Bob Panara

Polymath

Deafened at age 10, Robert Frederic Panara, enthusiastic reader and athlete., thrived at Gallaudet College. Two great inspirations were Dr. Powrie V. Doctor and Fred Hughes. After graduating, he taught at NYSD (Fanwood), and earned his Master’s at Gallaudet. When NTID was being established, he was invited to serve on its National Advisory Board, and became its first Deaf faculty member. He established the English and the Performing Arts departments, served as Education Specialist (coordinating interpreters, notetakers, and tutors for the College of Liberal Arts), and taught Literary Studies to deaf and hearing students. An award-winning poet, author, baseball buff, and theater nut, he created two Deaf Studies courses—“Deaf in Literature” and “Creative Interpretation of Literature in Sign.” NTID named its theater in his honor in 1988.