TROY—The need to provide students with educational experiences beyond the classroom has led to the creation of a first-ever conference for deaf interpreters.

“Alabama Interpreting Metamorphosis (AIM) Training,” a multi-track conference June 19-23 on the Troy Campus will be broadcast nationwide on Wimba and to seven Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind centers around the state.

Lynne Wiesman, who heads TROY’s Interpreter Training Program, said the conference was unique in that it is the first such known to offer multiple track sessions both face-to-face and remotely via videoconferencing and the internet.

“This is not something that ITPs usually do,” she said. “We have many attendees who will be having their entire conference experience at home.”

Remote attendees will have the ability to choose from any of the offered tracks and can move from room to room much like being at the conference in person, she said.

Wiesman said that while the primary purpose of the conference is to extend student experiences beyond the classroom, the conference also provides TROY students the opportunity to learn how to host a conference, learn from experienced interpreter mentors and to network with industry professionals from across the country. Continuing education credits may be earned for professionals needing to maintain certifications and licenses.

Hosted by the University, the College of Education and TROY’s American Sign Language and Interpreter Training Club, the conference is being sponsored by the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind, the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services, the Alabama Department of Mental Health, the Alabama State Department of Education, Sorenson Communication, Troy University, PEPNet South, ACCESS, Signs of Development and the Alabama Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf.

Included in the lineup of speakers is:

• Janice Hawkins, TROY’s first lady and former Department of Education specialist in vision impairment and blindness, who serves on the Alabama License Board for Interpreters and Transliterators;
• Steve Hamerdinger, director of the Office of Deaf Services at the Alabama Department of Mental Health who is a nationally recognized motivational speaker and entertainer;
• Crom Saunders, a nationally known playwright and director who tours with his one-man show “Cromania!” and who has interpreted dozens of plays. He is a faculty member at Columbia University;
• Betti Bonni, a faculty member at Hillsborough Community College in Tampa, Fla., will provide presentations to help American Sign Language teachers become certified through ALSTA certification;
• Christopher and Aimee Robinson, who hail from Boston, are well known for their work in the performing arts. Both are active members and trainers in the National Alliance of Black Interpreters organization; and
• Adam Bartley, a Texan on staff at Gallaudet University, is one of the nation’s leading experts on legal interpreting and specializes in interrogations.
• For more information about TROY’s Interpreter Training Program, visit on the web at troy.troy.edu/education/itpindex.html. Conference information is also posted there under ITP Events.