Edmund Lyon Memorial Lectureship Series

Born in Iran in 1947, Farid Bozorgi contracted polio as a child, which left him deaf. With limited educational options after elementary school, he practiced his artistic skills by drawing from magazines. His artistic abilities impressed Iranian Princess Shams, who gifted Bozorgi a plane ticket to the United States and money to continue his education. Bozorgi enrolled in the Detroit School for the Deaf and learned ASL. Later he attended NTID, where he studied communication design. After graduating from RIT in 1976, Bozorgi gained employment as a Senior Commercial Artist at Lockheed Aeronautical Systems. He died in California in December 1990, soon after his Lyon lecture at NTID.

After moving from Indonesia to the United States, Tan attended Gallaudet University and earned a bachelor's degree in sociology/social work. Following his undergraduate studies, Tan received his master's degree from Boston University in rehabilitation counseling. Tan's work focused on the counseling and rehabilitation of the Deaf and Deaf-Blind.

Linda Bradford was born deaf and attended the John Tracy Clinic in Los Angeles, California, at a young age. She was mainstreamed in public schools as a child. Active in sports, she attended California Polytechnic Institute, where she studied physical education and mathematics. She competed in the Deaflympics, winning gold medals in 1969 for track and 1973 for volleyball. After graduating from college, she taught physical education at California State University at Northridge for five years. She returned to graduate school in New Mexico and studied for a doctorate in the computer field. At the time of her Edmund Lyon lecture, Bradford was Associate Systems Programmer and lead operator for Honeywell.

Frank Hochman was born deaf in New York City in 1935. After high school, Hochman went on to the City College of New York, where he earned a bachelor's degree in biology in 1958. Hochman wanted to go on to medical school but could not find a school that would accept him because of his deafness, so he worked as a chemist for a number of years for St. Joseph's Hospital in Queens and for the New York Department of Health. Hochman applied to medical schools again in 1971 and was accepted to Rutgers Medical School at the age of 37. He completed his master's degree in 1974 and earned his M.D. in 1976. After completing residencies in two California hospitals, Hochman began private practice. He was the founder of the Society of Hearing Impaired Physicians.

George Kononenko, who was prelingually deaf, was born in New Jersey, where he attended the Marie H. Katzenbach School for the Deaf for both elementary and high school education. Having an interest in sciences and engineering, Kononenko then entered NTID's mechanical technology program. Following his graduation, Kononenko enrolled in RIT's College of Engineering, where he graduated in 1975 with a Bachelor of Science degree in engineering technology. In 1985, Kononenko was the Research and Development Project Leader for Personal Computer Instrumentation at Hewlett-Packard. His Lyon Lectureship presentation was titled "My Experience as a Deaf Contributor."

Nancy Cook Smith was born profoundly deaf and attended the Clarke School for the Deaf in Northampton, Massachusetts, and later Glastonbury High School. Following high school, Cook Smith continued to pursue her longstanding interest in arts and crafts at the Rhode Island School of Design, where she graduated in 1974 with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in textiles. Cook Smith then started her career as a designer with India Imports of Providence, Rhode Island. She subsequently set out as a designer on a freelance basis and moved to Los Angeles. Cook Smith's 1984 Lyon Lectureship presentation was entitled "Words on Confidence."

Philip "Phil" Bravin, as a prelingually deaf child, was enrolled in schools for the deaf from primary school through high school. Having succeeded at the New York School for the Deaf in White Plains, Bravin went on to Gallaudet College in Washington, D.C. He graduated in 1966 with a bachelor's degree in mathematics and science. In 1983, Bravin was an advisory systems engineer with IBM, assigned to the National Accounts Division. His primary responsibilities were to provide marketing and technical support to customers with PCs in the Wall Street area. Bravin also worked as a job placement specialist for the Ohlone Community College in Fremont, California, specifically marketing the employment abilities of deaf-blind adults. Bravin's 1983 Edmund Lyon presentation was titled "Successful Job Performance-Contributing Factors."

After Kenneth "Ken" Levinson lost his hearing from spinal meningitis at age one and a half, he began auditory training and was mainstreamed in public school beginning at age four. Levinson graduated from the University of Washington with a bachelor's degree in accounting followed by an MBA from Columbia University. Levinson's first position was with Price Waterhouse in their New York office. Later Levinson went to work for Northrop Corporation in Los Angeles in an executive-level position as the manager of the Corporate Audit Department. In addition to his business activity, Levinson also served on the boards of directors of the Alexander Graham Bell Association, the Oral Education Center, and the Oralingua School. Ken Levinson's 1982 Lyon Memorial lecture was entitled "Job Mobility for the Deaf: The Next Challenge in Mainstreaming."

Donald Ballantyne, Ph.D., was born in China in 1922 and became deaf shortly after birth due to medical complications. After graduating from Princeton University in 1945, Ballantyne wished to continue his education and enrolled as a graduate student at the Catholic University of America in Washington, D.C. During this time Ballantyne worked as a laboratory assistant in chemistry at Gallaudet College. He went on to receive his master's degree from Gallaudet in 1948 and his doctorate in 1952. Ballantyne joined the New York Medical Center in 1954, where he was a professor of Experimental Surgery and the Director of Microsurgical Research and Training Laboratories in the Institute of Reconstructive Plastic Surgery. As the first presenter of the Edmund Lyon Memorial Lecture series, Ballantyne presented "The Young Deaf Professional at Work: The Start of the Career."