Thurman said learning sign language is not a high-stress skill for college students to learn, and UCA offers sign language courses that challenge students to take their education to the next level.

Thurman encouraged using sign language on a daily basis.

"Most of my students will get to use their sign language skills in their work. It is not uncommon to only have one person who knows sign language," he said.

About 28 million Americans are deaf or hard of hearing, according to the National Association of the Deaf. As a visual language, American Sign Language allows the brain to process linguistic information through the eyes and not the ears. Facial expressions and body movements are a part of this language, of which the grammar has as much range and complexity as a spoken language.

Thurman, a UCA alum, started teaching for the speech pathology department in 1972 and was the only professor in the department for a number of years. He developed a sign language class that was offered for the first time in 1974. Thurman has been teaching sign classes at UCA ever since.

Assistant professor Bryon Ross also teaches sign language classes at UCA. Ross began working with Thurman as a work-study student and now holds a master's degree in speech-language pathology from UCA and a doctorate in communication sciences and disorders from the University of Nebraska-Lincoln.

He also teachers a sign language course via compressed video to the speech pathology program at Delta State University in Mississippi.

Thurman said he and Ross always have packed classrooms each time sign language is offered. This semester, Thurman has over 60 students that are currently enrolled in just one of his classes.

Many students, like junior Eddy Horton, take the sign language classes as electives, though it is not part of their major.

"I am an occupational therapy major. This is one of my favorite classes; it is very fun," Horton said.

The short American Sign Language style is taught at UCA and teaches students to get their main ideas across by signing.

Deaf speakers come and visit the sign language classes to give the students encouragement about their signing skills by showing them the interaction they can have using their newfound signing abilities.

Thurman said, "My students can understand most of what the guests are signing even without an interpreter."

Junior Emily Hawkins, a mid-level education major, said she found the class while looking through a courses-offered list and now can find ways to apply sign language to her life.

"I will use my signing abilities in my job if the time comes to use it, but it is cool that I can now sign with a bag boy at Kroger who is deaf," she said.

Thurman said he and Ross strive to get students involved in learning sign language so they can advance their career options after graduating and help the many Americans that have no other way of communicating.