Executive Profile

David Stewart
Founder, Signing Online

David Stewart is one of the founders of Signing Online, and the content expert of the first series online American Sign Language courses as well as one of the signers in the program. He has taught American Sign Language since 1979 and along with a team of researchers from Michigan State University, he was responsible for the creation of the Personal Communicator, an award-winning CD developed in the mid-1990s to facilitate communication between deaf students and their hearing classmates in public schools.

Stewart is currently a professor and director of the Deaf Education program at Michigan State University. In addition to preparing teachers to teach deaf and hard of hearing children he oversees the American Sign Language program. He is the recipient of several federal grants to conduct research on the education of deaf students. He has made numerous presentations at national and international conferences.

Prior to attending graduate school and becoming a professor, Stewart taught deaf and hard of hearing children in a school for the deaf. He has written extensively about the use of sign language in the classroom and the critical role it has in the identity of the Deaf community. He is the author of seven books and over 60 academic publications related to American Sign Language, sociocultural aspects of the Deaf community, and the education of deaf and hard of hearing children.

As a Deaf individual, Stewart has had long ties with the Deaf community and especially in the area of sports and has close ties with Gallaudet University, serving on its Board of Trustees for many years.

David passed away in June 2004. His passion for Deaf Education and American Sign Language lives on through his work and the many minds that he has touched.

Revised 02/05