Moments of Truth: Robert R. Davila: The Story of a Deaf Leader

Chapter 16. The NTID Years

167 Chapter 16 The NTID Years Bob was formally installed into the office of vice president for RIT and director of NTID during a ceremony in the college’s Robert F. Panara Theatre in October 1996. Among the guests on stage that day was Gallaudet University President I. King Jordan. Poking fun at the rivalry between the two colleges, Jordan began by quipping that he was proud to say that Bob was a Gallaudet boy. Regardless of how people remembered Bob at Gallaudet, and the fact that he had recently received an honorary doctorate there, he was now an “NTID boy.” For more than a century, the American deaf community had been calling for a national technical college in order to provide deaf people with a broader range of opportunities than the liberal arts programs that Gallaudet had been offering with such excellence. NTID was established at RIT for the purpose of providing a residential facility for the postsecondary education of individuals who are deaf in order to prepare them for successful employment. In June 1965, President Lyndon Baines Johnson signed the NTID Act in the White House Rose Garden. The National Association of the Deaf was “immeasurably grateful and appreciative to Congress for its farsightedness and humanitarian awareness of the needs of the deaf, as evidenced by the law making NTID a reality instead of the dream it was.”1 The signing of the NTID Act was followed by a competitive bid among eight of the nation’s top universities. RIT was the only institution that met all of the specific NTID Act requirements. Its competence in postsecondary technical education was widely recognized by the nation’s employers. Furthermore, RIT’s established reputation would considerably enhance the chances of employment for its deaf graduates. 168 Moments of Truth Throughout its 40 years at RIT, the college of NTID has offered a variety of technical programs in business, engineering, science, and visual communications . Deaf students may also participate in approximately 200 educational programs available through RIT, providing them access to advanced technological courses of study at the undergraduate and graduate degree levels . NTID also offers a master’s degree program to train secondary education teachers. In addition, NTID conducts applied research and offers training workshops and seminars. Bob was at the pinnacle of his profession in 1996 with this post at NTID, one of the two most visible jobs in the field of U.S. postsecondary education of deaf students, the other being president of Gallaudet University. At the installation in October, he felt that he could accomplish good things. He had held the highest office in every major professional organization for educators of deaf students in the U.S. and now served in the highest post at NTID. The 63-year-old RIT vice president had high praise for NTID: The outstanding success and achievement of [its] graduates over the past 25 years attest to the excellence of its services, and I am honored to be asked to assume leadership at a time when a technical education has become so critically important.2 President Simone viewed his hiring of Bob as “one of the very best personnel appointments I have ever had the privilege of making.”3 He had first met Bob through the Fanwood headmaster’s membership on the NTID National Advisory Group, finding him “quiet and respectful, very low key.” There was a great deal of mutual trust between the two and Simone relied tremendously on Bob’s insights into the deaf community. He found Bob able to negotiate with both the deaf and hearing worlds in ways he had never seen before. “He is a seamless ambassador in both worlds,” the president of RIT summarized.4 Simone and Bob met almost weekly. Bob was very organized, always showing up for meetings with an agenda to cover. The president found himself agreeing with Bob on most decisions. “His philosophy, which I share, is to give a little more than you take without compromising your principles,” Simone explained, adding, “He tries hard to be fair.”5 Bob, of course, did not know the meaning of “slowing down” and viewed his new post as a great challenge. With his longstanding interest in technology, the notion of leading a technological college into the new millennium was a thrilling prospect. He had impressive credentials with which Chapter 16—The NTID Years 169 to maintain and enhance NTID’s vitality...