SSD and WAIV Graduation
Greetings students! We are celebrating you and supporting you as you complete your degree!
Please save the date! We have two major events coming up soon!
- The SSD zoom graduation May 9 (RSVP)
- Commencement May 19 or 20 (Request accommodations)
More information about both events is below. We can't wait to celebrate with you!
SSD Graduation:
The SSD zoom graduation is May 9 from 4:30-6pm where we will lift you up in your accomplishments! (Link to more details as available: https://www.csusb.edu/event/564949)
The SSD graduation is not the big graduation, rather it is a specialized SSD recognition ceremony on zoom where your family and parents and support system are invited to join too!
RSVP Today! https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfXhgA1CGAcZxfvRAVj2pn1lNV6E-sRHP3mIlTO2cZbgp-ZYA/viewform
Speak your truth! At this graduation, we will be creating a slide for you and on that slide we can include a picture, your degree, and major and anything in particular you would like us to say. Please use this comments box to add anything you would like us to put on the slide featuring YOU! There are examples at the link. LINK: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfXhgA1CGAcZxfvRAVj2pn1lNV6E-sRHP3mIlTO2cZbgp-ZYA/viewform
Commencement:
Commencement is the big event, at the Toyota Center. We can't wait to celebrate with you! Commencement is May 19 or 20 depending on your major. All commencement details are by college at this link: https://www.csusb.edu/commencement/schedule-events)
We need to find out from you early what your commencement accommodation requests are. Please share with us all the information that you can, as early as you possibly can, so that we can make sure to support you and celebrate you the absolute most! Today, please complete this form to let us know how to include you the absolute best. LINK: hhttps://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfXhgA1CGAcZxfvRAVj2pn1lNV6E-sRHP3mIlTO2cZbgp-ZYA/viewform
We've included a few tips below about commencement that may be useful to you:
Grad days are here! March 14-16: https://www.alumni.csusb.edu/s/1874/rd/interior.aspx?sid=1874&gid=2&pgid=1438&sitebuilder=1&contentbuilder=1
It is critical that you please make sure that you completed your graduation check to avoid any holds that can delay your degree. You can learn more at the link: https://www.csusb.edu/registrar/evaluations/graduation-requirement-check
All information about commencement can be found: https://www.csusb.edu/commencement
Make sure to register for the big commencement: https://www.csusb.edu/commencement/preparing-graduate/commencement-registration
If you have any questions, please contact ssd@csusb.edu.
Thanks so much and congratulations on your accomplishments!
Autistic Professor Dr. John Chad Sweeney Keynotes Graduation of 80 Included Students at California State University San Bernardino
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Media Contact: Jess Block Nerren - 909-706-8525 - Jessica.nerren@csusb.edu
SAN BERNARDINO, Calif. -- When over 80 students with disabilities graduate from California State University, San Bernardino, Dr. John Chad Sweeney, Ph.D., will be cheering them on as he keynotes the Services to Students with Disabilities graduation celebration on May 9, at 4:30pm, on zoom.
Sweeney, a full professor at California State University San Bernardino in the English Department, is a valued member of the Services to Students with Disabilities Community Advisory Board, author of eight books of poetry and translation, and the author of the groundbreaking lyric essay on neurodivergence, Tiny Disasters: Confessions of an Autistic Professor, in the edited scholarly book on autism inclusion, Rethinking Perception and Centering the Voices of Unique Individuals: Reframing Autism Inclusion in Praxis published in 2022. His talk will be a powerful message of solidarity, hope and inclusion stemming from his own lived experience as a person with autism.
Says Dr. Sweeney, “As our future leaders complete their degrees, they will be filling leadership roles with representation of our unique population, and so it is my deepest joy to speak with them on such a special day. They are ushering in a new future for people with disabilities.”
Services to Students with Disabilities serves over 2,800 students with unique needs on the California State University San Bernardino campus or 16% of the student population. Only 16% of students with disabilities complete a college degree, as opposed to 35% of the nondisabled population according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, underscoring the large disparity this population continues to face.
At the event, those in attendance will include Dr. Paz Olivérez, Vice President of Student Affairs, Dr. Molly Springer, Associate Vice President of Student Success and Educational Equity, Dr. Jess Block Nerren, Interim Faculty Director of Services to Students with Disabilities, members of the Services to Students with Disabilities Community Advisory Board, and members of the WorkAbility Co-op, a group of esteemed industry experts who mentor students with disabilities. In addition, four outstanding graduate and undergraduate students will be recognized.
Says Dr. Springer, “The graduation celebration is an amazing opportunity to celebrate disability as not just a diagnosis but rather an identity group that signifies strength, grit, and determination.”
Accommodation information: There will be captioning and a zoom interpreter at the event. Please contact ssd@csusb.edu with any additional accommodation requests at least 72 hours in advance.
Media instructions: Media are invited to attend. Please RSVP to Jessica.nerren@csusb.edu with 72 hours or more notice so that a zoom link and any confidentiality instructions can be given.
ABOUT SERVICES TO STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES: Services to Students with Disabilities empowers students with disabilities by fostering skills of self-advocacy, resourcefulness, and independence. The office works collaboratively with the campus community to remove barriers and promote an enriched learning environment where students with disabilities can utilize their skills and pursue their academic and personal development goals. https://www.csusb.edu/ssd
ABOUT THE SERVICES TO STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES COMMUNITY ADVISORY BOARD: An advisory group of individuals, advocates, faculty, administrators, students, staff and community members, the board is deeply invested in inclusion, accommodation and the discussion of the rights of people with differences. Through their insight, Services to Students with Disabilities gains a direct understanding from individuals and stakeholders of the best approaches, methods and practices to serve students with differences. https://www.csusb.edu/ssd/advocacy
ABOUT DR. JOHN CHAD SWEENEY, Ph.D.: Chad Sweeney is a professor, poet, and translator. He is the author of six books of poetry, Little Mil- lion Doors (Nightboat Books, winner of Nightboat Prize, 2019), Parable of Hide and Seek (Alice James Books), Arranging the Blaze (Anhinga Press), White Martini of the Apocalypse (Marick Press), Wolf’s Milk: Lost Notebooks of Juan Sweeney (Forklift Books, bilingual Spanish/English) and An Architecture (BlazeVOX Books), and two books of translation, The Art of Stepping Through Time, the selected poems of Iranian dissident poet, H.E. Sayeh (White Pine Press, with Mojdeh Marashi) and Pablo Neruda’s final book, The Call to Destroy Nixon and to Advance the Chilean Revolution (Marick Press, 2019). Most recently, he authored a chapter in the autism inclusion edited scholarly book Rethinking Perception and Centering the Voices of Unique Individuals: Reframing Autism Inclusion in Praxis, titled Tiny Disasters: Confessions of an Autistic Professor. Dr. Sweeney holds an MFA from San Francisco State University and a PhD from Western Michigan University. He is full Professor of English/ Creative Writing at California State University San Bernardino and lives in Southern California with his partner, Jennifer Kochanek Sweeney, and their two children. https://www.chadsweeney.me
https://www.igi-global.com/chapter/tiny-disasters/312056
ABOUT CALIFORNIA STATE UNIVERSITY SAN BERNARDINO: California State University, San Bernardino is a preeminent center of intellectual and cultural activity in Inland Southern California. Opened in 1965 and set at the foothills of the beautiful San Bernardino Mountains, the university serves more than 20,000 students each year and graduates about 4,000 students annually. CSUSB reflects the dynamic diversity of the region and has the most diverse student population of any university in the Inland Empire. More than 80 percent of those who graduate are the first in their families to do so. https://www.csusb.edu