Program to be deactivated in December
By Tabby Garrett
[email protected]
Staff Writer
The American Sign Language Immersion Training Program for Interpreters (ASLITPI) will soon be deactivated due to low enrollment and the high cost of delivering it by distance learning.
The last classes will end in December 2004, with the last certificates awarded in May 2005.
Wendell Barnes, director of ASLITPI, explained that the program began in 1996 and received special funding from the University System of Georgia for the first three years. After those three years, however, the program was plagued by low enrollment and high cost.
Barnes explained that the ASLITPI is designed for those students that are already fluent in sign language and who wish to obtain an interpreter certificate.
Although the enrollment is down, there are students who wish that the program could continue and are upset about its upcoming end.
One such student, Helen Keys, said, �I have completed ASL I and ASL II but will not be able to complete ASL III because of the deactivation, which means I will not receive my certificate.�
Keys expressed these concerns to Dr. Virginia Carson, vice president for academic affairs, who stressed to Keys �that the college had to make the difficult decision of ending the program because of the low enrollment and the high cost.� Carson also assured Keys that other interpreter programs are still available through Georgia Perimeter College in Clarkson and at Valdosta State University in Valdosta.
Keys commented that �for students who work full time, it would be difficult to travel all those miles to take and/or complete those programs.�
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