About this Site

What’s going on here?

This site is intended to make my life a little simpler as an instructor (and contributing practitioner to the field). Let’s face it: a university education is difficult. It takes up an inordinate amount of time, and, while it is well worth it in the long run, a wee bit of organization certainly helps the cause.

Holla.

Additionally, this site is intended to give back to my colleagues in the interpreting community to whom I am indebted. There is a liberal Creative Commons license covering materials available from this site; information and professional development should be open and sharable within our interpreting community. This license does not apply, however, to work claimed by other authors and producers. Additionally, every intent has been made to make materials available via “Fair Use,” (§107 to 118, Title 17, US Code); the content and downloadable materials on the pages of this Web site are solely for the benefit of the students enrolled in these courses. We’re all trying to get and be better in this field; put your money where your mouth is.

This site is also an experiment in simplicity. Users hate to be frustrated when they use websites, so I’ve tried to make every contingency that I could think of. I’m sure you, gentle reader, will find areas that can be improved and so I invite your feedback.

This entire site is standards-compliant; (for you gearheads) it is developed responsively in HTML5, CSS3, and is W3C compliant. Within the body of the site, there is not one — no, not one — tdbody, colspan, or icky Microsoft FrontPage line of code included. Thanks to the beauty of cascading style sheets, everything you see before you is text-based.

For those of you with iPhones, Android OS, and iPads, these sites will also display nicely on your devices (you might not have even noticed it; good for me). Resize your browser window or try your iPhone.

Almost every downloadable file — readings, articles, class notes, syllabi, and other handouts — are saved in PDF formats and require Adobe Acrobat Reader. (There are a few sample Microsoft Word, Apple Pages, or OpenOffice bibliography templates available for download on the class writing page.) If the computer you are using does not have Acrobat or the Acrobat browser plugin, you can download the free Reader application.

About UVU’s Courses

Let’s take this opportunity to clear up some myths:

  1. UVU has not, does not, nor does it plan to establish a full-blown interpreting training program, per se. There. It’s said. You can check with my boss on this one, but I’m pretty sure he’ll back me up.
  2. As of the end of Fall Semester 2010, the ACIPP program has been discontinued. Please contact the Foreign Language office or Dr. Hoffman for more information about future UVU interpreting paracertificate programs.
  3. As of Fall 2004, UVU does offer a minor in ASL and Deaf Studies.
  4. And as of Fall 2007, UVU offers a bachelor’s degree in ASL and Deaf Studies. That’s fairly exciting, seeing that there are literally a handful of such programs offered in the United States and you get to come all the way to Utah to get your degree.

Read the class descriptions at the department ASL website or if you’re interested in learning how these courses are applied towards your degree, contact ASL Department Chair, Michael Ballard, mballard (at) uvu.edu.

Course Availability
ASL3310: Introduction to Interpreting Fall
ASL3320: Physiology of Interpreting Spring, Summer, Fall
ASL3330: Cross-Cultural Interpreting Spring
ASL3340: Interpreting II — Advanced Techniques Fall
ASL3350: Consecutive Interpreting Fall
ASL3360: Simultaneous Interpreting on demand
ASL3370: Sign to Spoken English Interpreting Spring
ASL3380: Transliteration on demand
ASL3390: Professional Issues in Interpreting on demand
ASL4330: Visual Linguistic Analysis on demand
ASL4360: Legal Interpreting on demand
ASL4370: Ethics for Interpreters on demand
ASL439R: Special Topics in Interpreting on demand

Contact Information

If you need to contact me, the best way is via email or text. If you absolutely must use the talkie phone, you may call my mobile phone — ask me for the number first. So email me at dstringham (at) gmail.com. Rest assured, I’m very responsive to e-mail so I’ll get your information one way or the other.

You can also schedule appointments with me on campus either before/after class.

Colophon

This site is viewed optimally in all modern HTML5-compliant web and mobile/device browsers (except maybe Windows Internet Explorer which is 1) dangerous and susceptible to myriad security issues and 2) has continued to ignore standards compliancy; sorry if this causes any problems for you).

After binders and stacks of overhead transparencies started to become unwieldy, this site was originally worked out on paper and then brought to life in 2002 on an Apple Macintosh G5 using Macromedia Dreamweaver, TextMate, and TextWrangler. The site is now in its fourth version, rapidly built on the Twitter Bootstrap 3.x framework and maintained with Atom on several different computers and devices (but mostly on a 15" 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 MacBook Pro). Typefaces used are the irrepressable Open Sans and Space Grotesk, both hosted at Google Fonts.

A note on privacy: I don’t (read: can’t) collect or store any information about users so you can breathe a little easier.

Writing & Publications

Brockway, K. L. & Stringham, D. (2023, May 11). The shared signing community of Lantz Mills. Encyclopedia Virginia. https://encyclopediavirginia.org/entries/the-shared-signing-community-of-lantz-mills.

Brockway, K. L. (2022). The lost shared signing community of Lantz Mills and Shenandoah County, Virginia. In D. Stringham (ed.) Shenandoah County Historical Society: Shenandoah County 250th History Series. Narrow Passage Press: Woodstock, Virginia.

Stringham, D. (2019). “A Language of Action”: James Smedley Brown and the First American Dictionary of Sign Language, In B. Eldredge, D. Stringham, B. Jarashow (eds.). Deaf Studies Today! 2014: Waypoints (Conference Proceedings), Orem, Utah: Utah Valley University.

Eldredge, B. K., Stringham, D., & Jarashow, B., (2019). Deaf Studies Today! 2014: Waypoints (Conference Proceedings), Orem, Utah: Utah Valley University.

Stringham, D. (2012). The Efficacy Of Small Multiples In The Visual Language Of Instructional Designs. (Unpublished master’s thesis, Brigham Young University.)

Eldredge, B. K. & Stringham, D. (eds.). (2018). Deaf Studies Today! 2012: Beyond Talk (Conference Proceedings). Orem, Utah: Utah Valley University.

Eldredge, B. K. Stringham, D., Fleischer, F. & Legg, J., (eds.). (2016). Deaf Studies Today! 2010: Engaging Theory and Action (Conference Proceedings). Orem, Utah: Utah Valley University.

Eldredge, B. K., Stringham, D., Fleischer, F., & Morton, K., (eds.). (2015). Deaf Studies Today! 2008: Montage (Conference Proceedings). Orem, Utah: Utah Valley University.

Eldredge, B. K., Stringham, D., & Wilding-Diaz, M., (eds.). (2007). Deaf Studies Today! 2006: Simply Complex (Conference Proceedings). Orem, Utah: Utah Valley University.

Eldredge, B. K., Stringham, D., & Wilding-Diaz, M., (eds.). (2004). Deaf Studies Today! 2004: A Kaleidoscope of Knowledge, Learning, and Understanding (Conference Proceedings). Orem, Utah: Utah Valley University.

My Background/Vitae

meI have been an adjunct instructor in the ASL & Deaf Studies department at Utah Valley University since 1995. I teach a variety of signed language interpreting courses, including an introduction to the field, cross-cultural considerations in interpreting, and consecutive and simultaneous bidirectional interpretation/transliteration. My academic interests are in interpreter education, nineteenth-century Deaf history, history and etymology of signed languages, visual and graphical representations of signed language, and enhancing teaching opportunities with technology.

Other Experience and Specialized Training

Practitioner Experience:

  • Interpreter Diagnostician, Utah Interpreter Program
    Responsible to perform in-depth evaluations on candidate’s interpreter processes and then communicate persistent patterns in interpretative work to candidates.
    (October 2001 to present)
  • Interpreter Evaluator, Utah Interpreter Program
    Responsible to rate and determine candidate’s ability to pass Utah State interpreter certification (level I and II) examinations.
    (October 1998–October 2001)
  • Director/Instructor, American Sign Language Workshop; Brigham Young University, Provo, Utah
    Responsible for selecting workshop course subjects and instructors for over 140 attendees at this annual summer workshop held at Brigham Young University. Also responsible for instructing Beginning, Advanced, and Interpreting level classes as well as provide interpretation for Deaf presenters and participants.
    (Director: July 1996, July 2002; Instructor: July 1995–99, 2002)

Specialized Training and Continuing Education:

Presentations

  • “Around the World in 50 Minutes: Understanding How Country Signs are Used” (to Utah Valley University’s Spring Silent Weekend; March 2018)
  • “James Smedley Brown and Gallaudet Station, Indiana” (to the 2017 Franklin Township Harvest Luncheon and Marker Dedication; October 2017)
  • “Talking About What We Talk About: Exploring Confidentiality and Supervision” (for UTRID TerpTalk Series; September 2017)
  • “All Shapes and Sizes: Working with Discourse Structures” (to Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind Educational Interpreter Summit 2017; August 2017)
  • “What in the World? How Country Signs are Created and Used in American Sign Language” (to the Idaho Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf Spring Workshop, April 2015)
  • “A Language of Action: James Smedley Brown and a Cartesian Dictionary of Sign Language” (at the Sixth Biennial Deaf Studies Today!, April 2014)
  • “One Bright Day in the Middle of the Night: Learning to Listen to Discourse Styles in Educational Interpreting Work” (to Mountain States Deaf Education Summit; June 2013)
  • “Around the World in 50 Minutes: Understanding How Country Signs are Used” (to Utah Valley University’s Spring Silent Weekend; March 2013)
  • “Far Away, In The West: The Emergence of Utah’s Deaf Proto-community” (with Anne Leahy; February 2013)
  • “What’s That Blue Thing Doing Here?: Helping Educational Interpreters Define Space and Location (and Message) in Their Work” (to Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind; May 2012)
  • “Super American Sign Language Grammar Happy Fun Time Hour” (to the annual LDS Church interpreter inservice; March 2012)
  • “Around the World in 100 Years: The Semantic Creation and Utility of Geographical/Country Signs” (to Utah Schools for the Deaf and Blind, May 2011; to the Utah ASL Teachers Association, June 2011)
  • “An Analysis of Historical Lexical and Cultural Variation in American Sign Language Geographical Signs” (at the Fourth Biennial Deaf Studies Today!, April 2010)
  • “Cognition and Social Media: Blended Learning Strategies for the ASL Classroom” (to the Utah ASL Teachers Association; June 2009)
  • “Navigating the One Degree: Making Course Corrections in Sign to Voice Interpretations” (with Wes Maynard) (June 2009)
  • “Molehills Out of Mountains: Preparing for Interpretation Certification Knowledge Examinations” (April 2009)
  • Utah State Office of Education Interpreter Mentor Training (with Valerie Sturm; February 2009, March, June 2008)
  • “The Spatial Nature of American Sign Language for Teachers & the Axes Hypothesis” (to the Utah ASL Teachers Association; June 2008)
  • “Verbal and Adverbial Inflection” (June 2008)
  • “Understanding Formality Registers in Our Interpretive Work” (with Valerie Sturm; May 2008)
  • “Producing Spoken English Interpretations of Classifier-based Texts” (January 2008)
  • “Understanding ASL Grammatical Features and Discourse Mapping” (with Jeff Pollock; November 2007)
  • “Space and Location in Producing Educational Interpreting Work” (with Duane Kinner; July 2007)
  • “Preparing for the Utah State Novice Performance Certification Exam” (April 2005)
  • “Developing Equivalent Sign-to-Voice Interpretation Techniques” (April 2005)
  • “Professional Behaviors and Ethics for Interpreters” (September 2004)
  • “Understanding and Using LDS Church-specific Signs for Church Interpreters” (July 2002)
  • “Sentence Types in American Sign Language” (July 2002)
  • “Identifying Subjects and Objects in American Sign Language” (July 1999)
  • “Understanding Fingerspelling and Loan Signs” (July 1998)
  • “Origins, Formations, Rules, and (Mis)Usage of ASL Name Signs” (July 1997)

Deaf Latter-day Saint (Mormon) Community Research

Since 2009, fellow interpreting and research colleague Anne Leahy and I have been working on unearthing, recreating, and returning stories of the Deaf Latter-day Saint tradition and history back to the community. Although there is evidence of Deaf Latter-day Saint worshippers as early as 1832, this domain of research has historically been neglected and malreported. We have given several formal and informal presentations on Utah’s nineteenth-century Deaf Latter-day Saint community and historical events to various venues and gatherings; see Rediscovering the History of Deaf Latter-day Saints for more information on presentations and topics.