Sara Evans pushes Deaf-centered interpreter training in Knoxville

Knoxville ASL interpreter educator Sara Evans is drawing on more than 30 years in Deaf education, interpreter training and higher education to prepare the next generation of professionals. Her work centers on community immersion, Deaf voices and meaningful language access.

Why it matters: - Sara Evans is helping shape how future interpreters and Deaf educators learn to work with Deaf communities. - Her approach stresses that language access is not just technical translation. It also includes culture, dignity, representation and accountability. - Evans' focus comes at a time when Deaf representation and equitable access remain active challenges in the field.

What happened: - Evans, an ASL Interpreter Educator based in Knoxville, Tennessee, is working at Bromberg & Associates and as an adjunct professor at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. - Her career spans more than three decades in Deaf education, interpreter training, higher education and language access. - Evans began her professional work in 1992 as a classroom educator and later expanded into interpreting, Deaf education and higher education. - She has taught and mentored students in ASL, interpreter education and Deaf studies programs. - She has supervised interns, developed coursework and supported students preparing for communication-access careers.

The details: - Evans earned a PhD in Deaf Education, Interpreting Education and Special Education from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. - She also served as a tenure-track professor at Eastern Kentucky University. - The Whitworths at the Georgia School for the Deaf were Evans' first sign-language instructors. - Jim Whitworth encouraged Evans to enter Deaf-related work even when she was unsure the field was right for her. - Evans credits her mother, Ethel Evans, a three-time breast cancer survivor, with teaching resilience, independence, generosity and equality. - Evans says her mother taught her not to let men or anyone else intimidate her or block her from pursuing a role she wanted. - Evans says effective training cannot happen only in a classroom. - She says aspiring interpreters and educators must be in the Deaf community, build relationships, listen to Deaf voices and understand cultural context. - Evans says hearing professionals should approach the Deaf community with humility and respect. - Evans believes hearing privilege should be used to elevate Deaf experiences and open doors, not overshadow Deaf voices. - Evans says leadership should bring Deaf voices and representation into the conversation rather than center the leader. - She emphasizes the difference between intent and impact and says professionals should acknowledge mistakes, learn from them and grow. - Evans sums up that mindset as: "You know better, you do better." - She says respect, humility, community, kindness, tenacity and integrity guide her work.

Between the lines: - Evans' message is as much about professional ethics as it is about instruction. - Her emphasis on community immersion suggests that technical fluency alone is not enough to serve Deaf people well. - The profile also frames leadership in the field as a responsibility to amplify Deaf perspectives, not speak over them.

What's next: - Evans plans to keep training interpreters and educators who enter the field with stronger cultural awareness and deeper community ties. - Her ongoing work in Knoxville and beyond is aimed at improving how language access is delivered and understood. - More information is available through her Influential Women profile.

The bottom line: - Evans is using decades of experience to push a simple standard for the profession: serve the Deaf community with skill, humility and accountability.