Biography
James W. Van Manen, Ph.D., is Associate Professor in the American Sign Language Department at Columbia College Chicago. He teaches Linguistics, Fingerspelling, Deaf Studies and Interpreting courses.
Dr. Jim’s research focuses on Fingerspelling, Linguistics, Deaf Art and Student Self Esteem. He is the author of The Fingerspelling Code, a textbook about fingerspelling and using an approach to increase clarity of understanding for non-native learners of American Sign Language fingerspelling that is unique in the field. He also wrote Nancy Rourke: Deaf Artist Series and Ann Silver Deaf Artist Series. He has been at Columbia since 2008.
Dr. Jim is an international speaker who presents regularly on topics including Deaf Art, Fingerspelling, Linguistics and Self Esteem. He is a hard of hearing and had Deaf parents. When he is not teaching, researching, or writing, he is involved in several artistic pursuits involving the depiction of iconic images from American Sign Language.
Dr. Van Manen earned his Ph.D. in Special Education Administration from Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C. He also holds a Master of Arts in Linguistics of Signed Languages, also from Gallaudet University. In addition, he holds the CI (Certificate of Interpretation) and CT (Certificate of Transliteration) from the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. His Bachelor of Arts is in TESOL (Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages) from the University of Northern Iowa.
Instructional Areas
Linguistics, Fingerspelling, Deaf Art, Deaf Studies, Interpreting courses
Creative Practice and Research Interests
Linguistics, Fingerspelling, Deaf Art and Student Self Esteem.
Degrees
B.A., Teaching English to speakers of other languages University of Northern Iowa 1990
M.A., Gallaudet University 1997
Ph.D., Gallaudet University 2007