Maura Martindale, the founding director of California Lutheran University’s Deaf and Hard of Hearing Program for prospective teachers, has retired with emeritus status after 17 years of work at the school.
Martindale, a Thousand Oaks resident, began teaching part-time at Cal Lutheran in 2005 and with grant funding developed a two-year program to prepare teachers to work with children with cochlear implants and digital hearing aids. Candidates in the program can earn a master’s degree in the education of the deaf and hard of hearing, as well as a preliminary education specialist credential.
Martindale formally launched the program at the university’s Woodland Hills Center in 2007, becoming a full-time faculty member. The program is the only one of its kind in California that focuses on spoken language that prepares teachers to work with students above 6 years old.
A $1.2 million grant for the program was issued by the Department of Education in 2011 to address a shortage of teachers prepared to work with the deaf and hard of hearing. The grant specifically gave aid to prospective teachers and helped Cal Lutheran reduce a significant achievement gap between hearing students and those with hearing loss, particularly those from Latino families.
Martindale also served as chair of the Department of Learning and Teaching and as a member of multiple university committees. She received the Graduate School of Education’s Award for Outstanding Achievement in Teaching in 2014.
The retirement does not mark the end of Martindale’s work as an educator. She and Sylvia Rofleisch, who teaches at Cal Lutheran, wrote a recently published textbook that the duo will use to continue to instruct teachers and therapists. The book is titled “Listening and Spoken Language Therapy for Children with Hearing Loss: A Practical Auditory-Based Guide.”