LaGuardia Community College is a public institution with a history of serving students from diverse cultures. Its Program for Deaf Adults has been serving deaf and hard of hearing students since 1975.

Founded in 1971 as part of the City University of New York (CUNY), LaGuardia Community College is located at the transit hub that links the borough of Queens with the city’s center of finance, commerce, and the arts. The college provides access to higher education and serves New Yorkers of all backgrounds, ages and financial incomes. The college serves14,500 students in credit bearing Academic programs and provides classes and services to over 40,000 students through the Division of Adult and Continuing Education.

LaGuardia’s students speak more than 118 languages and represent more than 148 countries. Included in LaGuardia’s diverse tapestry are credit and continuing education students, who are deaf and hard of hearing, that are served by the college’s Program for Deaf Adults.

Since being established in 1975, LaGuardia Community College’s Program for Deaf Adults (PDA) continues to be a model, urban, post-secondary education and support program that enrolls the largest number of deaf and hard of hearing students in any institution of higher learning in the Greater Metropolitan New York area. Presently, PDA offers three comprehensive post-secondary educational programs to deaf, hard of hearing and hearing adults. The programs are Support Services for Academic Degree Students, Continuing Education Programs and Interpreter Education Projects.