I. King Jordan | |
|---|---|
| 8thPresident ofGallaudet University | |
| In office March 13, 1988 – December 31, 2006 | |
| Preceded by | Elisabeth Zinser |
| Succeeded by | Robert Davila |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Irving King Jordan (1943-06-16)June 16, 1943 (age 81) Glen Riddle, Pennsylvania, U.S. |
| Spouse | |
Irving King Jordan (born June 16, 1943) is an American educator who became the firstdeaf president ofGallaudet University in 1988 after theDeaf President Now protest. Gallaudet is the world's only university with all programs and services designed specifically for deaf and hard-of-hearing students.
After the week-long protest known asDeaf President Now, the Board reversed its decision and named Jordan, one of three finalists for the position, the eighth president of Gallaudet, the first deaf president since the institution was established in 1864.[1][2]
He appears in the 2011 disability rights documentaryLives Worth Living.
Jordan is a native ofGlen Riddle,Pennsylvania, a small town nearPhiladelphia.[3] Jordan was born to hearing parents, with no other instances of deafness in his family. After graduating fromPenncrest High School in 1962,[4] he enlisted in theUS Navy and served four years. Jordan became deaf at the age of 21, when, after driving a motorcycle without a helmet, he was flung into the windshield of a car and suffered two skull fractures, a fractured jaw, and a concussion. His injuries severed the nerves in one ear completely and damaged the nerves in the other.[5][6]
Jordan earned his master's degree and his doctorate in psychology at theUniversity of Tennessee.[3] He was serving as the dean of the College of Arts and Sciences atGallaudet University when he was chosen as a candidate for the university presidency.[7] As a professor, department chair, dean, and president, Jordan has made numerous scholarly contributions to his field. He has been a research fellow atDonaldson's School for the Deaf inEdinburgh,Scotland, an exchange scholar atJagiellonian University inKraków,Poland, and a visiting scholar and lecturer at schools in theFrench cities ofParis,Toulouse, andMarseille.
Jordan and his wife, Linda, live in West River, Maryland. They have two grown children and two grandchildren. Jordan loves running daily.[3] As of 2009[update], he continues to run theMarine Corps Marathon each year. He was a co-founder of theAmerican Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD). He is also a member of theAssociation of Late-Deafened Adults, which presents a yearly award to distinguished achievers in his name.[8]
Jordan became president of the university on March 13, 1988, after the Deaf President Now protest.[9][10] He holds twelve honorary degrees and is the recipient of numerous awards, among them: thePresidential Citizen's Medal,[3] the Washingtonian of the Year Award, the James L. Fisher Award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), the Larry Stewart Award from theAmerican Psychological Association, and the Distinguished Leadership Award from the National Association for Community Leadership. In 1990,President Bush appointed Jordan Vice-chair of the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities. He was reappointed to this position in 1993.[11] In 2006, Jordan received the Award for Greatest Public Service Benefiting the Disadvantaged, an award given out annually by theJefferson Awards.[12]
On-campus, he was widely applauded for his successful efforts to increase funding, including funds for expanding and constructing two new large-scale centers for education research and support.
On September 1, 2005, Jordan announced his intentions to retire from the presidency effective December 31, 2006. Jordan became the subject of controversy when he supported the controversial decision made on May 1, 2006, by the board of trustees to appointJane Fernandes as president-designate. The announcement of her selection set off a campus-wide protest.
Critics claimed that Fernandes was not highly regarded by both the faculty and students. Jordan, taking a line from page 10 of the 1995 bookDeaf President Now (by Christiansen and Barnartt), publicly accused some critics of rejecting Fernandes because she was not "Deaf enough." The protestors claimed that Jordan was accepted as president, even though he did not become deaf until he was 21. They insisted that they protested for other reasons, such as their perception that Fernandes lacked charisma.
Jordan resigned from the Gallaudet presidency in December 2006 and retired from the Gallaudet faculty in December 2008. On April 6, 2010, it was announced that Jordan had been appointed by PresidentBarack Obama to serve on theCommission on Presidential Scholars.
| Academic offices | ||
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| Preceded by | President ofGallaudet University March 13, 1988 – December 31, 2006 | Succeeded by |
| International | |
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| National | |
