WASHINGTON, DC — Gallaudet University will host an event to honor Robert Panara’s legacy which includes an unveiling of a new USPS Forever stamp that displays his image. The event will be held in the Museum room of Gallaudet University Chapel Hall, 800 Florida Ave NE, Washington, DC 20002 at 12:30 p.m. Museum Specialist Meredith Peruzzi and Gallaudet faculty member Dr. H-Dirksen Bauman, ASL & Deaf Studies Department, will present an overview of Panara’s legacy. Also on the agenda is Don Padden, a former classmate and lifetime friend of Panara.

Panara, a 1945 graduate of Gallaudet College (now University) returned to Gallaudet in 1948 after becoming the first deaf person to obtain a master’s degree in English at New York University. There he became widely admired for his dynamism, innovative techniques and passion for poetry and English literature. When the Gallaudet Theatre was established, he helped translate a number of plays into sign language, including Oedipus Rex, Hamlet and Othello.

Robert Panara, an influential teacher, poet and pioneer in the field of deaf studies, was immortalized as the 16th inductee into the U.S. Postal Service’s Distinguished American stamp series on a Forever stamp. The 2-ounce stamp features a photograph of Panara taken in 2009 by Mark Benjamin, official NTID photographer. Panara is shown signing the word “respect.” Ethel Kessler of Bethesda, MD, was the art director. This Forever stamp will always be equal in value to the current First-Class Mail 2-ounce price. The current price is 70-cents

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