Denise Crochet, Semantikos, LLC, has been actively working in the interpreting field for twenty-four years. She has been trained in the field from sign-language institutes, mentorships with Deaf individuals (Interpreting for a Fulbright Scholar) and college training (Gallaudet University Summer Institutes, University of Arkansas at Little Rock, fellowship, AA degree from Delgado College, ITP, and BS, MLA Tulane University, New Orleans, La.) Ms. Crochet's career has included educational, medical, mental health, theatrical, minimal language skills, legal and video-relay interpreting. Denise is particularly fond of Deaf/Blind interpreting. She has presented workshops including ASLI Conference in Bristol, England, 2012, Belize 2015, consulted with the Cambodian School for the Deaf, 2017 and across the United States with a focus on interpreter mentoring in a variety of settings.
In addition to the various schemas in which she has interpreted, Ms. Crochet formerly served as the Executive Director of the non-profit Deaf Action Center, Northshore, as a mentor for the Louisiana State Dept. of Education, and mentor for Sorenson Video Relay Service. Denise is thrilled to join the Languages Department here at Xavier University of Louisiana where she will teach American Sign Language I and II. She also is an adjunct lecturer in the Tulane University Linguistics Department. In the Spring of 2019, Denise established the TuXD (Tulane, Xavier, Delgado) Sign Language Consortium. This group encourages interdepartmental activities from metro New Orleans institutions where ASL is taught. She provides sign language instruction for a dynamic range of clients whose interests are interpreting as a profession, as well as those who are losing their functional hearing and are seeking an alternative mode of communication. Her passion for both interpreting and mentoring led her to establish Semantikos, (the Greek root for Semantics), in July of 2007.
