In the academic year of 1988, the Department of Linguistics finally became a bona fide entity, through the efforts of professor Alan Hudson and others. The Navajo and Sign Language Interpreter programs were also integrated into the department.

“In the meantime, discussions had been going on for a considerable period regarding a more appropriate home for the Navajo and Sign Language Interpreter programs.  The nature of the Department was about to be fundamentally altered by the addition of these two programs that had been undernourished and underappreciated in their previous departments [(Modern and Classical Languages and Communicative Disorders, respectively)] for many years.” (Bills MS, 1989)