Stephanie W. Cawthon has been named the first deaf editor of Perspectives on Deafness, an Oxford University Press international book series on the leading research and practices with deaf people.
An internationally renowned expert, Cawthon’s research examines the multiple factors that affect how deaf and disabled people succeed after high school. She investigates issues of equity and access in education, explores accommodations and accessible learning environments, and challenges systemic standards that may be holding some students back. Her research has been funded by nearly $25 million in federal and other grants.
“I am humbled to be the first deaf researcher to hold this position and bring a deaf-centered approach to Perspectives on Deafness,” Cawthon says. “It is a great honor to serve our field in this important role.”
Cawthon is a professor in the Department of Educational Psychology in the College of Education, with a courtesy appointment in Special Education. She is also director of the National Deaf Center on Postsecondary Outcomes, a federally funded technical assistance and dissemination center located in the college.
There is a long history of deaf people being underrepresented in higher education, educational research, and research-to-practice translation. With the increase in accessibility of education and employment, deaf education researchers have the opportunity to bring both the strength of their training and the insights of direct experiences as deaf people.
Cawthon will edit the interdisciplinary series with Harry Knoors, who is professor of deaf education at Radboud University in the Netherlands, and they have begun reviewing new manuscripts.
Cawthon leads the National Deaf Center, which has a staff of more than 50 people in Austin and across the United States, most of whom are also deaf. It is meaningful for the center’s stakeholders—particularly deaf students in high school and college—to know the organization is deaf-led and its resources, research, and outreach are developed for deaf people by deaf people.
“Dr. Cawthon’s appointment as editor of an international book series of this caliber is a testament to her outstanding record of scholarship, teaching, and leadership in her 13 years on faculty at UT Austin,” says Charles R. Martinez, Jr., dean of the College of Education. “In this position, she will continue to advance educational innovation for deaf and disabled students, convey cutting-edge research into impactful practices, and reimagine education.”
She recently co-authored Shifting the Dialog, Shifting the Culture: Pathways to Successful Postsecondary Outcomes for Deaf Individuals and Research in Deaf Education: Contexts, Challenges and Considerations. Her first book, Accountability-Based Reforms: The Impact of Deaf or Hard of Hearing Students, won the Exceptional Book of the Year Award from Exceptionality Education International.
For more than 25 years, Perspectives on Deafness has published authored and edited books that present the leading research and service provision on all topics relating to individuals with hearing loss. In that time, research on deafness has grown dramatically in quality, quantity, and recognition of its relevance to other domains. In particular, investigations involving deaf adults and children are now of considerable importance for those interested in both normal and atypical development, language, socio-emotional functioning, cognition, learning, and neurological function.
The relationship between deafness research and education, linguistics, literacy, mental health, audiology, speech, and culture has captured increasing attention from a variety of investigators.
Oxford University Press is the world’s leading university press with the widest global presence. Its academic publishing program serves scholars, teachers, and researchers, publishing important and rigorous research and scholarship across subject areas stretching from History to Life Sciences to Economics.
