Susan
Rutherford has been an academic, an administrator, and
an activist for more than thirty five years, working
to establish Deaf studies as a field of inquiry and
to help American Sign Language achieve rightful recognition
as a legitimate language.
Chuck Baird
Dr. Rutherford received her doctorate in Folklore and
Deaf Studies from the University of California, Berkeley, where in 1978 she
had created the nation’s first university-level
course on the language, history, and culture of Deaf
people in America. She taught the course for twenty-five
years, and her book, A Study of American Deaf
Folklore, is a key text in the field. In addition,
Dr. Rutherford helped create the American Sign Language
Studies program at Vista College (CA).
Dr. Rutherford has been part of DEAF Media
since 1977 and its Executive Director since 1981. She has
produced or co-produced TV and video projects, including
American Culture: The Deaf Perspective, produced for the
National Endowment for the Humanities; and the Emmy Award-winning
Rainbow’s End, produced for PBS. She has created
groundbreaking and ongoing cultural programs, including
Celebration: Deaf Artists and Performers, the Deaf
Education and Arts Network (DEAN), and DEAF
Media Docents.
To better serve
both Deaf and hearing communities Dr. Rutherford has built
partnerships with major cultural
institutions in the Bay Area, including the Oakland Museum
of California, the Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco,
the San Francisco Public Library, and Yerba Buena Center
for
the
Arts.
Dr. Rutherford has mentored Deaf artists
in arts and nonprofit management. She has served on numerous
advisory boards, including the National Park
Service’s
Folklore/Folklife Committee, the Berkeley Art Museum, the
Arts Access Network, the World Institute on Disability,
the Corporation on Disability in Telecommunication, and
River of Words, and for such educational institutions as
the University of California, San Francisco State University,
Berkeley City College (formerly Vista College), and the
California School for the Deaf, among others.