National Advisory Group Honors Outstanding Duo

The National Technical Institute for the Deaf’s (NTID) National Advisory Group named Linda Iacelli of Brighton and Linda Siple of Rochester winners of its 2002 Outstanding Service Award. The award is given annually to faculty or staff members who demonstrate exceptional dedication and service to NTID.

Iacelli, a senior employment specialist in NTID’s Center on Employment since 1984, was recognized for her role in helping students prepare for employment after college. Her "Job Search" course teaches students how to prepare resumes, conduct interviews, and find jobs. She also presents an outreach program, "Working Together: Deaf and Hearing People," that offers companies strategies for communicating with deaf employees.

Iacelli received a bachelor’s degree in French from Nazareth College of Rochester and a master’s degree in French Language and Linguistics from Georgetown University. She spent 15 years working as a French linguist and human resources specialist for the CIA in Washington, D.C., before returning to Rochester in the early 1980s.

She is a member of the parish council and choir of St. Mary’s Catholic Church in Rochester.

Siple, associate professor in the Department of American Sign Language and Interpreting Education (ASLIE), joined NTID in 1978 as a social work intern. She received her bachelor of social work degree from RIT one year later and began her teaching career. She has been instrumental in developing curriculum and teaching classes in the college’s interpreting education program. She is a member of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf, ASL Teachers Association, and the Conference of Interpreter Trainers.

In 1999, she served one year as acting chairperson of the ASLIE Department and has served as an invited or selected member of 19 college committees.

Siple often volunteers her interpreting skills for community events ranging from baseball games and blood drives to magician’s shows and citizen volunteer response teams.

The first and largest technological college in the world for students who are deaf and hard of hearing, NTID, one of eight colleges of Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), offers educational programs and access and support services to 1,100 students from around the world who study, live, and socialize with 14,000 hearing students on the RIT campus. Web address: www.rit.edu/NTID.

For more NTID news, see www.rit.edu/NTID/newsroom.