Students this year may choose to learn more about deaf culture, thanks to six new American Sign Language courses which have been offered since autumn quarter.

The official announcement of the course offerings came on Feb. 7 at the Ohio State Board of Trustees meeting.

“This seems like a great program that has been started and it is receiving a lot of support,” said Joe Shultz, an undergraduate student representative to the board.

“The process was well over a year in planning,” said Robert Fox, chairman of speech and hearing science.

The ASL program has been put together through the efforts of three colleges or departments: the College of Education, the Department of English and the Department of Speech and Hearing Science.

“The collaborative effort of the three colleges involved reflects the richness of the ASL program,” said L. Scott Lissner, OSU’s Americans with Disabilities Act Coordinator.

“This program may become a model for other universities,” he said.

The ASL courses count as a GEC language requirement for undergraduate students.

“The course sequence is similar to corresponding sequences in French, Spanish, German or Japanese,” Lissner said.

Of the students taking the courses, the majority are not hearing-impaired, and the interest is very high, Fox said.

There are long waitlists for ASL 101, the basic ASL course, he said. Class sizes are about the same, with about 24 students in each section.

“In its first year, the ASL program has increased the awareness and understanding of 60 or more students,” said Lissner. “Each of them is active in a circle of organizations and friends.”

The program’s first goal is to become a successful foreign-language course.

“The placement tests, examination credit and transfer credits are already well established,” Fox said. “We want to get everything working smoothly the first year.”

In the long-term, the ASL program will expand. It will develop slowly, but the program has enough interest to possibly make it a minor.

Fox said he hopes to expand hearing students’ interest in deaf culture through the courses offered.

“The presence of the ASL program and the experiences of the students choosing to take ASL contribute to our campus’ understanding of deaf culture and help to make it a more welcoming place,” Lissner said.

ASL courses do not have a direct relationship to the interpreting services provided by OSU.

“Interpreting is highly skilled and specialized work,” Lissner said.

The university does not offer advanced enough courses to specialize people for interpreting, he said.

“Overall, our interpreting service is doing an excellent job for our hearing-impaired students,” Lissner said.