On September 7th, 2006, PEN-International hosted two visitors from Japan: Ms.Yoko Kitano, Ph.D., a Professor in the Department of Social Work, School of Health Sciences at Tokai University, and her colleague, Ms. Yumiko Hoshina, coordinator of access services for deaf and hard of hearing students at Tokai University. Dr. Kitano has many years of experience working with deaf and hard of hearing children, and Ms. Hoshino, who has a master's degree in second language acquisition, is also a mother of two hearing-impaired children, aged 6 and 4 years old.
Dr. Kitano and Ms. Hoshino were visiting NTID on behalf of Mr. Takuma Ohta who is currently a deaf graduate student intern with PEN-International (18 months, starting in spring 2006). The visitors met with various faculty and staff members who are responsible for coordinating access and support services for deaf and hard of hearing students at NTID/RIT- Ms. Pam Francis for C-Print, Dr. Robb Adams for Counseling Services, Dr. Gerry Bateman for the Master of Science in Secondary Education Program, Dr. Jim DeCaro with PEN-International, and Mr. Steve Nelson for Interpreting, Notetaking and Captioning Services.
