Jean Irwin

   Jean Irwin is a retired Teacher of the Deaf from the Washoe County School District in Reno, Nevada.  She has taught in grades pre-school through 12th grade in 12 schools.  Jean was an Ambassadorial Scholar in 1989 ..  She speaks to many Rotary groups about the long term effects of investment in the Foundation.  

     The Ambassadorial Scholarship Jean received allowed her to do research into reading and deafness 20 years ago which earned her a Master’s Degree from Nottingham University in England.   After this education, her students broke what is considered a glass ceiling for the deaf and achieved high levels of reading.  She is now District 5190's Literacy Chair and wants to use what she learned about Reading to help encourage and foster more literacy involvement from clubs.

    One of the most important roles Jean has had was as a grassroots coordinator for the passage of a legislative bill to make the testing of hearing mandatory before a baby leaves the hospital in Nevada.  Nevada moved from 36th to 8th in the nation for children tested at birth for hearing loss in just two years after this bill passed ,  resulting in the early intervention that is so critical to language development.

 After what she learned on the Scholarship she was chosen "Reading Teacher of the Year" in 1992 by the International Reading Association.  She got the  “Best of Education” award  by the Reno Gazette Journal , her local newspaper,  in 2004.  In 2009 she received the "Service Above Self" award from Rotary International. She has spoken to over 200 conferences for both Rotarians and teachers of the deaf about what she learned as an Ambassadorial Scholar.

Jean is the mother of Kent, age 19 who is a University student in Reno, and daughter Katy  25,  who is an actress in New York CIty.  jean_irwin@mac.com