For release: 09-03-04
Release #: 04-227  

NASA Marshall Center named 'Employer of the Year' by Huntsville Area Deaf Awareness Committee; Marshall's Chip Dobbs 'Deaf Person of the Year'

The Marshall Center has been named "Employer of the Year" and Marshall's Chip Dobbs was named "Deaf Person of the Year" by the Huntsville Area Deaf Awareness Committee, which supports the deaf community. Marshall was cited for its outstanding efforts to employ the deaf and provide mentoring experiences for deaf high school students. Dobbs was recognized for his service to the hearing impaired.

NASA's Marshall Space Flight Center in Huntsville, Ala., has been selected "Employer of the Year" and Marshall's Chip Dobbs was named "Deaf Person of the Year" by the Huntsville Area Deaf Awareness Committee, an advocacy group that supports the needs of the deaf community.

The Marshall Center was cited for its outstanding efforts to employ the deaf, and for providing mentoring experiences for deaf high school students. NASA's "I Am Set" Summer Internship Program pairs Marshall Center employees with disabled students to enhance the students' skills in math, science, engineering and technology. The program is managed by Marshall's Equal Opportunity Office.

The Marshall Center also was recognized by the committee for its continued support of the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind in Talladega. Marshall has provided more than 75 refurbished computers for student computer labs over the past nine years.

Dobbs, an industrial property management specialist in Marshall's Center Operations Directorate, recently accepted the award on behalf of Marshall.

"NASA and the Marshall Center have made tremendous efforts to give opportunities to the deaf community through education programs and other outreach," said Dobbs. "I'm proud and equally humbled to be part of such an organization."

Dobbs also was recognized as "Deaf Person of the Year" by the committee for his service to the deaf community, including mentoring hearing impaired students in Marshall education programs, representing NASA at the Alabama Institute for the Deaf and Blind's Career Day, and organizing NASA outreach events at the school.

Founded in 1982, the Huntsville Area Deaf Awareness Committee is managed by the Alabama Department of Rehabilitation Services, the state agency that provides assistance to Alabamians of all ages who live with disabilities. The annual "Employer of the Year" and "Deaf Person of the Year" awards were established in 1990 to recognize companies and individuals who help increase deaf awareness and provide opportunities to the hearing impaired. Nominations are submitted by members of the local deaf community and judged by out-of-state representatives of other hearing impaired groups.

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