Emeritus Faculty: Myra Taff-Watson
Myra Taff-Watson, M.A., CSC, after 24 years of service, retired from UALR in June 2006 with Faculty Emeritus status. She was an Assistant Professor with tenure and served as the Program Coordinator of the Interpreter Education Program (IEP) from 1982-2004. She authored and was awarded over $8 million in federal grants to UALR over the past 20 years to train interpreters in a 5-state region (AR, LA, NM, OK, TX) under five RSA grants (1985-2010), and under six OSEP grants (1991-2006), federal funds sponsored students’ tuition for A.A. and B.A. degrees in educational interpreting. She is currently serving as a member of the IEP Advisory Council. She has 38+ years of professional and personal experience in deafness, interpretation, interpreter education, deaf-blindness, and ASL instruction with 33 years personal experience in interpreting across a wide range of settings and occasions, including educational interpreting with children, youth and adults who are deaf, deaf-blind and or hard of hearing. She is a nationally recognized educator/trainer of interpreters and provided over 260 national, regional and local level inservice workshops on accessibility, ASL, interpreting, conference interpreting, and other special setting interpreting.
Myra is the author of over 200 articles, chapters, and monographs on deafness and interpreting; serves on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Interpretation and the Journal of the American Deafness and Rehabilitation Association, is Editor of the ARIDian News and Viewssince 1987 (Arkansas Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf) and former Co-Editor, 1987-2001, of the CIT News (Conference of Interpreter Trainers). She was appointed Commissioner in July 2006 for the Commission on Collegiate Interpreter Education (CCIE), the new accrediting body for Interpreter Education Programs offering A.A. and B.A degrees in Interpretation, and appointed to the 2007 Committee on Educational Interpreter Standards under the Arkansas Dept. of Education. She has served on numerous federal/national/statewide advisory councils, including the 5-year National Multi-Cultural Interpreter Training Project and the 5-year National Training of Interpreters for Individuals who are Deaf-Blind Project, and the Arkansas Coalition for the Education of Students who are Deaf/Hard of Hearing.
Myra is the recipient of numerous community and university awards, for example, the Gloria Wright Award (2005) for outstanding and dedicated service to Deaf and Hard of Hearing Arkansans; recognition in 2004 by Kappa Delta Pi, the International Honor Society in Education, for 20 years of Scholarship and Leadership; the RID Silver Scribe Award for Outstanding Newsletter (2001-2003); the UALR Excellence in Public Service(1989, 1992) and Excellence in Research and Scholarly Activities (1994); the RID/CIT Mary Stotler Award (1994) for outstanding contributions to the fields of interpretation and interpreter education; the RID Outstanding Public Service Award (2001-2003 & 2003-2005) as a peer reviewer for the JoI Board of Editors; the ARID Distinguished Service as President (1983-1987); the UALR Certificate of Appreciation for Service to School of Engineering Technology (1987); the City of LR Certificate of Appreciation for Service (1986); and the Arkansas Coalition for the Handicapped Certificate of Appreciation for Service (1985, 1986).
She now is running her business of 20 years full-time, Communication Plus+ Interpreter Services and Consultation, a statewide interpreter service and inter-state research associates entity, as well as providing internship opportunities for students and employment for graduates. She continues to be actively involved in numerous leadership roles in interpreter organizations nationally and locally, and has served as President, Vice-President, Secretary, Program Chair, Biennial Conference Chair, as well as currently serving on a variety of committees for the Arkansas Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (ARID). She is the current co-coordinator of the Certification Maintenance Program for ARID as an RID Approved Sponsor and handles CEU requests by sponsoring inservice training and independent studies for interpreters to upgrade and maintain their skills.
Myra holds a M.A. (1975) in Rehabilitation Counseling/Deafness with a minor in Deaf Education from New York University, completed all her doctoral work in Deafness Rehabilitation, and holds the CSC certificate (1978) from RID, Inc. Her professional experience includes working as the communication specialist in deaf-blindness for the Helen Keller National Center, as a certified teacher of the deaf in NYC public schools, and as an interpreter. She is married to Dr. Douglas Watson, Director of the Research and Training Center for Persons who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing and has three children and three grandchildren; her husband, one daughter, and one grandson are deaf, and one daughter is hard of hearing.