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By Beth Guarino
 After last
year’s ill-fated appointment and subsequent dismissal of Jane Fernandes as
the president of Gallaudet University in Washington, D.C., Robert Davila has
been appointed as the new interim president of the university.
Davila,
retired from the Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), “brings a wealth
of experience and knowledge to Gallaudet at a time when the university faces
many opportunities as well as many challenges,” said Pamela Holmes, chair
of the university’s board of trustees. “Gallaudet is extremely
fortunate to have him as interim president.”
“It is an
honor and a privilege to come home and to have an opportunity to serve the
community at Gallaudet University,” said Davila in his first message to
the student body. “Together we will find innovative solutions and make the
hard choices that will assist our university to achieve
greatness.”
When Fernandes became president of the university last year, there
were many student protests on campus, resulting in injuries and property
damage. It was thought by some to be the result of a culture clash within the
deaf community. In his acceptance speech, Davila promised to form focus groups
to study issues at the university.
Davila will hold the position of interim
president for at least six months, but for no more than two years. He will act
as a replacement for I. King Jordan, Gallaudet’s first deaf president who
recently stepped down after 19 years. The board of trustees plans to conduct a
search for a permanent president for the university
Davila, who
assumed his duties at Gallaudet at the beginning of this year, holds a PhD in
educational technology from Syracuse University. He was the first deaf CEO of
the National Technical Institute for the Deaf, a unit of RIT.
He is the
first deaf person to become assistant secretary for the Office of Special
Education and Rehabilitative Services in the Department of Education, appointed
to this office by President George H.W. Bush.
Davila is
an alumnus of Gallaudet, having graduated from the school in 1953, and also
worked there from 1972 to 1989. He was also a member of the Department of
Education faculty of the university, acting dean of the Model Secondary School
for the Deaf, director of the Kendall School and vice president of the
university’s pre-college programs.
He was elected to the Hall of Fame for Persons
with Disabilities and chosen for the Hunter College Alumni Hall of Fame. At the
National Advisory Group (NAG) dinner held in 2003, NAG President Paul Ogden
announced the establishment of the Robert R. and Donna E. Davila Endowed
Scholarship Fund.
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