November 10, 2016

To: Larry Medwetsky, Ph.D., Chairperson, Department of Hearing, Speech, and Language Sciences
From: Lawrence Pick, Ph.D., Professor, Department of Psychology
Re: Karen Garrido-Nags tenure request

I am pleased to write this letter of recommendation in strong support of Dr. Garrido-Nags request to be
considered for tenure in the Department of Hearing, Speech, and Language Sciences at Gallaudet
University. I have worked with Dr. Garrido-Nag for the past five years as her collaborator on a three-
year funded Gallaudet University Priority Grant, a NSF Neural Engineering Center grant submission, and
several scholarly products, as well as interacted with her as a committee member on the Council on
Graduate Education (CGE) and a graduate student thesis project. It has been a great pleasure to work
with Dr. Garrido-Nag on these various projects.

I am most familiar with her research and related scholarly work. Dr. Garrido-Nag joined me and a
colleague in developing a research project that examined the neuropsychological and
neurophysiological correlates of phonological and related language processes in developing versus
proficient Deaf readers at the University. This successfully funded Priority Grant allowed me the
opportunity to learn of Dr. Garrido-Nags strengths in the area of neuroelectrophysiology, phonology,
and bilingualism. During this project, I was struck by her ability to design complex paradigms and
grapple with various methodological issues given the intent of the study. Additionally, I was able to
observe her kind manner and keen ability to connect with graduate students and research assistants,
helping them to understand intricate equipment and use it with participants. Since completing data
collection, we have presented aspects of the project at a number of conferences, as well as completed a
peer-reviewed product. We continue to analyze our data and I foresee that it will result in several
future publications, as well as related external grant submissions. More recently, I invited Dr. Garrido-
Nag to participate as an investigator on a large NSF Engineering Research Center Grant submission with
Pennsylvania State University, Northwestern University, and the University of Michigan. Her
contributions regarding MEG, EEG, and ERP methods for use with deaf individuals were extremely
valuable. Although the grant was not funded during the first round, I anticipate that it will be
resubmitted during an upcoming cycle. Across all of this work, I have found Dr. Garrido-Nags scientific
expertise to be excellent. She engages a high level of critical thinking regarding the research of language
and phonology, and her writing is very strong. I have learned a great deal from her thus far and look
forward to our continued collaboration.

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Regarding her service contributions, Dr. Garrido-Nag has provided considerable service to her program,
department and the University. I am most familiar with her work on CGE during my term as
chairperson. Dr. Garrido-Nag participated in all meetings and was an active member of the Curriculum
Committee, which required a significant amount of time and effort every week reviewing proposals for
many of the graduate programs at the University. Her colleagues on the Committee remarked on her
ability to quickly learn how to process these proposals, and do so in a quick and efficient manner. She
also has served on a fairly large number of search committees, and is frequently invited by deaf and
hearing students to serve on their thesis and dissertation projects.

I am less familiar with her classroom teaching, but on a number of occasions her students have
remarked on her ability to relate complex information in an easily digested fashion, as well as her ability
to engage students in group discussions and activities. As mentioned, I also have seen her directly
interact with students in the research lab and on various committees. She always has provided them
with strong advice and guidance.

Finally I want to mention Dr. Garrido-Nags continued efforts to acquire American Sign Language, a
language that was fairly unfamiliar to her prior to joining the University. Since entering the University
she has strived to enhance her knowledge and skill by taking classes, participating in group tutoring, and
engaging with deaf students and colleagues. During our research activities and throughout her time on
CGE, she always communicated using her existing knowledge of ASL and was able to make herself
understood given her skill level. Her skills have definitely improved since I initially met her. The
conundrum of the situation is the fact that she teaches primarily hearing graduate students who use
spoken English during their daily interactions. As an expert in the development of language, she is very
aware of the effort and time involved in acquiring a second language when one is fully immersed in the
language, and how much more difficult it is to acquire the second language when there are significantly
fewer opportunities to engage in learning and conversation. Additionally, it is extremely difficult to
complete a Classroom Discourse Observation in ASL and/or obtain student evaluations of her ASL given
this situation.

In summary, I strongly support Dr. Garrido-Nags request for tenure in the Hearing, Speech, and
Language Sciences Department. She is not only a great asset to her department and the University, but
an individual who has the ability to inspire students to become future scholars and clinicians.

Please feel free to contact me if you require any further information.

Sincerely,

Lawrence Pick, Ph.D.

Professor
Department of Psychology
Gallaudet University