Peter C. Hauser

Emilio Ferreiro 21.9.26
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Peter C. Hauser is a Deaf American clinical neuropsychologist and research professor at the National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID), a college of Rochester Institute of Technology (RIT), where he directs NTID's Research Center on Culture and Language.

Quick Facts

Early life and education

Hauser was profoundly deafened at age five[5]. He earned an associate's degree in behavioral sciences from Northwestern Connecticut Community College, followed by bachelor's degrees in psychology and philosophy from Central Connecticut State University in 1994[2][5].

He went on to Gallaudet University, where he earned a master's degree in linguistics (1998), a master's degree in psychology (1999), and a doctorate in clinical psychology (2000). He subsequently completed a postdoctoral fellowship in clinical neuropsychology in the departments of neurology and psychiatry at the University of Rochester[2][5].

Academic career

Hauser joined the faculty of Rochester Institute of Technology in 2002, initially teaching full-time in RIT's Department of Psychology, where he founded the Deaf Studies Laboratory (DSL)[2][5]. In 2006, he joined the research faculty of NTID, where he began studying the cultural, biological, and linguistic dimensions of Deaf and hard-of-hearing life[2]. At NTID, he has held positions including Associate Professor in the Department of Research and Teacher Education and, later, Professor in the Department of ASL and Interpreting Education[1][4]. In May 2021, he was named NTID's assistant dean of research mentoring[6].

In 2016, Hauser founded NTID's Center on Cognition and Language (later reorganized as the Research Center on Culture and Language), which he has described as the only center of its kind in the world led by a Deaf director and staffed primarily by Deaf researchers. Hauser has framed the center's guiding research ethic as "nothing about us, without us," emphasizing community involvement in the design of research projects affecting Deaf people[6].

Hauser also serves as Science Mentorship Leader for the National Science Foundation's Science of Learning Center on Visual Language and Visual Learning (VL2) at Gallaudet University, and he directs Rochester's NIH-funded "Bridges to the Doctorate" program, which recruits and trains Deaf scholars pursuing doctoral degrees in the biomedical and behavioral sciences[4][5].

Research

Hauser's research addresses the cognitive, linguistic, and psychosocial dimensions of the Deaf experience, and he has been described as an expert on the long-term impact of early language acquisition on Deaf individuals' development[3][8]. His work has covered topics including visual attention and cognition in Deaf people, sign language assessment and proficiency testing, executive function in Deaf college students, literacy and reading development among Deaf bilinguals, and, more recently, Deaf health literacy and access to health information[1][3].

Hauser has contributed to the theoretical framework of "Deaf Gain," which reframes deafness not as a deficit but as a source of distinctive cognitive, linguistic, and cultural benefits[4][5]. He has also written on "audism"—discrimination based on hearing ability or spoken-language proficiency—and on "linguisticism," presenting research at venues such as TEDxGallaudet on how these forms of oppression affect Deaf people's psychological development[8][10]. He has developed and validated instruments for assessing American Sign Language proficiency, including the American Sign Language Comprehension Test and the American Sign Language Sentence Reproduction Test, used by researchers to evaluate sign language competence[1][3].

Recognition and honors

Hauser has received RIT's Eisenhart Award for Excellence in Teaching, the Exemplary myCourses Teaching Award for innovative use of online educational technology, and the Isaac L. Jordan, Sr. Pluralism Award for promoting diversity and inclusion. In 2020, Deaf Life magazine named him Person of the Year in recognition of his contributions to the lives of Deaf and hard-of-hearing people. Since February 2024, he has served a term on the National Science Foundation's Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering (CEOSE)[2][5].

Timeline

1994

Bachelor's degrees completed

Earns BA degrees in psychology and philosophy from Central Connecticut State University.

1998

Master's in linguistics

Earns an MA in linguistics from Gallaudet University.

1999

Master's in psychology

Earns an MA in psychology from Gallaudet University.

2000

Doctorate in clinical psychology

Completes a Ph.D. in clinical psychology at Gallaudet University, later undertaking a postdoctoral fellowship in clinical neuropsychology at the University of Rochester.

2002

Joins RIT; founds Deaf Studies Laboratory

Joins the faculty of Rochester Institute of Technology, teaching in the Department of Psychology, and founds the Deaf Studies Laboratory (DSL).

2016

Founds Center on Cognition and Language

Founds NTID's Center on Cognition and Language (later reorganized as the Research Center on Culture and Language), the only center of its kind led by a Deaf director.

2020

Named Deaf Life Person of the Year

Deaf Life magazine names Hauser its Person of the Year for his contributions to the lives of Deaf and hard-of-hearing people.

Videos

References

  1. Rochester Institute of Technology. (n.d.). Peter Hauser: Faculty directory profile. RIT. https://www.rit.edu/directory/pchgss-peter-hauser
  2. National Science Foundation. (2024, January 18; updated 2025, July 1). Dr. Peter Hauser: Committee on Equal Opportunities in Science and Engineering. NSF. https://www.nsf.gov/od/oia/ceose/dr-peter-hauser
  3. Google Scholar. (n.d.). Peter C. Hauser: Citation profile. https://scholar.google.com/citations?user=saHDJ50AAAAJ
  4. TEDxGallaudet. (n.d.). Effects of linguisticism and audism on the developing deaf person [Video description]. Amara. https://amara.org/videos/MDrphi6nVoN5/info/effects-of-linguisticism-and-audism-on-the-developing-deaf-person-peter-hauser-tedxgallaudet
  5. Deaf People of the Month. (2014). Peter Hauser: Science mentor. deafpeople.com. https://www.deafpeople.com/dp_of_month/Hauser.html
  6. Rochester Institute of Technology. (2020, February 14). Studying the role of cultural and linguistic diversity. RIT News. https://www.rit.edu/news/studying-role-cultural-and-linguistic-diversity
  7. Rochester Institute of Technology. (n.d.). Faculty Teaching and Scholarship Awards, AY 2025–2026. RIT/NTID. https://www.rit.edu/ntid/president/academic-affairs/faculty-ts-awards
  8. Rochester Institute of Technology. (n.d.). NTID professor addresses United Nations. RIT/NTID News. https://www.rit.edu/ntid/space/news/ntid-professor-addresses-united-nations
  9. Centro de Normalización Lingüística de la Lengua de Signos Española (CNLSE). (n.d.). Deaf eyes: Visual learning and Deaf gain [Resource listing]. https://cnlse.es/es/recursos/biblioteca/deaf-eyes-visual-learning-and-deaf-gain
  10. Nashville Public Library. (2021, March 17). Psychological impact of audism [Event listing]. Tennessee Deaf Library. https://tndeaflibrary.nashville.gov/event/psychological-impact-of-audism-03-17-2021
Emilio Ferreiro

Posted by Emilio Ferreiro

E-learning Specialist | PhD student in Health Sciences | Deaf activist | Independent Blogger at Unusualverse

 
       

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