The Friends of OSD nonprofit board currently consists of 7 members and we are actively recruiting additional directors. Get Involved for more information about serving on the Friends of OSD Board.

Monthly Board meetings are usually held at OSD in the NTID Room, Administration/Library Building. Meeting time and day are subject to change in order to accommodate Board members’ schedules. Please check the OSD calendar and the FOSD Home Page/Events for specifics each month. Board meetings are open to the public.

Friend of OSD Board of Directors – 2019

 

Roshani Shay, President

Roshani Shay Curtis, Ph.D., studied Psychology and Political Science at Willamette University from 1960-63. She earned her B.A.(1968), M.A.(1972) and Ph.D.(1974) in Political Science from the University of Oregon. Roshani was a professor of Political Science at Western Oregon University from 1979-2003, where she was named both Teacher of the Year (1988) and Advisor of the Year (1996). Roshani also raised five children. Her youngest and only biological child (born in 1964), Mark Sather, attended OSD for 16 years. Mark is deaf and autistic and now lives a full life in a home in Keizer and as an employee of Garten Services, Inc. Roshani served on the Board of Directors for Garten Services, Inc. from 1989 to 2003 and as its President for several years. In 1995 Roshani was named Oregon’s Board Member of the Year by the Oregon Rehabilitation Association and in 1997 she received an award for outstanding service to the community from the Marion County Health Advisory Board. Roshani has appeared in several international and national editions of Who’s Who. She also served on the Board of Directors for the Connections Program, the Bridges Program and she helped to create, as well as served as an officer for, Independent Opportunities Unlimited, Inc., all of which serve the deaf community.

Bill Moncsko, Treasurer

Bill was awarded a BA from the University of Vermont and an MS in Counseling from Western Oregon University. He completed a Masters Internship at the National Technical Institute For The Deaf in Rochester, New York. Bill has worked as a counselor in a Special Service Project at WOU serving deaf and hard of hearing college students, and as a middle and high school counselor at the Oregon School For The Deaf. While at OSD, Bill has served on various committees, including OSD’s Site Council, written grants establishing Professional-Technical and Service-Learning programs, and given presentations on Transition of Deaf and Hard of Hearing students at deaf education conferences. Since retirement from “active duty,” Bill has continued to serve OSD on a temporary basis as a Transition Counselor, substitute teacher and now as an FOSD board member.

Linda Couoh, Director

Linda Couoh is a former 13-year employee of Oregon School for the Deaf where she served on the Search Committee for the Director of Oregon School for the Deaf and on the Planning Committee for the Future of Oregon School for the Deaf.  She is the former executive secretary to the Oregon State Superintendent of Schools, a position from which she was promoted to Personnel Director of the Oregon Department of Education.  Now retired, Linda is a charter board member and current director of Friends of OSD.  Other nonprofit experience includes Independent Opportunities Unlimited and Northwest Human Services (with programs serving individuals who are deaf or hearingimpaired), Willamette Valley Hospice, and A Promise of Health. 

Dr. Elisa M. Maroney, Secretary

Elisa Maroney has a Ph.D. in Linguistics from the University of New Mexico. She maintains ASLTA Qualified Certification, National Interpreter Certificate (NIC), Ed:K-12 certification, and Certificates of Interpretation (CI) and Transliteration (CT) from the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf. Dr. Maroney has been teaching at Western Oregon University since 1993. Currently, she is coordinating the MA in Interpreting Studies program and is the Project Director for Project Hive, a grant initiative supported by the Office of Special Education Programs that prepares educational interpreters to better serve deaf and hard of hearing children in pre-K through 12 educational programs. She was selected to be one of thirteen Commissioners on the Commission on Collegiate Interpreter Education, joining the first accrediting body for interpreter education programs and the first group of Commissioners in 2006. She served the Commission as President from June 2011 to December 2013 followed by a 2-year term as past president. She spent the 2015-2016 year on sabbatical leave teaching at the University of Education, Winneba, Ghana. She returns to Ghana annually to co-facilitate professional development opportunities for Ghanaian interpreters and educators of deaf and hard of hearing .

Lyra Behnke, Director

Lyra is a native of the Pacific Northwest.  She holds a Bachelor’s degree from Western Oregon University in ASL Studies with a minor in Business (2010) and a Master’s degree in Linguistics from Gallaudet University, with a focus in Sign Language Linguistics (2012). After graduating from Gallaudet, she worked in the K-12 setting as a ASL Specialist at the Washington School for the Deaf where she worked with students and taught ASL as a first language. Her background as an immersed member of the Deaf community and drawing from her experiences as a Deaf individual contributes to her passion for language learning, especially with ASL. Lyra joined Western Oregon University as faculty in 2014, teaching in the same BA program she graduated from! She teaches courses focusing mostly on ASL Linguistics, First and Second Language Acquisition, and ASL core courses (ASL 1-9 and other electives).

Judy Lorenzen, Vice-President

Judy Lorenzen graduated from Willamette University with a BA in English Literature after which she taught English at North Salem High School and Sunset High School. She then went to Lewis and Clark where she received an MA in Special Ed, Hearing Impaired. Ms. Lorenzen began teaching Language Arts at the Oregon School for the Deaf in 1972. She taught in both the Middle and High School Departments, ultimately becoming High School Supervising Teacher, a position she held until her retirement in 2004. During her career, Ms. Lorenzen was also Adjunct Professor at both Lewis and Clark and Western Oregon University, teaching Methods of Teaching Reading in their teacher training programs.

Damara Goff Paris, Director

Dr. Damara Goff Paris completed a doctorate in Deaf Education and Deaf Studies from Lamar University in Beaumont, TX, and a Masters degree in Rehabilitation Counseling with the Deaf at Western Oregon University in Monmouth, Oregon, She is a certified rehabilitation counselor (CRC), aLicensed Professional Counselor (LPC) in Kansas, and a nationally certified counselor (NCC). She began her career as the director and lead counselor of the Connection Program, a mental health facility for individuals who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing (DHH) and have co-occurring disorders. Dr. Paris’ administrative, counseling, teaching and research experience has provided her with career opportunities in the private, non-profit, state and university fields. These positions have included directing a state-wide telecommunications assistance program, overseeing a national marketing team with Sprint, and directing a doctoral program in Deaf Studies and Deaf Education. Her research interests are diverse and include indigenous, women’s and disability studies, particularly the intersectionality of all three minorities. Dr. Paris has participated in or established research projects about Tribal Vocational Rehabilitation (TR), issues of the Deaf Professoriate, and anxiety of counselors-in-training. A qualitative researcher, she has published several articles regarding cross-cultural implications of being Native American and Deaf. Dr. Paris has also published six books and anticipates a Gallaudet University Press (GUP) book to be published in 2020 on social justice issues around deaf individuals in the criminal justice system. Dr. Paris also serves as the President-Elect of ADARA. She is currently an associate professor and co-coordinator of the Clinical Counseling master’s program at Emporia State University, teaching primarily online. A master reviewer for Quality Matters, Dr. Paris also has a graduate level certificate in eLearning and Online Teaching. She currently resides in Salem, Oregon.

 

Friends of OSD Advisory Council

In 2014, FOSD created an Advisory Council of 13 members to lend support and advice to the Board of Directors. Members of the Advisory Council make the following commitments:

• Lend their names to and endorse the work of FOSD
• Lend their expertise to advise FOSD when needed
• Participate in projects, events and activities according to their interests and abilities
• Receive FOSD’s annual report and provide advice, guidance and suggestions for the good of the organization

The FOSD Advisory Council held its first joint meeting with the Board of Directors on April 17, 2014 and most recently met on April 24, 2016. If you are interested in joining the Advisory Council, please contact FOSD.

Advisory Council Members – 2017

 

Meredith Brodsky

Teacher at OSD from 1970-73, worked at the Oregon Mental Health Division, Central School District, and is a retired Professor of Special Education at Western Oregon University.

 

Jerry Curtis

Retired Portland-Area Businessman

 

 

Tom Pfaff

Independence insurance agent and parent of former OSD student

 

 

Larry Austin

Jill Bailey

Mary Bunn

Retired Special Education Specialist at Oregon Dept. of Education and  former teacher at OSD.

Verne Duncan

Former Oregon Superintendent of Public Instruction.

Chad Ludwig

Former President of the Oregon Association of the Deaf.

Kevin Marshall

Employee of Garten Services, Inc.

Pam Rimmer

Retired head of psychological services and testing at OSD

Logan Poyner

Current President of the Oregon Association of the Deaf.

John Freeburg

Past President and Founder of FOSD.

Tim Rocak

CEO of Garten Services, Inc.