college here. It was a wonderful experience.

I graduated and left and went back home to Missouri. I finished my master’s degree and then I started working in Kansas City. I worked for Gallaudet University’s regional center. I did outreach in the Midwest. I did that for about 10 years.

During that time, I was involved in a lot of different leadership roles. I was with NAD, I was with the Kansas Association of the Deaf. I worked with the Deaf community to set up the Kansas Commission for the Deaf and the Missouri Commission for the Deaf. We also established Missouri mental health for the Deaf.

So, I was involved in a lot of different community services at that time. I then completed my Ph.D. at the University of Kansas. That was in 1980 or actually ‘87, and then NTID recruited me to come back to work here, and I’ve been here ever since.

I started by running summer programs and outreach and then moved up. During that time, I’ve had a lot of different roles and responsibilities, and NTID is really a wonderful place to work. It’s really large, meaning you can have a position for maybe five years and then a new opportunity will come up and you can advance, so it’s been great.

There’s a lot of wonderful mentorship here. Opportunities for growth. You can be involved in a variety of endeavors. So, NTID provides a lot of opportunity for advancement.

I became an assistant vice president and associate dean. I’ve been here so far for about 36 years in total, for the last 15 years, I’ve been the president of NTID and vice-president of RIT, and Dean of NTID as well.

So, it’s been a wonderful experience. It’s been great working with faculty and staff and with students. I think I really love the students, they’re probably my favorite. Looking back, I can just recall a lot of wonderful experiences here. And I want, you know, the future to be the same powerful experience for students going forward.

Representing NTID, coordinating accessibility, and supervising faculty

I wear three different hats. I’m the president of NTID, meaning that I represent NTID for work we do in Congress. I work with the Department of Education, work with donors, private investors that give money to us. I travel around representing NTID. That’s one of my major roles.

You know, there are two federally funded programs for the Deaf here in America. One is Gallaudet, which is like the Harvard University for the Deaf, and NTID is really more like the MIT of the Deaf. Gallaudet focuses on liberal arts, whereas NTID focuses on STEM.

1. So, as president, I’m responsible to represent NTID to Congress, to the Department of Education, to other national organizations offering support and leadership within the Deaf community. That’s one role that I have. And I think most of my time I do focus on supporting Congress and educating them about why we need to have specialized programs for the Deaf, and doing a lot of explanation around that.
2. As vice president of RIT, that’s a critical role, because NTID is one of nine colleges within RIT, which is a large university with about 16,000 students. And we also have four international campuses, so it’s an extremely large organization. So, you have to work in tandem with the other vice presidents of RIT to make sure that services are coordinated seamlessly for Deaf and hard-of-hearing students. So, half of our students get direct instruction from faculty who sign, and the other half are mainstreamed into RIT programs.
   So, we have the world’s largest interpreting workforce of educational interpreters. Sorenson has the largest pool of interpreters, but for educational interpreters the largest pool is here at RIT. We have 150 full time sign language interpreters, plus 60 full time captionists. So, it really is the world’s largest accessible program for the Deaf and hard-of-hearing.
   We try to make all of the RIT experience accessible for our Deaf and hard-of-hearing population. That could include anything from theater to soccer. Recently, the captain of the women’s soccer team was Deaf, and she had the opportunity to be a full leader. We provided interpreters for her. We have hockey, we have events, we have shows, concerts. So, really we want our program to be a leader in accessibility for everyone who’s here. And it requires a great deal of coordination among RIT programs.
3. My third role is Dean, that’s an academic role. We have 160 full time faculty here who actually teach, and I am responsible for their tenure, for promotions, for all the academic processes.

So, I’ve got these three different roles which means, you know, sometimes I’m pulled in a lot of different directions. But I really do love the people here, and we have a wonderful management team. We’re all very supporting of one another.

Importance of NTID

Looking back at when NTID was established in ‘65, that was prior to any really specialized technical education for the Deaf. There wasn’t much of that out there. Gallaudet focused on liberal arts, but for technical professional education, there was really no where to go. This was before 504, this was before ADA. We didn’t have laws like that set up.

So, you know, in Congress, for many years, there was a Deaf man named Paul Peterson, and he was from Minnesota. In 1930 he came up with the idea and vision to have a national technical institute for the Deaf. And it took a lot of years for that vision to become a reality.

So, in ‘65, Congress passed a law to establish NTID, and then they selected RIT from a lot of competitors. There were a lot of colleges who wanted to host the program and RIT won. And the reason they won is because at that time they were the leader in technical career education. They had a lot of work programs, machine labs, co-ops. At that time a lot of the nation’s leading technical companies had their headquarters here in Rochester, so it made sense to pick RIT.

But again, this was before Public Law 94-142, which was the mainstream law that was established. Prior to that, most of us who went to hearing high schools didn’t have any access. You know, we just read our way through high school. There were no laws to support us.

So, many of us are products of mainstream education that wasn’t very accessible. So, you know, it was really amazing to have access to education here. And the mainstream setting here does quite a good job, actually.

You know, the world has changed. Technological education has made advancements. There’s been a lot of technical advancements and knowing technology is a requirement for a lot of jobs. There were limited careers for Deaf people in that field before, but the establishment of NTID changed the picture. Now we have 11,000 graduates working all over the country that can have careers in this industry.

So, the world is really changed. It’s improved a lot. There are companies like Sorenson, for example, that provide VRS service so that Deaf people can have functional equivalence at their workplaces, which is wonderful.

So, this is the reason for NTID. There’s no other place that could provide adequate services in this realm. If you tried to have 50 NTIDs and 50 Gallaudets, it would be impossible. There would be no critical mass in order to get the resources that you need.

So, we had one national center put together where all of the Deaf students could come, and you could pool all of the resources there, and that’s what actually makes the model work. So, I’m very proud of the history here at NTID.

We have an interpreter program that was set up here at NTID back in the in the 60s, one of the first. So, a lot of firsts happened here that, you know, allowed Deaf people to be introduced to new careers and professions, and that’s a result of NTID.

Changes at NTID over the years

Over the years since the 70s to today, 2025, there have been a lot of changes. It’s a really good question about what changes I’ve seen. I think one of them is that the student population is a lot more diverse now. Back then there was very little diversity; it was mostly white students, middle class students. Now, I would say 50% are students of color, and there are people here from many different states. Many of our students are from New York, but our second largest state is California. So there’s people here from different parts of the country that have come to NTID, which is different than before.

I also think there’s more opportunities. I remember when I graduated, I was a social work major, that was in ‘78. I applied for my first position at a school for the Deaf, wanted to be a social worker there, and the first question they asked me was could I use the phone? And, you know, this was before relay. There was a volunteer relay service, but we relied on TTY, and so I had to respond that, no, I couldn’t, I couldn’t use the phone, and I was dismissed out of hand.

So, you know, in today’s world the technology has really advanced. We have VRS, we have a variety of different options. There’s really been a boom. So, there’s a lot more opportunity for Deaf people than there has ever been in our history.

And I’m very proud that, you know, I’ve been able to watch the establishment of the ADA and see that get signed into law. I actually visited Senator Bob Dole, and I was able to see the signature at the white House. And that was really a proud moment in Deaf history and in disability history in general.

Now, you know, many years later, we’re finally seeing all of these wonderful things happen. Doors that were previously closed are now open. You can have different competitive professional careers. You can advance. You can be leaders in your Deaf communities.

You know, NTID, Gallaudet, there’s a lot of professional leadership roles at schools and commissions for the Deaf. So, we’ve made an incredible amount of progress through the years, and I’m proud that NTID has been able to be a part of that and produce graduates who have now taken on some of those leadership roles.

Advice for current/future STEM students

What advice do I have for students who are Deaf or hard of hearing people who want to pursue STEM careers? STEM means science, technology, engineering, and math, and it’s really a hot job market and will be for the future. It’s also a highly paid career.

1. You know, I think the number one thing you need is to have the right attitude. You have to have a positive attitude. You have to be constructive. You have to be a self-starter. You have to be motivated to grow. Technology is always going to change, and you have to be adaptable and you have to grow and change as well.
2. I think you also need to prepare yourself. Higher education is very challenging, and you have to know it’s going to be a lot of work and you have to be prepared for that.
3. And you should take advantage of every opportunity there is to learn and grow. You know, careers change. There’s a lot of discussion now around AI. I don’t even think we know what careers are going to be available in that field in ten years. So, just like hearing people, Deaf people have to be willing to adapt, change, and grow.

And I really feel strongly that, you know, most of us are just responsible for ourselves. We have to have internal motivation, internal passion to drive us toward our goals. You know, when I walk around the halls, I always ask students, “Hey, what’s your goal like, what do you want your GPA to be?” And sometimes students don’t have an answer. I think you need to set goals for yourself. I’m not saying you have to want to get a 4.0, but a 3-point-something. Have a goal.  You have to have that self-motivation.

So, when you graduate and you go out and look for a job, there’s competition in the workplace in this day and age, I also tell students, hey, you might face some discrimination. You need to be able to prove yourself. You need to be able to demonstrate your know-how and your proficiency in your field.

So, you know doors will open, but there are still a lot of challenges, and you have to be able to keep developing skills as you move through those different phases.

It’s a challenging time. Be involved.

So, is there more I want to add now? I think I would like to say that America is facing some challenges right now. We’re in a challenging time, and there are a lot of programs and services that are being cut or reduced, and it’s important for leaders in the Deaf community to advocate for Deaf people in America.

Deaf people need to be involved. They need to speak up. They need to know who their legislators and representatives are, make sure they know who you are and what to support. You know, we need to invest in these places like NTID, we need to invest in VRS. We need to invest in interpreter training programs. It’s important to invest in the future.

Recently, there was a proposal to cut the Early Intervention for Deaf Children Act. And you know, there’s been a lot of proposals made for future cuts. We’ve got four really important programs through NIH that train future Deaf scientists that’s, you know, being cut.

So, the Deaf community needs to be involved. They need to represent our needs and communicate them to legislators and members of Congress. We don’t want to go back in time. We want to keep moving forward. So, Deaf communities and leaders need to be involved in the political process and keep pushing and understand the importance of having Deaf representation there, wherever decisions are made.

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