Graduate student receives fellowship from the American Association of University Women
Katoria Carter, a University of North Florida graduate student currently enrolled in the Master of Science in ASL/English Interpreting program, has recently been awarded a 2021-22 fellowship from the American Association of University Women (AAUW). Recipients of this award are dedicated to pursuing academic work and leading innovative community projects to empower women and girls.
Carter is a recipient of a Career Development Grant, an award that provides funding to women who hold a bachelor’s degree and are preparing to advance, change careers or re-enter the workforce in education, health and medical sciences or social sciences.
“Receiving this award means the world to me,” said Carter. “It will open up doors of opportunity that would otherwise have been nearly impossible to access.”
Carter is in her first year of graduate school here at UNF. She is a nationally certified American Sign Language (ASL) interpreter, having received certification through the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID). Her future career goals are to build upon her work as an ASL interpreter in specialized settings including medical and mental health and to mentor other interpreters who are working towards national certification.
The ASL interpreting field has little ethnic diversity with less than 4% of certified interpreters who identify as African American/Black, which is vastly disproportionate to the makeup of the Deaf community. Carter aims to give back to the interpreting community through mentoring and has already begun this work through her role on the Leadership Team of the Cincinnati African American/Black Interpreter Collaborative (CAABIC).
Since 1888, AAUW has awarded more than $115 million in fellowships, grants, and awards to 13,000 women from 150 countries. For the 2021–22 academic year, AAUW has awarded a total of $5 million through its fellowships and grants programs to scholars, and community projects and programs that promote education and equity for women and girls.