Gallaudet University

www.gallaudet.edu Gallaudet University is the only university in the world with a visually accessible environment designed primarily for deaf and hard-of-hearing students. Gallaudet University is located in Washington D. C. Gallaudet University was founded in 1864 by an Act of Congress. President Abraham Lincoln signed the Charter, officially establishing the University. It is accrediated and has approximately 2000 undergraduate and graduate students. The average class size is 11 students with a 9:1 student/faculty ratio. Nine-six percent of the graduates are either employed or enrolled in graduate or higher program. Gallaudet includes rich history. In 1844, the first telegraph message was tranmitted through a telegraph line that ran through the Gallaudet campus from the U. S. Capitol to Baltimore. The Morse Code inventor, Samuel Morse was the business partner of Amos Kendall who donated part of this estate to found a school for deaf children. The estate eventually expanded to include Gallaudet University. Gallaudet housed the D. C. areas's first indoor swimming pool when its gymnasium opened in 1880. This was also the oldest indoor pool in the nation. The football huddle originated at Gallaudet in the 1890s when the football team found that opposing teams were reading their signed messages and intercepting plays. The Abraham Lincoln Memorial statue's famous sculptor, Daniel Chester French was also the sculptor of the Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet and Alice Cogswell statue. The statue shows America's first deaf education teacher Thomas Hopkins Gallaudet teaching his pupil who was deaf, Alice, the first manual letter of the alphabet. This scultpute is now on the front lawn of Gallaudet Unviversity.

Gallaudet serves as a wonderful sight for continued research and study. It houses many rich in resources about hearing and deafness. On the University Campus are also three model schools for deafness including an elementary, middle and high school.

This is an amazing place. If you ever have the opportunity to visit, just do it. You will always cherish the trip and truly leave a different person with so much insight.