Nichola (Nikki) Horrell:

Not a newcomer to teaching ASL and developing materials and ideas for ASL instruction, Nichola (Nikki) Horrell is currently an ASL lecturer at California State University, Sacramento.  Nichola has been teaching beginning to advanced ASL since 1989 in several different colleges across the country. In the mid 1990’s, Nikki was involved with the nationally known Signing Naturally ASL instructional videos at Vista College. She is also a K – 12 educator of the Deaf; she has taught the developmentally disabled deaf at Sonoma Developmental Center; an itinerant DHH teacher in the mountains of rural Lake County, California; and tested her tolerance for bitter winters while holding the position of IEP Coordinator at Kansas School for the Deaf before finally returning home to California. 

Nikki received an MA in Clinical Psychology from the California School of Professional Psychology—three teaching certifications—and before receiving her BA in Psychology from Sonoma State University, Nikki spent two years studying at Gallaudet University in Washington, DC.  While an undergraduate student at Gallaudet, Nikki was hired by that school’s graduate school of linguistics as a language model.   

Nikki can trace her Deaf lineage back five generations with Deaf relatives in mainland Europe, the British Isles, and the United States.  Both of Nikki’s parents are ASL instructors.  Nikki has three children, one of whom is also Deaf, and her husband, a Deaf Ed. teacher, is Deaf as well.

Nikki is still getting used to the unique geography of the valley and finds Sacramento to be an ideal city for her and her family. When she isn't engaged in teaching and developing ideas for ASL instruction, Nikki enjoys her time with her family doing kiddie activities, hiking, biking, working-out with her husband, nature watching with her two dogs, or taking a short drive back to her childhood home in Sonoma County to visit her parents.