| Office | President of Gallaudet University |
|---|---|
| Term start | January 1, 2016 |
| Predecessor | T. Alan Hurwitz |
| Birth date | November 29, 1963 (age 62) |
| Education | Beloit College (BA) University of Wisconsin, Madison (JD) |
Roberta "Bobbi" Cordano (born November 29, 1963)[1] is the 11th president of Gallaudet University, serving since 2016.[2][3] Cordano is the first deaf woman and the first LGBTQ person to become president of Gallaudet University; she is lesbian.[4]
Cordano obtained her Juris Doctor degree at the University of Wisconsin, Madison in 1990. She was assistant attorney general for Minnesota.[5] She was assistant dean at the Hubert H. Humphrey Institute of Public Affairs at the University of Minnesota.[6][7]
Cordano was awarded the Hubert Humphrey award by the University of Wisconsin.[8] She is among the first ten deaf women in the United States to have earned a Juris Doctor (JD) degree and is among the first 50 deaf women to have earned a doctoral degree, overall.[9]
Cordano is the first deaf woman to become president of Gallaudet University. Elisabeth Zinser, a hearing woman, held the Gallaudet presidency for less than one week amidst the March 1988 Deaf President Now protests. Zinser was never officially installed as president before her resignation.[10]
References
- ^ The Herald-Press (Saint Joseph, Michigan), December 13, 1963, p. 5.
- ^ "News & Stories | Gallaudet University"
- ^ "Gallaudet Announces Finalists For University President". www.gallaudet.edu. Archived October 13, 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-11-04.
- ^ Staff, Queer Forty (March 22, 2023). "Top honor for first deaf, openly lesbian university president"
- ^ "Her Own Way to the Top: AAUW". www.aauw.org. Archived from the original on 2016-05-30.
- ^ "Faculty and Staff | Hubert H. Humphrey School of Public Affairs". Archived 2007-08-10 at the Wayback Machine.
- ^ State of Minnesota proclamation of Roberta J. Cordano Day, Sept 30 2016
- ^ "Roberta Cordano '90 Wins Humphrey Award | University of Wisconsin Law School". law.wisc.edu. Archived 2018-09-09 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-11-04.
- ^ Holcomb, Mabs and Sharon Wood. 1989. Deaf Women--A Parade through the Decades. Berkeley, CA: Dawn Sign Press, p. 87.
- ^ "Finalist Candidate: Roberta (Bobbi) Cordano". www.gallaudet.edu. Archived October 8, 2015 at the Wayback Machine. Retrieved 2025-11-04.
External links
- Common Past, Common Future: USDA & Gallaudet Create Opportunities for Students, USDA, Dec 09, 2016
Further reading
- "Deaf Person of the Year". Deaf People. Retrieved 22 March 2019.