Sebastian and Lenore Rosica Hall

Rosica Hall was made possible through a $1.75 million grant by the Chicago-based William G. McGowan Charitable Fund. Additional outside private funds were raised to complete Rosica Hall. 

The Rosicas, from Buffalo, N.Y., were life-long advocates for deaf and hard-of-hearing people. Lenore Rosica was the sister of William G. McGowan, CEO of MCI Communications Corporation, and worked as a speech pathologist. Her husband, Sebastian, worked as an audiologist for 40 years at St. Mary's School for the Deaf, and was a trustee of the McGowan Charitable Fund.

Sebastian and Lenore Rosica Hall is a first-of-its-kind facility that engages deaf and hard-of-hearing students and their hearing peers, along with faculty and corporate partners, in the innovation process.

Within Rosica Hall are five strategic research centers, each operating using outside funding sources. They are:

• Technological Education Center for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Students (DeafTEC)
• Research on Employment and Adapting to Change (REACH)
• Research Center for Teaching and Learning (RCTfL)
• NTID Research Center on Culture & Language
• Sensory, Perceptual, and Cognitive Ecology (SPaCE) Center

Additional spaces within Rosica Hall include:

• The Weintraub Family Conference Room
• The Rosica DeCaro Meditation Garden
• The Hearst Foundations Imaginarium
• The Delta Sigma Phi Experiemental Teaching and Learning Laboratory
• The Rosica Conference Room
• The Pulver-Ratcliffe Bridge
• The Webb Family Portico
• The Crane Family Atrium
• The Andrew Jacobson, '90BS, '96MS Lobby

Sebastian and Lenore Rosica Hall is designed with maximum flexibility to house a variety of innovative projects, including those related to:

• development and adaptation of access and instructional technologies; and
• innovative cross-disciplinary projects involving science- , engineering- , imaging- , and business-related fields.

Through the creation of Sebastian and Lenore Rosica Hall and the projects it houses, NTID and the many talented students enrolled here reinforce America’s greatest competitive advantages — creativity, innovation and invention. 

Sebastian and Lenore Rosica Hall unlocks the potential of ambitious young men and women – deaf, hard-of-hearing and hearing alike – allowing them to reach their full academic potential and achieve new levels of career success.