In Conversation with Dr. Lissa Ramirez-Stapleton, Black Deaf Education and Praxis: The Intersections of Culture, Community, and Hope
Dr. Lissa D. Ramirez-Stapleton (link) is an associate professor at California State University Fullerton (link) in the Department of Educational Leadership and co-coordinator of the Masters of Science in Higher Education program. She is also the Executive Director for The Black Deaf Project (link), a 501c(3) educational Black Deaf and hearing collaborative nonprofit. Her research focuses on equity and access, identity development, and the educational history of Deaf students, faculty, and staff, with a particular interest in the intersections of race, gender, and disability. Her scholarship can be found in various journals and public outlets.
Previously, Ramirez-Stapleton worked in student affairs specifically student housing at various institutions and with Semester at Sea. Her desire to support Deaf college Students of Color led Ramirez-Stapleton to pursue her doctorate at Iowa State University. She graduated in 2014 with her Ph.D. in education with an emphasis on higher education and social justice and a minor in women's studies. She won the 2015 Melvene D. Hardee NASPA Dissertation of the Year award, is a 2018 Ford Postdoctoral Fellow, and is a 2019 Nancy Weiss Malkiel Scholar through The Institute for Citizens & Scholars.
She is involved with the Association for the Study of Higher Education and the National Black Deaf Advocates. She earned her M.S.E. in college student personnel from the University of Dayton and her B.S. in social work from Wright State University. She currently lives in Southern California with her wife, Marcela and daughter Kalia.
Find the CSUSB Disability Lecture Series Homepage and learn about past and upcoming events here (link). Series organizers are CSUSB Professors Jessica Luck, Tiffany Jones, Jess Nerren, Jonathan Hall, and Jeremy Murray. Thanks to Pamela Crosson (History) for administrative support, and Thinh Ly (Information Technology Consultant) for his technological support. This year, our series is supported by a grant from Accelerate InSoCal and The Cog Neurodiversity Space.
With great thanks also to Christeena Johnston and the Services to Students with Disabilities for supporting the event as well!