Broadband and the ADA

About the Presenter

Frank Bowe was born in Pennsylvania in 1947. He became deaf in 1951. Frank attended the public schools in Lewisburg, PA, receiving an academic diploma in 1965, with no support services (no interpreter, no notetakers, no captioning of films, etc.).

Frank earned his B.A. degree from Western Maryland College (WMC; now McDaniel College) summa cum laude in 1969 - again with no support services, his M.A. in education from Gallaudet Graduate School in 1971, and his Ph.D. in educational psychology (research) from NYU in 1976. Each has recognized his later work: WMC with a Trustee Alumni Award (1987) and Distinguished Alumni Award (2002), Gallaudet with a Doctor of Laws (LL.D.) degree (1981), and NYU with a Distinguished Alumni Achievement Award (1979).

After earning his doctorate, Frank became the founding executive director of the American Coalition of Citizens with Disabilities (ACCD; 1976-1981). He was U.S. Representative to the United Nations for planning the International Year of Disabled Persons (1981). Dr. Bowe later served as director of research for the U.S. Architectural and Transportation Barriers Compliance Board, Chairperson of the U.S. Congress Commission on Education of the Deaf, and Regional Commissioner of RSA (appointed by Justin Dart), before joining Hofstra University as a professor in 1989.

Frank and his wife Phyllis, who married in 1974, have two daughters, Doran and Whitney.