Harry Lang collection on Robert Panara

Dr. Harry Lang attended the Western Pennsylvania School for the Deaf, earned a BS in Physics from Bethany College, a MS degree in Electrical Engineering from Rochester Institute of Technology, and his doctorate in Education from the University of Rochester. Lang has taught at National Technical Institute for the Deaf (NTID) since 1969, first in the Physics Department, and later as a faculty member in the Master of Science Program in Secondary Education of Students Who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing.

He is also a prolific author, including Edmund Booth: A Deaf Pioneer, Teaching from the Heart and Soul: The Robert F. Panara Story, andDeaf Persons in the Arts and Sciences: A Biographical Dictionary (co-authored with Bonnie Meath-Lang). The dictionary includes 150 biographies of deaf scientists, artists, engineers, actors, writers, poets, and other professionals. In 2006, Lang was awarded the Rochester Institute of Technology Trustees Scholarship Award in recognition of establishing an outstanding record of academic scholarship.

About Robert Panara

The first Deaf faculty member at NTID, and a key figure in its history, Robert Panara was hired in 1967 to assist in establishing NTID on RIT's campus. He was instrumental in planning NTID's curriculum and preparing RIT's staff with ASL classes. He taught English at NTID and founded the Drama Club in 1970, which has grown into a full performing arts program with numerous productions yearly in the theater at NTID named in his honor. It was at the celebration of NTID's 20th anniversary in 1988 that the Robert F. Panara Theatre was dedicated.

Panara is recognized as one of the founders of the National Theatre of the Deaf. He was the only deaf member of the National Advisory Board, and the first NTID faculty member. He was also awarded the RIT Founders Award for his lifetime of achievement and devoted service to RIT. Panara retired from NTID in 1987. Robert Panara died in 2014 at the age of 94.