Jane K. Fernandes, Ph.D., received a B.A. in French and comparative literature from Trinity College in Hartford, CT. She served as captain of the school’s NCAA Division III fencing team in her senior year. She then studied for her M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Iowa, where she began learning American Sign Language (ASL). The recipient of a scholarship for graduate studies from the Alexander Graham Bell Association while at Iowa, Dr. Jane K. Fernandes also received the Kappa Kappa Gamma, Mallory Disability, and Philip G. Hubbard Human Rights Awards, among several other forms of recognition. After earning her doctorate, Dr. Jane K. Fernandes directed the ASL Programs at Northeastern University before serving as the founding coordinator of the University of Hawaii’s Sign Language/English Interpreter Education Program. As Provost and Vice Chancellor for Academic Affairs at the University of North Carolina Asheville, she served on the Board of Directors of the Center for Diversity Education. Moreover, Dr. Fernandes served on the Board of Directors of the Martin Luther King, Jr., Association of Asheville and Buncombe County, on behalf of which she administered a scholarship for high school students post-secondary studies at colleges and universities of their choice.