Dr. Melanie McKay-Cody Signed the National Anthem at the Arizona Women’s Basketball Game
Dr. McKay-Cody is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Disability and Psychoeducational Studies with a courtesy appointment in Linguistics. A distinguished scholar and advocate, her work centers on Indigenous Deaf community-based research, the linguistics of ASL and North American Indian/Indigenous Sign Language (NAISL), and the preservation of endangered Indigenous sign languages.
She leads the North American Indian Sign Language Video Dictionary project, mentors Native student interpreters, and contributes significantly to Indigenous Deaf pedagogy. Her scholarship appears in Wicazo Sa Review, Education Sciences, Expression: The International Journal of Conceptual Anthropology, and Indigenous Disability Studies (Routledge).
Dr. McKay-Cody’s many honors include the Early Career Scholar Award, the Women of Impact Award, the Gentling Fellowship, and the Smith Endowment Fellowship. She has also received major support from the National Science Foundation and the National Endowment for the Humanities.
We are honored to share this powerful moment celebrating Indigenous Deaf excellence, representation, and culture.