American Sign Language & Deaf Studies
The American Sign Language (ASL) Program will help you learn about the history, culture, and language of the American deaf community. As an ASL student, you’ll develop facility in using a language that is comparable in complexity and expressiveness to oral languages but that operates in a different sensory channel. As you broaden your understanding of how languages may be constructed, you’ll develop a better understanding of your own language.
The ASL program offers a certificate and a minor. Both programs will help you prepare for careers in areas such as counseling, education, human services, interpreting, and psychology. They'll also enable you to communicate effectively with deaf individuals in all sorts of settings.
If you want to teach deaf children or be an ASL/English interpreter, a sign language instructor, or a speech pathologist/audiologist, you will need additional specialized training.
American Sign Language & Deaf Studies Certificate
See the General Catalog for more details.
American Sign Language Minor
See the General Catalog for more details.
Application Process
Undergraduate certificate programs are available to students once they are enrolled in a degree program at Iowa, or after they have received a bachelor's degree. Review our Areas of Study to select a major.
