Amanda Tuite

Amanda Tuite is a Communication Access Specialist II with Health and Human Services, Office of Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services in Austin, Texas. She assissts with program goals and objectives; assists with developing program guidelines, procedures, and policies; devepos schedules and priorities; evaluates program activities; and provides consultative and technical services adn training to agency program staff and other governmental agencies, both public and private. She is also a contract service provider for consumers and the general public.

Amber Farrelly

Amber D. Farrelly received her undergraduate degree from the University of Oklahoma at Norman and her Juris Doctorate degree from Arizona State University Sandra Day O’Connor College of Law with the highest distinction for her pro bono work. Amber began her legal career clerking for both defense teams in the Yogurt Shop Murders shortly after their reversals in 2007 until both cases were dismissed in 2009. She began practicing as a criminal defense attorney in 2009, and has worked with the Innocence Project of Texas and the Texas Civil Rights Project. She joined The Fowler Law Firm in 2011 specializing in criminal defense. In 2012, she left and opened Baird Farrelly Criminal Defense, PLLC where she is partner. Amber is licensed in and practices throughout the state of Texas. Amber specializes in Deaf clientele and is a court-certified interpreter in American Sign Language (ASL). Working with the Conviction Integrity Unit in Dallas County, she testified as an expert witness on ASL and Deaf culture in the Stephen Brodie exoneration case—the only Deaf person exonerated in the United States. She has consulted on numerous cases involving Deaf individuals as an expert. Amber is the former president of the Texas School for the Deaf Foundation Board and a director for the DeafBlind Service Center of Austin. She is dedicated to and an advocate for the Deaf. Amber received the Texas Society of Interpreters for the Deaf President’s Award in 2016. She was named Travis County Woman Lawyer of the Year for 2012. She has given numerous presentations and workshops on legal interpreting and Deaf rights. She has also been a guest on 48 Hours, America’s Most Wanted, Intersections Radio, and Legal Broadcast Network.

Ari-Asha Castalia

Ari-Asha Castalia, MA, LMFT, ATR, CI/CT completed the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Interpreter Training Program in 1989. She workded as an interpreter, presented nationeide, mentored scores of interprters, and coordinated interpreter services for two post-secondary institiutuions. Seeking a career change, Ari-Asha graduated from Notre Dame de Namur University in Art Therapy Psychology in 2010 . Licensed in 2014, she has a certificate in Trauma-Focused Art Therapy, and is certified as a Level 5 Focusing Oriented Art Therapy (FOAT) Practitioner. She loves to box, swim, adopt ferel cats, and take road trips to National Parks.

Arlene Narváez

Arlene Narváez (CI, CT) works as a trilingual (ASL/Spanish/English) interpreter in community and video settings with experience in both VRS and VRI. She has presented workshops at the regional and national level. In addition to working as an evaluator and interpreter trainer, she previously served as Co-Chair for the Southern California RID Trilingual Committee. She participated in the development of the NCIEC Interpreting Trilingual Task Force.

Bonnie Faye Gibson-Brydon

Bonnie Faye has been interpreting for 40 years, and as a public speaker for 25 years. Her agency, Pula Legal Interpreting (1997), specializes in tri-lingual, assignments in Mental Health environments. Owning an agency has opened new perspectives on ethics. Additionally, Bonnie si a Licensed Practitioner/Chaplin – (2007). Starting her career in education at El Camino College, (1978), and freelanced until sje joined the courts (1999) and added VRS (2004). Presently, Bonnie is the Team Trial interprter with a Deaf District Attorney (2012). Owning Pula and working with Mentor/Mentee groups has brought the urgency of ethics to the forefront. “We reallyc an shine professionally, depending on our own ethical practice!”

Caren Stringer

Upon graduting from Penn State with a degree in Communication Disorders, Caren continued her education in several differenct areas. She focused her studies on legal and medical training as well as Training and Development. Caren began her professional career in Texas where she received her first certification from TSID. Since then she has persevered within the profession and received several additional certifications including her SC:L, CI, CT, NAD IV, BEI IV, and Court. While she enjoys interpreting in a variety of settings, she specializes in medical and legal interpreting. In addition to interpreting, Caren enjoys teaching and training interpreters. Her teaching experience spans over a 15+ year period which includes American Sign Language (ASL) Interpreting classes, workshops and mentoring. Additionally, she has been called to mentor interpreters as well as testing and evaluating interpeters’ skill levels.

Deborah Martinez

Deborah Martinez, M.A. has been professionally interpreting since 1994. Her certifications include RID: CI/CT, NIC: Advanced, SC: L and Texas BEI: Master and CIC. She has presented on topics such as ethics, case conferencing, use of space, leagal interpreting, and consecutive interpreting. She looks forward to sharing her knowledge and experience with others.

Edwin Cancel Rios

Edwin Cancel is a tri-lingual trainer and Coordinator of Deaf and hard-of-hearing Services at Southern Oregon University. He holds a Master’s in Deaf Studies/Deaf Education from Lamar University. He has worked in VRS and various post-secondary environments in which Spanish influences the interpreting dynamics. As part of his professional contributions, Edwin served as a member of the National Task Force on Tri-lingual interpreting with the National Consortium of Interpreter Education Centers and has trained Deaf-Hearing Teams for Tri-lingual work. His specializations include Mental Health Interpreting, Trilingual VRS Interpreting, and Interpreting for the Performing Arts.

Emma Faye Rudkin

Emma is an internationally-known role model for the deaf and hard-of-hearing (HOH) community and founder to nonprofit organization, Aid the Silent. Emma was Miss San Antonio 2015 where she took individual awards for Overall Talent, Overall Interview and Miss Congeniality. She placed Top 10 in the Miss Texas Scholarship Pageant 2015 where she won the Inspiration Award, Quality of Life Award, Academic Interview Award and Spirit of Texas (Congeniality). Emma is deaf, sings and plays four instruments: piano, guitar, ukulele and the kick drum.

James Groh

Originally from Ohio, James Groh obtained his MBA from The University of Texas at San Antonio in 2012 and became a financial professional shortly after graduation. Since then he has worked with a broad range of individual and business clients providing investments, insurance, and financial planning services. James has his Financial Industry National Regulatory Industry (FINRA) Series 7 and 66 securities licenses, as well as his Texas Group 1 insurance license. He is currently licensed to conduct business in OH and TX.

James Virgilio

James Virgilio, M. Ed., CI, CT, SC:L, BEI Master, is celebrating 29 years in the interpreting field this year. He holds three degrees in Interpreting and certification from BEI and RID. James interprets in community and VRI settings, and has recently joined the faculty at Houston Community College in the Interpreter Training Program. He curerntly lives near the Johnson Space Center with hs family and his animals.

Jim Lawrence

Jim is nationally certified by RID and a Comprehensive Skills Certificate (CSC) and by the Texas Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing (TCDHH) holding a Level IV and Court Certification. Jim has more than 35 years of interpreting experience in a variety of settings including medical school, medical, substance abuse, legal, psychiatric, educational and graduate level interpreting. Jim also enjoys interperting music. He holds a degree in Theology.

Jose (Frank) Peralez, III

Frank is the current President-elect of TSID. He will assume the office of the President during this year’s Conference.

Joseph Featherstone

Joseph Featherstone is the GoReact Manager. Joseph is from Utah and has a Bachelors Degree in Recreation and Management and a Master in ASL/English Interpreting: Interpreter Pedagogy. He is also a CDI and has an ASLTA provisional certificate. Joseph has over 10 years of teaching experience and has taught at the VRS Interpreting Institute, BYU, SLCC and BYU-H. Joseph has a couple of pretty coll certificates: a cetified whitewater rafting guide and a certifed ski instructor. Joseph has presented at local ASLTA conferences and RID conferences; he also travelled to Austria and gave workshops to interpreting programs in Austria.

Kristen Lund

Kristin Lund has been interpreting for over 30+ years. Currently holding RID: CDI, BEI Court, V-i, and Master. She has been interpreting in legal field over 20+ years. She is involved in a variety of presentations for the community, including: Jail Protocols – things not mentioned, Legal Interpreting, Law Enforcement Interpreting, Interrogation Interpreting, Court interpreting, etc. She is excited to share the experience and knowledge.

Laura Kowalik

Laura is a graduate of Texas Christian University and The University of the Incarnate Word (M.A. degree). Laura retired from 30 years of teaching Deaf/Hard of Hearing children in 2009. While working in the public schools, Laura was honored with a “Teacher of the Year” award by the Texas Association of the Deaf. This will be Laura’s 8th uear working at San ANtonio College in the Department of American Sign Language and Interprter Training. Currently, Laura teaches an array of course-one of which is intra-lingual skills.

Lauri Metcalf

Lauri Metcalf is the chair of the American Sign Language, Interpreting, World Languages, ESL and International Studies at San Antonio College. Before coming to San Antonio, Lauri taught at the University of Denver, Metropolitan State University, Texas Woman’s University and DeKalb College. She was a member of the Texas Board for Evaluation of Interpreters from 1995 to 2007 and served as Chairperson for 11 years. Since 2009, Lauri has worked as a consultant with the National Center on Interpretation at the University of Arizona in the test development and the certification of interpreters. Lauri has served as the Coordinator and Lead Instructor for numerous Summer Institutes. She travels throughout Texas and other states presenting workshops and training for Interpreters.

Leyel Hudson

Leyel Hudson is a full-time professor and Discipline Chair of Interpreter Training at Lone Star College-CyFair near Houston. She enjoys interpreting in a multitude of settings but has a passion for interpreting in educational and religious settings. Leyel currently interprets for her church, for Sorenson Communications, and for a variety of community assignments. She is BEI Advanced and NIC certified. She presents workshops on a variety of topics and greatly enjoys teaching college classes.

Margaret (Peggy) Austin

Full time Staff Interpreter and mentor at San Antonio College. In 2008 she earned her Associates Degree in Applied Science – American Sign Language, San Antonio College (SAC). She is BEI state certified Level I in American Sign Language and Oral Certified: Comprehensive (OC:C), and RID national certified Oral Transliterator Certificate (OTC). She has RID OTC evaluator training. She has 21 years interpreting experience and teaches Introduction to Oral Interpreting to the SAC intern master classes. She has presented and co-presented Oral Interpreting Workshops throughout the state of Texas. In 2002 she attended San Antonio College – continuing education Emergency Medical Technician certified by Texas Department of Health – worked as part-time EMT through 2011.

Martin Vasquez

Martin Vasquez has a desire to support fellow interpreters accomplish their career goals. Having studied several languages, his own experience as a bilingual child has fostered his curiosity, giving him a unique perspective on language acquisition and interpreting. He began tutoring students while in high school and has continued to build on that experience. Martin holds National and Texas BEI certifications, as well as Court, Medical, and Trilingual specialties. He graduted magna cum laude from the University of Texas-Rio Grande Valley, earning a BA in Spanish Translation and Interpreting with a MInor in Spanish. He actively mentors in his community.

Mary Thumann

Mary is a practicing interpreter, interpreter educator, and Associate Professor at Gallaudet University in the Linguistics Department. She has worked for 30+ years in education, community, medical, and business settings. Mary taught in the Interpretation Department for 7 years and worked as a staff interpreter at Gallaudet for 8 years. She has presented workshops at the national, regional and local levels on topics including: Teaching Students to Identify and Use Depiction; Student’s Academic ASL Papers; Depiction and Proficiency in ASL; Understanding Depiction: Interpreting in Linguistics, Counseling and Education.

Melissa Rodgers

As the CEU Administrator for TSID, Melissa Rodgers has developed an in-depth knowledge of RID’s Certification Maintenance Program (CMP), which governs the re-certification process through acquiring CEUs. The Texas DHHS BEI plan for re-certification using CEUs is based on the same principles. Melissa has worked to identify different methods of finding continuing education activities that will match an individual interpreter’s learning style. She is also well versed at documenting and tracking CEUs to make it simple for professional interpreters to be aware of their CEU status at any point in the certification cycle. Melissa has a Bachelor of Business Administration from the University of Houston and had a 38-year career as a technical manager with AT&T before becoming a full time interpreter. She holds a BEI Basic Certificate and has worked predominately as an Independent Contractor in medical, community,and post-secondary settings since 2003. Her ultimate goal is to obtain the Texas DHHS Medical Interpreter Certificate.

Michelle Theiss

Michelle Theiss, MEd, NIC, BEI Advanced, BEI Court is an instructor in the Department of American Sign Language and Interpreter Training Program at San Antonio College. She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Sign Language Studies from Madonna University and her Masters of Education from the University of North Florida. She also works as a Community Interpreter, VRS interpreter and has 10 years’ experience as a staff interpreter for an agency. She proudly shares her knowledge and experience with her students, who she sees as the future of the interpreting profession.

Monica Parks

Monica Parks is the Manger of the North Houston center of Sorenson VRS. She has been with Sorenson since 2006. During her 18 years in interpreting she has done a variety of community assignments, but has a special penchant for working with those who are DeafBlind. No stranger to K-12 either, she loves working with kids. She currently is the Secretary for Houston Black Deaf Advocates. She has served as the Fund Raising Chair of RID Region IV; the Legislative Chair of Texas Society of Interpreters for the Deaf; two terms as the TSID Conference Sponsorship and Advertisers Chair; Greater Houston Interpreters for the Deaf Treasurer; Montgomery County Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf Vice President; and formerly a commissioner for the Mayor’s Commission for People with Disabilities in Houston, TX. She has worked with DeafBlind people since 2005, adults and children, in a variety of capacities.

Norma Iris Barrera-Vasquez

Norma Iris Vasquez loves meeting people and connecting with them. She developed a yearning to learn sign language while still a teenager. After accumulating a growing Deaf clientele, she decided to attend Del Mar College in Corpus Christi, Texas. While enrolled in the ITP, she learned ASL and was educated about the Deaf community and the Interpreting profession. After moving to Austin, Norma Iris took the plunge after many of her Deaf clients encouraged her to seek certification. She currently holds RID NIC and BEI certifications, including Court and Medical specialties. Norma Iris lives and works in South Texas.

Norma Villegas

Norma Villegas (CI, CT) received her Bachelor of Arts degree in Deaf Studies in 1997 from California State University, Northridge (CSUN) where she worked as an educational interpreter at its National Center on Deafness (NCOD). For 11 years she worked as a video interpreter, including relaying Trilingual (ASL/Spanish/English) calls from a variety of Spanish-influenced regions. She formerly served as Region V Representative for RID’s Video Interpreting Member Sections (VIMS).

Patricia Lessard

Patricia Lessard has been an interpreter trainer for the last 25 years. Since 2002, she has been working on demonstrating and marketing her interactive curriculum, Classifiers: A Closer Look, now in its third edition. She has produced a series of self-study CDs made for working interperters. Other publications include her contribution to :Sign Languge Interpreting and Interpreter Education (2005) Marschark, Peterson and Winston, editors, Oxford University Press, and “Education of the Deaf, Mediated by Interpreters” (2008), Proceedings publication from the Supporting Deaf People Conference, England. In November 2012, she was one of the keynote presenters at the MDASLTA Professional Development Conference. In 2014, she presented at CIT in Portland. Currently Patricia is an instructor in the interpreting program at Ohlone College and travels locally, nationally, and internationally to present workshops. She is currently the Treasurer for CIT.

Paula Gajewski-Mickelson

Paula Gajewski Mickelson, M.A., CI, CT, NIC: Advanced, has been in the interpreting field for 34 years. She holds degrees in Educational Interpreting, Human Services Administration/Human Resource Development, and a Master of Arts degree in Oraganizational Leadership with a graduate certificate in Alternative Dispute Resolution. Paula is the department chair and an assistant professor in the ASL & Interpreting Department at St. Catherine University in St. Paul, MN. Her experience includes coordinating and/or presenting numerous workshops for interpreters, on topics including ethics, and decision making., educational interpreting, conflict management, interpreting process, mentoring and professional development planning.

Randi Turner

Ms. Turner is the Accessibility and Disability Rights Coordinator of the Texas Governer’s Committee o People with Disabilities. Turner is a graduate of Texas State University. In addiiton, her work as an advocate for people who are deaf or hard of hearing earned her the honored Deaf Celebreation “LBJ Award.” The award signifies her “contributions toward equality and equal opportunities for people who are deaf as exemplified by the spirit of Lyndon B. Johnson and the Deaf President Now (DPN) movement at Gallaudet University.” She holds HHSC-DHHS Advanced interpreter Certification, and Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf CI and CT.

Rob Balaam

Rob Balaam is certified by and was trained as a coach at The Coaches Training Institute (CTI). He is also credentialed by International Coach Federation (ICF). He is co-owner of Partners in Communication LLC, an interpreting agency in Northern California. He has been an interpreter for over 20 years and holds his CI and CT from RID. He has held leadership positions on the board of directors of both the local Northern California RID and the national RID Board in several positions, including Vice President. Rob also holds a BS degree in Organizational Leadership from Capella University.

Ruth de Jesus

Ruth de Jesus is a certified Trilingual Advanced interpreter. She has an Associate of Arts Language and Cultural Studies in Spanish and an Associate of Arts in English. She has worked in various types of

Sabrina Dannheim

Sabrina Dannheim is the Director of Finance for Sunshine Cottage School since 1989. She holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Accounting, Houston Baptist University and a Masters’ degree in Educational Leadership, University of Texas at San Antonio. She has been a member of Alexander Graham Bell Association for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing and has served on the board of the Deaf and Hard of Hearing Section. She is currently the Finance Officer for its Texas Chapter and has been co-chair for many of its conferences. She has held Texas Commission for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing, Visible to Spoken Oral certification for 22 years. She has been actively involved with the Board for Evaluation of Interpreters since 1995. She was an adjunct faculty member for 6 years teaching Oral Interpreting classes for the Interpreter Training Program at San Antonio College and has presented at various workshops and conferences.

Sarah Brown

Born to hearing parents who both knew sign language, Sarah had exposure to the Deaf community from a young age. While working toward her Bachelor’s degree, Sarah obtained her first interpreter credential and began her private practice journey, which has continued for over 2 decades. Sarah and her husband of 20 years enjoy sharing with others the dynamics of Deaf and Hearing relationships. They have 5 children: 3 hearing teens and 2 Deaf sons who attend Texas Scool for the Deaf. Sarah enjoys the interactive process of workshops, learning from participants, infusing humor and “realness” into the content discussions.

Sean S.V. Homrig

Sean Homrig is a practicing attorney by day and a murder mystery host by night. When he’s not suing people or solving murders, he is often found podcasting about horror movies or Doctor Who. If you have an extra hour or two, ask him about his cats.

Sonja Smith

Sonja is an ASL/English interpreter working in private practice in Austin, Texas. She has been interpreting professionally for over 10 years. Sonja specializes in ASL to English interpretation, conference interpreting, and legal interpreting. She has a passion for improving the skills and talents of working interpreters to improve the communication access of Deaf consumers. Sonja obtained her BA from Baylor University in Deaf Education, and her MA from Western Oregon University in Interpreting Studies/Education. When she is not working, she can be found basking in the sun near a pool, or playing with her pugs.

Steve Hardy-Braz

Steven Hardy-Braz is anationally certified school phsychologist who specializes in working with D/HH students and is the co-coordinator of the NASP Interest Group regarding these students. He consults with several psychological test publishers on the development of more appropriate psychological instruments for use with D/HH people. He has consulted with researchers and test developers on the TONI-3, Hiskey-Nebraska II, Leiter International Performance Scale-Revised, Merrill Palmer Revised, WPPSI-III, WISC-IV, WISC-IV Integrated, WISC-V, WAIS-IV, WMS-IV, DAS-II, and other projects.

Todd Agan

Todd Agan, CI & CT, BEI IV, BEI Master, BEI Medical began interpreting professionally in 1994 and received his Bachelor’s Degree in ASL/English Interpretation from Western Oregon State College in 1996. Since that time, Todd has spent his time focusing on interpreting in medical settings, in particular interpreting for deaf medical professionals. Since 2001, Todd has been the designated interpreter for a deaf physician. Currently he is the lead DI at the University of Texas Health Science Center San Antonio, as well as an adjunct instructor in the Department of American Sign Language and Interpreter Training Program at San Antonio College.

Whitney Gissell

Whitney Gissell is a graduate of Texas A&M and a BEI Advanced level certified American Sign Language interpreter. As the first staff American Sign Language Interpreter at the world renowned MD Anderson Cancer Center in the Texas Medical Center, Whitney acquired deep familiarity with the intricacies and challenges of medical interpreting. Her degrees in Psychology and Neuroscience laid the foundation of knowledge upon which she built a successful career interpreting in a variety of medical specialties. Interpreting has ignited in her a passion for the advancement of the profession. She has served on the Houston Deaf Advisory Council under the Mayor’s Office for People with Disabilities, and currently holds office as Secretary of the Greater Houston Interpreters for the Deaf. Whitney’s true passion is developing and facilitating training opportunities for interpreters of spoken and signed languages. She has taught a number of workshops including a 40-hour Intensive Medical Interpreter course, and has spoken at several professional events.