Yesterday, the UD Vice Provost for Diversity, Carol Henderson, presented CDS’s Laura Eisenman the second annual Mary Custis Straughn Disability Advocacy Award, granted by UD’s Office of Diversity for excellence in higher education disability advocacy. Eisenman, an associate professor in the UD School of Education, was nominated by the interim director of the School, Chrystalla Mouza.

In her recommendation, Mouza cited Eisenman’s work as the faculty coordinator of the CDS-administered Disability Studies minor. Under Eisenman’s leadership, the minor, which exposes undergraduates to multiple perspectives on disability, has grown from 50 to 510 students in 13 years. It has been the most popular on campus for the past four years.

Mouza also highlighted Eisenman’s role as the leader of a five-year, federally-funded project that led to the creation of the CDS-run Career and Life Studies Certificate program, which enables postsecondary students with intellectual disabilities to explore academic and career opportunities while practicing growing life skills and taking part in UD campus life.

In the School of Education, Eisenman teaches a course on the transition from high school to adult life for young adults with disabilities, as well as a course on special education and the capstone seminar in the Disability Studies minor. She also recently co-edited a book – with Stephanie Kerschaum, last year’s Mary Custis Straughn Award winner – about college experiences of faculty, students and staff with disabilities, Negotiating Disability: Disclosure in Higher Education.