Deaf-education program founder retiring

(THOUSAND OAKS, Calif. — May 26, 2022) The founding director of California Lutheran University’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program for prospective teachers is retiring with emeritus status on Tuesday.

Thousand Oaks resident Maura Martindale, an associate professor in the Graduate School of Education’s Department of Learning and Teaching, guided the unique program as it prepared more than 100 people to teach the increasing number of students with hearing loss.

Although she is retiring, Martindale will continue to instruct prospective teachers and therapists through a just-released textbook. She and Sylvia Rotfleisch, who teaches part time at Cal Lutheran, wrote “Listening and Spoken Language Therapy for Children with Hearing Loss: A Practical Auditory-Based Guide.”

Martindale began teaching part time at Cal Lutheran in 2005. With grant funding, she developed the university’s two-year, part-time program to prepare teachers to work with the growing number of children with cochlear implants and digital hearing aids whose families request spoken-language programs in general education settings. Candidates can earn a preliminary education specialist credential and a master’s degree in education of the deaf and hard of hearing.

She launched the program at the university’s Woodland Hills Center in 2007 and became a full-time faculty member. Cal Lutheran’s program is the only one in California focused on spoken language that prepares teachers to work with students older than 6. 

In 2011, Martindale received a $1.2 million grant for the program from the U.S. Department of Education to address the shortage of teachers prepared to work with those who are deaf and hard of hearing. The grant provided aid for prospective teachers and helped the university work to reduce the large achievement gap between hearing students and those with hearing loss, especially those from Latino families.

Martindale also served as chair of the Department of Learning and Teaching and as a member of multiple university committees. In 2014, she received the Graduate School of Education’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Teaching.

She began her career teaching general education students in public schools before teaching and leading programs at the John Tracy Center Clinic for Deaf and Hard of Hearing Children for more than two decades. Martindale has a bachelor’s degree in history and elementary education from Annhurst College, a master’s in education of the deaf from Smith College and a doctorate in educational leadership from the University of Southern California.