Ceil Lucas


Ceil Lucas is an American linguist. Lucas is a professor emerita of Gallaudet University. Lucas was a professor in the Department of Linguistics at Gallaudet University until her retirement in 2014. Lucas is currently the editor of Sign Language Studies at Gallaudet University Press, a position she's held since 2009.
Lucas is known for her contributions to the field of linguistics, most notably in the research of American Sign Language.

Early life

Lucas was born in the United States but raised from ages five through twenty-one in Guatemala City and in Rome, Italy.
Lucas studied at Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, and received her BA in French and art history. Later, she earned her M.S. and PhD in linguistics from Georgetown University.

Career

In 1973, Lucas started teaching Italian and continues to do so.
Lucas began teaching at Gallaudet University in 1981 and, alongside Robert Johnson and Scott Liddell, was one of the inaugural faculty to teach in the university's new linguistics graduate program.
During her tenure at Gallaudet, Lucas served as principal investigator on two research projects in the field of sign language linguistics. The first of these was the large-scale project Sociolinguistic Variation In ASL. The results of this study are summarized in the book Sociolinguistic Variation in American Sign Language. The second project became titled The History and Structure of Black ASL. The results of this study are summarized in the book The Hidden Treasure of Black ASL: Its History and Structure.
Lucas also holds an M.A. from the University of Texas at Austin.