05/19/2026
[Watch this message in ASL at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W6x87qOjDIo.]
Greetings, GUAA Life Members!
The Gallaudet University Alumni Association Board of Directors held its spring meeting April 10-12 in conjunction with the annual Charter Day Awards Brunch. Our meeting was wonderfully informative and productive. Here are some of the highlights.
We welcomed Carlene Thumann-Prezioso, ’80 & G-’84, as our new East Region representative. Carlene has hit the ground running, joining our Communications and Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion committees. She will be the keynote presenter at the Connecticut Chapter spring brunch on April 26, and is working with alumni in other states to reactivate and form new chapters. Welcome, Carlene!
The Board received presentations on Friday morning from Gallaudet University provost Dr. Khadijat Rashid, ’90; Executive Director of Architecture and Campus Planning Richard Dougherty; and Executive Director of Institutional Advancement Dr. Allison Polk, ’06. Meeting with university officials, as we do during every Board meeting, helps us keep abreast of campus goings-on.
On Friday and Saturday afternoons, we had several work groups led by our Board committees and our regional representatives. In particular:
Our Governance Committee, led by Thelma Schroeder, ’78 & G-’80, Home Region representative, proposed several bylaws amendments. These require membership approval. We will send you an informational email message soon and ask for your vote on each proposed amendment. Watch for it!
[NOTE: The information email message about bylaws amendment was sent to all GUAA Life Members on May 18.]
The Governance Committee continues to refine our Board manual, formalizing past practices and customs and creating new policies and procedures. This will guide us and future Boards.
Our Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee, co-chaired by Marcia Zisman, ’80, Secretary, and Cookie Brand, ’02 & G-’07, Member at Large, welcomed Board members Carlene Thumann-Prezioso and Melissa Elmira Yingst, ’00, Member at Large, as well as six external subject matter experts who will support us in developing a mission statement, guidelines, training, and a membership survey. We are gratified by the high level of interest in this work.
Our Finance Committee, chaired by Scott Recht, ’79 & G-’81, Treasurer, reviewed our overall fiscal picture, and proposed several budget revisions to better align with economic realities.
Our Communications Committee welcomed Melissa Elmira Yingst as its new chair, and Carlene Thumann-Prezioso and Cookie Brand as new members. They also expressed their appreciation to Daniel Girard, G-’05, West Region representative, for his leadership this past year. Daniel continues to serve on the committee. Melissa presented a new communications plan, and the committee is hard at work on a calendar and metrics. You will see more social media posts shortly. Be sure to follow us on Facebook and Instagram at .
Our Awards and Recognition Committee, chaired by Thelma Schroeder, continued to refine and document its selection processes.
Our four regional representatives – Thelma Schroeder; Carlene Thumann-Prezioso; Bregitt Endicott, ’10 & G-’14, Middle Region representative; and Daniel Girard – discussed our chapter structure at length. Chapters are our lifeblood, so we want to support existing chapters, reactivate dormant chapters, and form new ones in new Deaf community population centers, both in the United States and internationally. We are also exploring the concept of affinity groups – that is, groups based on common interests rather than geography.
During our business meeting on Sunday, April 12, we observed a moment of silence in memory of departed alumni; received reports from all ten Board members and our Executive Director, Rebecca Rydstrom, ’02; and passed a total of 23 motions, many of them deriving from the Friday and Saturday work groups. Several of these motions were resolutions; for example, we congratulated Gallaudet University President Roberta J. Cordano on ten years of service. We also expressed our appreciation to two departing members of the Clerc Cultural Committee for their many years of service, and to the current CCC members for their outstanding work organizing the Charter Day Awards Brunch on April 11. Daniel Girard has been appointed as liaison to CCC to strengthen our relationship with this vital committee.
Our President, Robert Weinstock, ’77 & G-’83, and Vice President, Jose Ovidio Velasquez, AA-’89 & ’04, kept things moving throughout the weekend, with wonderful support from Executive Director Rebecca Rydstrom. We formally recognized Rebecca and the staff of the Office of Alumni Relations for their contributions to the success of our meeting.
As you will see in our social media posts, President Cordano hosted a reception on Friday evening at the Edward Miner Gallaudet Residence, also known as House One, for the Board and the Charter Day honorees. Charter Day itself was stupendous; we gave five awards to ten people, nine of whom were in attendance. Our Communications Committee conducted interviews with all ten honorees, and will share them shortly, along with vignettes from the event itself.
The GUAA Board will meet again October 18-19 in conjunction with Homecoming. Between now and then, we will continue to work on your behalf.
We thank you, our members, for your continued support. We also hope to see you at Gallaudet’s Commencement on May 15, the NAD conference June 30-July 5 in San Francisco, and chapter gatherings.
Hail to Gallaudet, our alma mater!
Video Transcript: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1xHUbQ7m6HhizBpleMD9Bx--VqDwdrSBRYpOHp7uF6Mg/edit?usp=sharing
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