Leadership Changes at the Center for Continuing Education in Rehabilitation, University of Washington Department of Rehabilitation Medicine
Laurie Ford will retire from her position as CCER’s Interim Director at the end of November. Laurie holds an M.S. in Counseling from the University of Oregon and moved to Seattle in 1977 to help start one of the first supported employment programs in the US as part of the “Food Service Vocational Training Program” at the University of Washington. In 1989, Laurie was offered a position at CCER (then at Seattle University) to start a grant-funded training program on supported employment for people with mental health conditions. Over the past 31 years, she has trained hundreds of northwest job coaches and job developers, managed regional grants providing continuing education to VR and community rehabilitation program staff, participated in the Washington State Independent Living Council and many regional and national advisory committees, and offered technical assistance to VR agencies across the country in the areas of business engagement, employer support, and supported employment. Laurie can be reached after December 1st at LaurieFord.2020@gmail.com.
Laurie will be succeeded as Interim Director by Dr. Elizabeth Boland, PhD, CRC, Professor and Academic Program Director of the MA in Rehabilitation Counseling program at Western Washington University (WWU). Beth is well known to the Region X rehabilitation community and a longtime CCER partner. Beth holds an M.S. and Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Psychology from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has more than 25 years of experience as a CRC and RC educator with research interests in (a) RC education, (b) return-to-work for individuals with significant disabilities, and (c) professional leadership. Prior to coming to WWU in 2004, she was a VRC for the State of Nebraska and an Assistant Professor in the University of Florida’s Department of Rehabilitation Counseling. Beth can be reached at eaboland@uw.edu.
Kelly Franklin (VR Programs), Michael Richardson (NW ADA Center), Paul Dziedzic (Leadership Institute) and Eva DeLeon (ADII – Accessible Design and Innovative Inclusion) will continue in their project leadership roles. The Department of Rehabilitation Medicine is developing a recruitment process for a permanent CCER Director, a position made vacant by the retirement of Dr. Kathe Matrone in April 2020.