Trudy Schafer, MIP, MPA, CSC, CI/CT, is the project coordinator for the National Interpreter Education Center at Northeastern University. She has been a practicing interpreter since 1976 and an interpreter educator since 2002. Trudy has served as president of Children of Deaf Adults International and two state chapters of the Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf: Illinois and Massachusetts.

The National Interpreter Education Center collaborates with five Regional Interpreter Education Centers, providing leadership, coordination, needs assessment, and professional development supports and services in a national effort to enhance communication access for Deaf, Deaf-Blind, and Hearing communities interacting with one another. They are charged with coordinating the interpreting education activities of the Regional Centers, measuring the outcomes and impact of our individual center and collaborative work, and providing teacher training opportunities that will lead to enhanced interpreting education practices and outcomes over time.