I. King Jordan earned the master’s (1971) and the doctorate (1973) in psychology from UT. He became profoundly deaf as the result of a motorcycle accident at the age of 21. Upon receiving his doctorate, Dr. Jordan joined the faculty of Gallaudet University’s Department of Psychology, from which he had earned the BA in 1970. In 1983 he became chair of the department; three years later he was appointed dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
Gallaudet, the world’s only university with all programs and services designed specifically for students who are deaf or hearing-impaired, sought to fill its presidency in 1988, and the board of trustees announced its intention to appoint a hearing person. Gallaudet students, with support from many alumni, faculty, staff, and friends of the university, protested the board of trustees’ appointment of a hearing person to the presidency in a weeklong protest called Deaf President Now. The board of trustees reversed its decision and appointed Jordan the first deaf president of the institution since its founding in 1864. He retired from the presidency in 2006 and from the Gallaudet faculty in 2008. His final year as president was one of turmoil. He supported the decision of the trustees to name Dr. Jane Fernandes to the presidency. The trustees’ announcement touched off protests because Fernandes was not profoundly deaf. In October 2006, Jordan ordered the arrest of Gallaudet students massed at a campus gate, touching off larger protests. The trustees rescinded Fernandes’s contract to assume the presidency on October 29.
Jordan holds 11 honorary degrees and has been the recipient of numerous awards, among which are the Presidential Citizen’s Medal, the Washingtonian of the Year Award, the James L. Fisher Award from the Council for Advancement and Support of Education (CASE), and the Larry Stewart Award from the American Psychological Association. In 1990 President George H. W. Bush appointed him vice chair of the President’s Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities (PCEPD). In 1993 President Clinton reappointed him vice chair of PCEP. In 2010 President Obama appointed him to the Commission on Presidential Scholars.
Jordan served as one of the speakers for UT’s Bicentennial Convocation and Investiture of the Chancellor at UT in 1994.