Professor Jacob Lipps leading an ASL class at Ohio State, Sept. 30, 2026. Credit: Abigail Pierson-Workman | Lantern Reporter.
Ohio State’s College of Arts and Sciences is offering a new major this fall focused on American Sign Language — “American Sign Language (ASL): Applied Communication and Community Studies.”
While previously offered only as a minor, the ASL website said there are three goals of this major: language proficiency, intercultural competence and cultural and historical knowledge.?
Central to its mission, these goals are crafted for students to work with and within Deaf communities.
Kristin Wickham-Saxon, director of undergraduate studies for the ASL program, said offering this major gives students the opportunity to be in actual connection to Deaf culture and inclusivity.
“There’s a variety of agencies and organizations that serve Deaf and hard of hearing populations,” Wickham-Saxon said. “Every workplace needs to be able to be inclusive and produce access.”
In the past, Wickham-Saxon said the ASL program has been focused more on conversational skills and less on real-world application.
She said the major is trying to change that.
“We have a new course in the spring that’s called ‘Life Experiences of Deaf Children,’” said Wickham-Saxon. “While students are [learning] about educational options for deaf children, they’re learning new vocabulary to express themselves.”
This is not the only new course. Students now also have a wider range of options for ASL-geared electives discussing topics such as ASL art, Deaf life experiences and the linguistics of ASL.
One of the courses, ASL 4350, will show students how to use these new skills in the real world. According to Wickham-Saxon, this class will demonstrate how students can tie everything that they have learned together.
Sean Bowers, a third-year in ASL: Applied Communication and Community Studies, said he recently entered into the major because the language is often overlooked, and he wants to change that.
“Deaf people have been here for so long,” Bowers said. “It should just be more integrated into our everyday lives.”
Bowers said ASL is something he’s fallen in love with at Ohio State, as it was his minor prior to this semester. He said he chose the major to be in alignment with his career goals of being an interpreter someday.??
He said he believes the major is a step toward the inclusion he hopes to see — and provide to the world.
“It’s so interesting beyond the signs and everything,” Bowers said. “It’s the culture behind it.”
If interested, students may contact Thomas [email protected] for more information.
