Come and find out about the UMN-DHH program's Project WE-IMAGINE In this presentation, WE-IMAGINE team members Debbie Golos, Leah Dolezal, Brynn Kraning, and Cookie Brand will share about WE-IMAGINE grant and facilitate a discussion with attendees, and community members on ways to build relationships between teachers diverse DDBDDHH communities. We will break into small groups to share what we are already doing in the field and finally, we will brainstorm and share with the larger group ways to increase these types of community building experiences and opportunities. We will also share a practical resources teachers can use in the field.
Debbie is a Professor of Deaf Education and coordinator of the DHH teacher licensure preparation program in the department of Educational Psychology at the University of Minnesota. She has over 30 years experience in Deaf Education having been engaged in research and teaching on language, literacy identity development, well-being and educational media in teacher preparation programs for the past 17 years. Additionally, she has multiple publications/media productions in this area. She serves as the project director for project WE-IMAGINE funded by the Federal Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP).
Leah Dolezal works at the University of Minnesota - TC as an ASL teacher. She is also the Deaf Community Liaison on the WEIMAGINE grant as well as a PhD student studying how identities and Deaf identities intersect, especially among multiple minority groups. Leah was born and raised in Minnesota; she is Deaf and uses both ASL and English. She was mainstreamed, relying mainly on interpreters and D/HH teachers throughout her formative years. She is currently married to a Deaf man with two CODAs and moonlights as ASL Mommune in partnership with Jenee Petri-Swanson.
Brynn Kraning, PhD is a lecturer in the Deaf Education Teacher Preparation Program in the department of Educational Psychology at the University of Minnesota. She has been teaching in Deaf Education for 10 years. Prior to this position she was an early childhood teacher at the Utah Schools for the Deaf and the Blind in Salt Lake City, Utah. She has research, media, and children's book publications related to early childhood, technology, and educational media. She integrates anti-bias framework, mindfulness and community building throughout her instruction.
Cookie J. Brand (she/her) is a BlackDeaf queer woman of many talents. Her #1 24/7 role is a mother, by day she is a school counselor at the Metro Deaf School in St. Paul, MN. At night, Cookie serves on the St. Paul & Minneapolis Black Deaf Advocates board, a contributing member of both the BIPOC Committee of the National Association of the Deaf and the Minnesota Deaf Queer organization.
Cookie’s passion includes normalizing neurodiversity, destigmatizing mental health and creating opportunities for people in the BlackDeaf, (B)IPOC and queer community. Cookie also loves traveling, roller skating, dancing and still-life photography.
