Student Affairs Welcomes Services to Students with Disabilities Director Lori Palmerton
Meet Lori Palmerton. She joined the Coyote family in June as the Director of Services to Students with Disabilities (SSD). Cal State San Bernardino is the fourth California State University she has worked at, having previously held roles at Sonoma State University, Cal State Fullerton, and Cal State Northridge.
“I just walk on a college campus and feel at home,” said Lori.
She got her start in higher education as a peer mentor in the Office of Academic Advising and Student Services at the University of Oregon, which was her first introduction to Student Affairs.
“Everything that I've built my career on I really learned in that peer mentor position, so I love it when I meet with new peer mentors or peer advisors, because I know what a powerful position that they are in and how many really great things that they're learning,” said Lori.
Prior to Cal State San Bernardino, she served as the Director for Disability Services at Cal State Fullerton, Associate Director and interim Director for the Disability Service Center at the University of California, Irvine, and a Disability Specialist at University of California, Riverside. Lori also served K-12 students as a PPS (pupil personnel services) counselor.
In her role as Director of SSD, Lori oversees the department, works with her team to remove educational barriers for students, and meets regularly with faculty and students to discuss disability services.
“I feel like another important part of my job is just to be that advocate on campus and be the voice for our students with qualified disabilities,” said Lori. “So, every meeting that I'm sitting in, that's my lens — How are the decisions that are being made around this table going to impact and represent our students with disabilities on this campus."
SSD empowers students with disabilities by fostering skills of self-advocacy, resourcefulness, and independence. The department meets with students to identify the barriers in their educational environment and discuss how they can help remove the barriers through academic accommodations, which levels the playing field for students in the classroom.
This year, Lori has big plans for the academic year, including developing new programming, a campus ally program for disability, and a peer mentor program. She will also train new staff to help meet the needs of students. Another priority for Lori is to identify and break down barriers in SSD for students, which allow students to have better access to the department and its resources.
For Lori, assessment will also be at the forefront of SSD’s work.
“We really want to hear from our students,” said Lori. “We want to hear how things are going, and most importantly, we want to know how we can better serve them right now.”
To access information about Services to Students with Disabilities, click here.