The San Diego chapter of American Sign Language Teachers’ Association held its first general meeting on March 25, 2000, at the UCSD campus. The following SD ASLTA members were present:

Sharon Allen, Barbara Buchanan, Jennifer Carmean, Shannon Casey, Bill Clary, John Crouch, Olin Fortney, Pat Griffith, Joe Halcott, John Hill, Tom Humphries, Mary Kane, Simone Laubenthal, Yoon Lee, Peggy Lott, Chuck Mason, Shelby McKenzie, Jade Morris, Colleen Smith and Melissa Smith.

Founding members (Allen, Buchanan, Casey, Fortney, Griffith, Halcott, Humphries, Laubenthal and Lee) drafted the original by-laws for the organization on December 10, 1999. Laura Thomas, the chapter liaison from the national ASLTA office, reviewed the by-laws and reported that they were “great”!

Membership fees for the San Diego Chapter were set at $10 per year (National ASLTA membership was $25 at the time).

At the first SD ASLTA meeting, nominations were made for officers, a video about ASLTA certification was shown, and Tom Humphries provided a guest lecture about the history of professional ASL teacher organizations. After these presentations, a general election was held and the following officers were selected by the membership: