Alma Bournazian

Alma Bournazian is a senior academic specialist in the American Sign Language (ASL) Program at Northeastern University. Ms. Bournazian develops the curriculum for and teaches all levels of ASL, as well as several Deaf Studies courses. In addition, she serves as placement evaluator for transfer students or freshman students with sign experience. She began teaching at Northeastern University as adjunct faculty in 1984 and became a permanent addition to the ASL Program in 1992. In 2002, Ms. Bournazian became the first Deaf person in the state of Massachusetts to hold Professional Certification through the national American Sign Language Teachers Association (ASLTA). She has lectured extensively outside of Northeastern University on a wide variety of Deaf Culture, Deaf community and American Sign Language related topics for ASLTA. In addition to teaching, Ms. Bournazian is a freelance Deaf interpreter who holds Certified Deaf Interpreter (CDI) certification through the national Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID). Ms. Bournazian was granted the American Council Teacher Foreign Language (ACTFL) Oral Proficiency Interview (OPI) certification in July 2016.