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Dr Amy & Dr . Kathryn , front row from left
A Story of Thankfulness Drs . Kathryn Johnson and Amy Hebert Knopf
A
theme of the collaborative work of Drs . Kathryn Johnson and Amy Hebert Knopf is “ thankfulness .” One of the most thankful aspects of their work was finding each other in 2013 at a conference in St . Paul . Though their life journeys were quite different , with Kathryn growing up on a farm not far from St . Cloud and Amy growing up in southern Louisiana , they both arrived at St . Cloud State University in Minnesota to begin their careers as faculty . Kathy started at SCSU in the fall of 2005 , after serving as a teacher for Deaf and hard-of-hearing students in St . Cloud Schools for over 15 years . Amy started her career at SCSU in the fall of 2013 after working in research and outreach for improving services for Deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals .
It was not a coincidence that the conference where they met in the fall of 2013 focused on internationalizing teaching and learning within university classes , as their mutual passion for international work became evident over the next year of emerging friendship . Kathryn ’ s international advocacy began during her first trip to China in the summer of 2000 , where she joined a Gallaudet University
China Delegation . During her three weeks in China , Kathryn fell in love with the country , the culture , and the people , inclusive of individuals with disabilities . Her trip to China was life-changing and compelled her to focus her dissertation research on Deaf education in China . In 2014 , after numerous trips to China leading education abroad programs for students , teachers , and administrators during the previous 14 years , Kathryn finally convinced Amy to join her on a trip to Beijing . One of the goals of the trip was to assist a graduate student , Aaron , on his thesis research where he was assessing