University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 65, No. 16, Ed. 1 Friday, November 4, 1988 Page: 2 of 8
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UNIVERSITY PRESS November 4,1988*2
UP Profile_
Ramon Gonzales
Making his situation work
By Gloria Douglas
UP staff writer
To recruit and train Hispanics to
become teachers of the deaf is the
goal of Ramon Gonzales, director of
the Hispanic deaf education teacher
training program at Lamar Univer-
sity.
The need for Hispanic teachers is
great, he said, because the Hispanic
population in Texas is growing.
About 29 percent of deaf children in
Texas are Hispanic, so Gonzales
travels the state in an effort to
recruit teachers in this field.
Gonzales particularly hopes to
recruit Hispanics, not just Spanish-
speaking teachers, because the pro-
blem is “not as simple as just a
language barrier.”
Parents of deaf students may
speak only Spanish at home while
the students are being taught in
English and sign language, he said,
forcing them to be trilingual.
A teacher of this type of student
needs to sympathize with the culture
and the economic situation of the
student and be able to communicate
with the parents, Gonzales said.
As a result of the need, Lamar has
begun a new program this semester,
he said, “The problem is letting peo-
ple know about the program.”
Lamar has received a five-year
grant to fund this teacher education
program. It is the only one like it in
the country. This graduate-level pro-
gram has six students — one from
Peru, one from Brazil, the rest from
South Texas — and it should double
the number of Hispanic teachers of
the deaf.
If the program is successful, the
grant is renewable, and Gonzales
could teach at Lamar indefinitely.
Deaf education brought Gonzales
to Lamar. Before he turned 25, Gon-
zales said, “I knew zilch about
deafness.” That is when he became
deaf as a result of medication.
Upon becoming deaf, Gonzales
said, “It took seven years to recycle
myself — to go back to college and
get my career going. I had a chip on
my shoulder the size of a redwood.”
_ Before this, Gonzales said, “I was
a VISTA (Volunteers in Service to
America) volunteer and lived with
A person with a hearing impairment needs to
spend more time studying and generally needs
three or four extra books outside class material to
aid in his study.
—Ramos Gonzales
the Eskimos for two years. That was
during my teenybopper days.”
Eventually, he went back to col-
lege in computer programming, but
he changed majors and came to
Lamar.
To attempt college courses as a
deaf person is not easy, Gonzales
said. One can borrow notes from a
classmate, he said, but a hearing
person will not take as many notes
as a deaf person requires.
A person with a hearing impair-
ment needs to spend more time stu-
dying and generally needs three or
four extra books outside class
material to aid in his study, he said.
Gonzales received bachelor’s and
master’s degrees from Lamar, the
latter while he worked for the Texas
Department of Human Services. He
taught at Lubbock High School for
three years and spent two years do-
ing doctoral work at the University
of Arizona.
Gonzales began his deaf education
career in Beaumont when he came
back to work with the Golden
Triangle Cooperative for the Deaf.
“I don’t like being deaf, but I have
learned to live with it, to cope, to
make it work for me,” Gonzales
said. “I only had two choices. I had
to make something of myself, or I
had to perish.”
Gonzales did not grow up deaf,
which for Gonzales presents added
difficulty. He said people like him
are “stuck between two worlds.
They have a lot of frustration.”
“Things are never the same. In a
room full of family and friends, I am
isolated.”
Gonzales wants members of his
immediate family to grow up tril-
ingual. He met his wife through his
work with the Golden Triangle
Cooperative, and they have two
children, Amanda, 6, and R.C., 11
months. They began to teach Aman-
da to sign at 6 weeks old and are try-
ing to teach R.C. to sign “I love
you”.
Ramon has never heard his fami-
ly. “I don’t know what they sound
like,” he said.
Gonzales said a deaf person often
is expected to read lips, but to
understand everything is impossi-
ble.
People understand about 10 per-
cent of what he says, he believes. “It
involves a lot of guesswork.”
Deaf people do use speech
reading, but not alone, he said. When
a person is reading sign language,
he must use peripheral vision to
watch the signer’s hands. Students
at Lamar are taught they must
make eye contact and read speech,
facial expressions and body
language.
Gonzales described several recent
technological advances which aid
hearing-impaired people. The
telecommunications device for the
deaf has been simplified and made
more affordable so that telephone
access is available. Videotapes and
almost all television programs are
closed-captioned. Now, even com-
mercials reach the deaf.
Even with that, frustration re-
mains for a person with a hearing
impairment.
For Ramon Gonzales, the key to
coping has been to turn his situation
around and make it work for him.
Campaign
nets KVLU
$31,000 for
fall drive
By Debra Goetschius
UP entertainment writer
KVLU public radio ended its “Fall
Campaign ’88” Monday, raising
more than $31,000.
The 10-day fund-raising event
brought in many new members who
pledged $25 or more.
“There are close to 1,300
members,” Byron Balentine, pro-
gram director, said.
The station exceeded its goal of
$30,000 and also raised more than
during the fall campaign in 1987.
More then 100 volunteers helped in
the campaign efforts by answering
telephones, Balentine said.
KVLU, which will celebrate its
15th anniversary in April, provides
classical, jazz and blue grass music,
as well as radio broadcasts from the
1930s and ’40s.
“The programs are designed for
the age group of 35 and above,”
Balentine said.
KVLU does not program directly
to the college audience by playing
Top 10 hits because commercial sta-
tions are doing that, he said. KVLU
offers an alternative to commercial
radio by providing the classics in all
fields of music.
KVLU is concerned about what its
listeners’ likes and dislikes are,
Balentine said. Now, the station is
sending surveys to its members in
order to get feedback about the pro-
grams and how they could be im-
proved.
Among the special activities dur-
ing the event were challenges.
Listeners got involved by pledging
an amount of money if someone
from the same city or a rival city
would pledge the same amount.
One of the big attractions occurred
Sunday night when KVLU presented
a new production of “The War of the
Worlds.” The 50th-anniversary pro-
duction starred Jason Robards and
Steve Allen.
Balentine said the station received
many phone calls that day from peo-
ple who wanted to know the exact
time for the broadcast and to find
out what to set their radio dial on.
KVLU is heard on 91.3 FM.
LU Briefs
Talent show deadline set
Applications for the Alpha Phi Omega talent show to be held Tuesday,
Nov. 22, are due Friday, Nov. 11, at 12:30 p.m., Donnayvette Williams,
spokesperson, said.
The forms should be turned in to the Alpha Phi Omega office. For fur-
ther information, telephone Williams at 8804007.
CSI schedules meeting
The Collegiate Secretaries International will meet Tuesday at 5:30 p.m.
in 104 Setzer Student Center, Tracey Steagall, publicity director for CSI,
said.
Sherry Shaw, information system supervisor for an area law firm, will
be the guest speaker. The topic of her speech will be “Law Firm Automa-
tion.”
Refreshments will be served and any interested persons are invited to
attend.
Homecoming events listed
Homecoming events for Saturday include the 5K and one mile run,
beginning with registration and line up at 7:30 a.m. in the Montagne park-
ing lot. The run will start at 8 a.m.
There will be a basketball game at 10:30 a.m. in the Montagne Center.
The Homecoming Committee will sponsor an alumni picnic at 11:30 a.m.
in the Quadrangle.
Lamar will play Mississippi College in a football game at 2 p.m. in Car-
dinal Stadium. Crowning of the Homecoming queen and king will be at
halftime of the game.
YMCA to hold tournaments
The Port Arthur YMCA will hold a racquetball tournament Friday,
Nov. 11 at 6760 Ninth Ave. Cost of the event is $8 per person. Registeration
deadline is Monday at 5 p.m.
A co-ed volleyball tournament will be held Saturday, Nov. 19. Fee for
this event is $40 per team. Registration deadline is Nov. 17.
BACLD schedules meeting
The Beaumont Association of Children with Learning Disabilities will
meet Tuesday, Nov. 15, at 7 p.m., in the Calvary Baptist Church.
Rodney Ruppel, a Beaumont psychologist, will speak on “The Stresses
a Parent Experiences and the Stresses of a Child with Learning Dif-
ficulties.”
The church is located at 5650 Dowlen Road.
Turkeywalk to benefit AHA
The fifth annual Turkeywalk, sponsored by the American Heart
Association, is scheduled for Saturday, Nov. 19, beginning at 9 a.m.,,Joe
Holland, spokesperson, said.
Monies raised in the event support the American Heart Association in
research, public and professional education and community service ef-
forts in Texas.
The walk will cover five miles. It will begin at Marshall Middle School,
continue down Dowlen for two-and-one-half miles and return to Marshall.
For more information on how you or your group can participate, con-
tact the American Heart Association office at 892-5492.
Deadline for submitting announcements for LU Briefs is noon of the
day one week prior to publication. Priority is given to upcoming events.
Announcements listing appointment of officers and members of organiza-
tions will be published as space permits. No exceptions. Press release
forms are available for organization reporters in the University Press of-
fice, 200 Setzer Student Center.
ADVERTISE WITH THE
UNIVERSITY PRESS
CALL (409) 880-8102
Helps Keep America Strong
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Homecoming Silk Corsages
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starting $6.50
Leadership
Lamar
is coming...
Feb. 16, 17
& 18, 1989.
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presents
SUSANNE MENTZER
Mezzo-soprano
Wed., Nov. 9-8 p.m.
Julie Rogers Theatre
SUSANNE MENTZER is one of a select group of
young American singers on the threshold of interna-
tional stardom. A National Opera Institute Silver
Medalist, she has it all - a voice of remarkable clari-
ty, charm, looks, expression and that indefinable
ability to mesmerize an audience.
(A limited number of free tickets will be available for Lamar students at the Setzer
Student Center Check Cashing Booth.)
DRESS FOR SUCCESS.
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Interviews will be held on November 7 & 8 at the
Placement Office. Sign up now or call collect (713)226-2445.
NAVY OFFICER
You are Tomorrow.
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Hawn, Evelyn. University Press (Beaumont, Tex.), Vol. 65, No. 16, Ed. 1 Friday, November 4, 1988, newspaper, November 4, 1988; Beaumont, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth499626/m1/2/: accessed July 17, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Lamar University.