Photo courtesy of Gallaudet University

Gallaudet University, the world’s only liberal arts college that caters to deaf and hard of hearing students, is celebrating its first deaf, female president. Roberta Cordano, who began her reign as the college’s 11th president in January, will be honored during an installation ceremony on Friday.

Before coming to Gallaudet, Cordano was vice president of programs for the Amherst H. Wilder Foundation in Minnesota. Among other achievements, she also co-founded the Metro Deaf School, a pre-K through eighth grade bilingual-bicultural charter school for deaf and hard of hearing children in St. Paul.

Gallaudet had another woman president in its history, but she didn’t last long. Elisabeth Zinser served for six days in March of 1988, resigning after student-led protesters demanded that the university’s president be deaf (none of the school’s presidents at that point had been). The pivotal Deaf President Now campaign “raised the nation’s consciousness of the rights and abilities of deaf and hard of hearing people,” according to Gallaudet. As such, every president of the university since then has met the campaign’s requirement.

Across the city, Cordano is also one of few female leaders in higher education. The only other college in the District to currently have a woman president is Trinity Washington University, a historic undergraduate women’s college (though that could change soon, as both George Washington University and American University are searching for new leaders, after each of their presidents announced they will resign in the spring).

Cordano’s installation ceremony, which will be live streamed, will feature a performance by Deaf West Theatre members who were cast in the Broadway musical Spring Awakening. The event will also include remarks from Lisa Kauppinen of the World Federation of the Deaf.