Clarke
Schools Bid Goodbye to Longtime Educator
 Northampton,
Mass.–A retirement
celebration on Friday, June 11, at 6 p.m. at the Clarion
Hotel will honor the achievements of Alan L. Marvelli, professor
of education and child study and director of the Clarke Schools
for Hearing and Speech Graduate Program
in Teacher Education, who will retire after 40 years as an
educator and advocate for children who are deaf and hard
of hearing. Proceeds from the event will benefit the Alan
L. Marvelli M.E.D Fellowship, which provides financial support
for students pursuing a Master of Education of the Deaf at
Smith/Clarke.
Marvelli has been a pioneer
in the field of oral deaf education for more than 46 years.
He began his work with the deaf in 1964 as a student in the
Graduate Program in Teacher Education, where, just eight
years later, he would go on to serve as director.
Faculty
and staff at Clarke describe him as a gifted teacher and
mentor. Jan Gatty, director of child and family services
at Clarke, describes Marvelli as “a
perfect administrator: a community-oriented leader who loves
teachers, schools and families.” Called “Poppa Marvelli” by
his students, his fatherly guidance and personal approach
has shaped the education of numerous teachers of the deaf
across the country. Under his management, the program has
grown to one of the largest and most respected in the United
States. More than 1,500 teachers have trained through the
program—impacting the lives of thousands of children
who are deaf and hard of hearing in all 50 states and 34
countries.
In addition to his work at Clarke
and Smith, Marvelli has been involved in numerous projects
to provide education and training to teachers nationwide.
In 2003, he established a collaborative program with the
Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
to provide training for teachers on cochlear implants, devices
that allow for the perception of sound sensation by deaf
individuals.
An enthusiastic supporter of
technology in the classroom, Marvelli also led the efforts
of two large Preparing Tomorrow’s
Teachers To Use Technology (PT3) Grants specifically for
educating the deaf.
“Alan has been a champion for oral deaf teacher education for decades,” said
Clarke Schools President Bill Corwin. “Under his leadership,
the Smith/Clarke program has evolved in response to tremendous
changes in the field. Because of his tireless commitment,
hundreds of Smith/Clarke graduates have gone on to help deaf
and hard-of-hearing children all over the world reach their
full potential.”
The celebration will include
a reception followed by dinner. .
provide children
who are deaf and hard of hearing with the listening, learning
and spoken language skills they need to succeed. In the
Graduate Program in Teacher Education, which was founded
in 1962 through a partnership between Smith College and
Clarke Schools, students learn under
the guidance of experienced teachers of the deaf at the
Clarke School campus in Northampton. Thanks to a generous,
private foundation grant, Smith College is able to award
full-tuition scholarships to all participants in this program.
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