Dennis Gilliam, Ed.D., was named the eighteenth President of the Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind on August 14, 2023, and assumed the role on September 1, 2023. A long-time employee of AIDB, Dr. Gilliam brings a tremendous amount of knowledge and insight to the role. 

“It is my distinct honor to be named the next President of the Alabama Institute for Deaf and Blind. I have spent nearly all of my life in commitment to AIDB and am dedicated to an expectation of excellence, ensuring the level of service we have come to expect from AIDB statewide and throughout the nation,” said Dr. Gilliam. “It is a humbling realization that the AIDB Board of Trustees is entrusting me to lead this amazing institution that has provided me, and my family, limitless opportunities to grow, learn and succeed.”  

In September 2022, Dr. Gilliam was named Vice President of Instructional Programs at AIDB. Dr. Gilliam is a veteran educator with over 30 years of classroom and administrative experience in special education programs and outreach. In addition to his role as Vice President of Instructional Programs, Dr. Gilliam has also served as Executive Director of Special Projects, Special Education Coordinator for AIDB, Middle/High School Academic Director at Alabama School for the Deaf and High School Mathematics Teacher at Alabama School for the Blind.  

“Dr. Gilliam has the knowledge, experience and passion necessary to lead AIDB, the nation’s most comprehensive program serving individuals with sensory exceptionalities.  He has developed our special projects into national models that are being emulated by other states,” states John Mascia, Au.D., AIDB’s previous President who announced his retirement in 2023. “I look forward to seeing the future growth of AIDB under his leadership. There is no person in the country more qualified to lead AIDB and I am proud that he is a longtime employee who has achieved this honor and awesome responsibility of becoming AIDB’s eighteenth President.”

Dr. Gilliam earned a Doctor of Education, Deaf Studies Deaf Education from Lamar University; Educational Administration Certification from the University of Montevallo; Visual Impairment Education Certification from The University of Alabama at Birmingham; and a Bachelor of Science and Master of Arts in Secondary Education, Mathematics from The University of Alabama. Dr. Gilliam also completed the STAR/CAEBER/AEBPD Schools on Bi-Lingual/Bi-Cultural (Deaf) Education program. Dr. Gilliam published The Relationship Between the Use of the Accelerated Reader Program and Reading Comprehension Scores on the STAR Reading Diagnostic and SAT-10 in 2011.