Laurene E. Simms is Chief Bilingual Officer at Gallaudet University, Washington, D.C. After graduating from the Indiana School for the Deaf, Indianapolis, Indiana, she received a B.S. Degree in Elementary Education from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, and an M.Ed. in Deaf Education from Western Maryland College, Westminster, Maryland. She received a Ph.D. Degree in Language, Reading, and Culture from the University of Arizona, Tucson, Arizona. She has been a Professor in the Department of Education at Gallaudet University for twenty years.