Officers
President - Stefanie Saltern president@wisaslta.org
Stefanie was born in Huntington Beach, California and started her early education when she was 15 months old at Taft School DHH Program in Irvine. After moving to Firth, Idaho, a small town of 350 people at the age of 7, Stefanie mainstreamed with a full-time interpreter all the way to high school graduation. Stefanie dreamed of working with children with multiple disabilities. She decided to pursue a degree in Health Ed and graduated in 1995 with a B.A. from Utah State University. In 2001, she obtained her M.S. in Physical Therapy from the University of Utah while working as a Deaf Mentor for Utah School for the Deaf and Blind. In 2001, she taught ASL full-time to high school students using Signing Naturally Level 1-3 curriculum. This was a huge challenge but extremely rewarding! Stefanie is a staunch advocate of bilingual education incorporating ASL at a young age using national standards across content areas. Job opportunities and family brought Stefanie to Wisconsin in Spring 2003. She became a Deaf Mentor for Wisconsin Educational Services Program (WESPDHH) and taught community ASL classes at Shore to Shore. In 2006-2007, she worked at Glendale Elementary as a Special Education/ASL specialist with students who are deaf and have delayed language development. Stefanie is ASLTA certified and teaches ASL at MATC, UW, and after school programs for children in Madison. Currently, she has PK-12 ASL Teacher certification from UW-Milwaukee and serves on the governer’s Council for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing. She lives in Fitchburg with her husband of 15 years, Jerry. They have no children but hope to adopt in the future.
Vice President - Cheryl Kanitz vicepresident@wisaslta.org
Cheryl graduated from Northcentral Technical College (NTC) in the Educational Interpreting program in May 1992. She got an award for Outstanding EITP graduate and has interpreted in a wide variety of settings. Currently, Cheryl teaches as an adjunct for NTC. She is married to Scott Kasten, they are both foster parents, and have two cats.
Secretary - vacant secretary@wisaslta.org
Treasurer - Brian Fruits treasurer@wisaslta.org
Brian was born in Torrington, Connecticut and lived for a short time in Walhalla, South Carolina and Cookeville, Tennessee. Finally, the family stayed long enough for him to grow up in Russellville, Kentucky. Brian is the only Deaf person in his family history. After graduating from Russellville High School, he attended Eastern KY University for one year before moving on to Gallaudet University in 1986. After obtaining his B.S. in Accounting in 1994, he worked at Central NC School for the Deaf (CNCSD) from 1995 to 2000. After being promoted 4 times at his work, he wanted new challenges and in June 2000, Brian moved to Madison, Wisconsin to work as the Director for the Bureau for the Deaf and Hard of Hearing under the State of Wisconsin. He then later worked as the Financial Manager at a non-profit company, Access to Independence, for a couple of years and began working in August 2005 for the State of Wisconsin as the Mail Center Supervisor responsible for overseeing mail, print and fleet services. Brian also obtained his “Certified Public Management” (CPM) certificate from UW-Madison in May 2005. He also hopes to be returning back to school to begin working on a Masters Degree. Brian became interested in teaching sign language in 2004 and began teaching in 2005 at Shore to Shore in Madison. He teaches sign language for Madison Area Technical College (MATC). He became a member of ASLTA in 2005 and was selected Treasurer in 2007. He hopes to obtain his ASLTA Provisional Certification. Brian currently resides in McFarland with his wife, Mary, and has a son, Clyde Emory Fruits. Their Japanese Shiba Inu dog, Suki, is also a member of the Fruits family.
Professional Development - Kristin Scheibe pdchair@wisaslta.org