Carol Padden
Carol Padden, Dean of the School of Social Sciences and Sanford I. Berman Chair in Language and Human Communication at UC San Diego. A 2010 winner of the MacArthur “Genius Grant” Fellowship, Padden’s areas of research include language evolution, sign language structure, and cultural life in deaf communities. She is the author or co-author of five books and numerous highly cited articles on American Sign Language as well as on new and emerging sign languages around the world. Padden’s numerous academic honors include fellowship in the Linguistic Society of America and the American Academy for the Advancement of Science. Padden has been on the UC San Diego faculty in the Department of Communication since 1983, when she earned her Ph.D. from the university’s Department of Linguistics.