Students with disabilities honor supportive faculty and staff

Twenty-eight Binghamton University faculty and staff were recognized for their contributions toward opening the doors of access to higher education at the Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD) Recognition Reception on April 7. Students registered with SSD recognized these individuals for going above and beyond to accommodate and support Binghamton University students with disabilities.

“Since I arrived on campus over 15 years ago, SSD has gone from a two-person office in a hard-to-find location to a team of eight professionals in the Services for Students with Disabilities office plus colleagues in Information Technology and Facilities Management, and we serve five times the number of students,” Brian Rose, vice president for student affairs, said in his welcoming remarks, highlighting the growth of the office and the increase in demand for services.

“But even more important than the growth in our capacity to serve students and the number of students we serve is that it can’t just be SSD that does the work. It has to be something that is baked into the institution’s culture and where the responsibility and work to provide service is distributed across all of us. Today, we recognize all of you who have helped us to build and extend that culture so that we can serve all of the students that we now do.”

Several individuals and groups received specific awards. The Beyond Compliance Award was presented to Alley White and Lindsay Barber, student support coordinators in Residential Life who oversee a team of graduate-level staff from the University’s Master of Social Work (MSW) program that provide private case management services for residential students in each community.

“Alley and Lindsay are the driving forces behind the Residential Life MSW case management program,” said Jennifer Roach, SSD’s assistant director for campus access. “Their staff has demonstrated an extra level of dedication to the students they work with, and has created an environment where students feel seen, heard and supported, no matter what challenges they may face.”

The B. Jean Fairbairn Access Award, named for the founder and director of SSD until her retirement in 2016, was presented to Michael Trapani, senior associate director for student records.

“Michael has always been driven by the idea of making education accessible, recognizing that inclusivity is not just a goal but a necessity and commitment that Binghamton will always make,” said Christen Szymanski, director of SSD. “He’s been a champion and a great ally to our office, whether advocating for physical access on campus, or trying to come up with cool off-roading vehicles to make the Nature Preserve more accessible.”

The Reframing Disability Award is presented to a student who has demonstrated an exceptional commitment to reframing the disability narrative at Binghamton University. This year’s award went to Guinevere Cotten, a second-year student in the Higher Education and Student Affairs master’s degree program. Cotten, who has worked in the SSD office during her time at Binghamton, is pursuing a career as a disability specialist in higher education.

“My greatest hope is to create the same sense of community and belonging for others that was so graciously extended to me through the disability community at Binghamton,” Cotten said. “Especially during difficult or scary times, community acts as a form of resistance—and that is powerful.”