The SUNY Empire State College recently announced its plans for a statewide Center for Autism Inclusivity. The first of its kind, fully autism supportive college, is a collaborative effort between SUNY Empire State College and the Anderson Center for Autism.
The project will educate the growing number of students with autism seeking a college degree and will also educate SUNY Empire faculty and staff on autism and how to meet the needs of students with autism in face-to-face and online environments. According to SUNY Empire State College, the new training coupled with SUNY Empire’s nation-leading individualized education model will greatly expand educational opportunity for individuals with ASD.
Noor Syed will serve as director of the Center for Autism Inclusivity. Syed earned her Ph.D., M.Phil, and M.S. degrees from Teachers College, Columbia University, and a B.A. in psychology applied behavior analysis from Binghamton University. She is a Board-Certified Behavior Analyst – Doctoral and a Licensed Behavior Analyst/Specialist in New York, Connecticut, and Pennsylvania. Syed currently serves as a verified course sequence coordinator for the Behavior Analyst Certification Board.
To ensure that the Center for Autism Inclusivity-Anderson Center partnership is grounded in the real-world needs of individuals with autism, their communities, and organizations that serve them, the Center for Autism Inclusivity and Anderson Center are embarking a virtual listening tour. Over the next several months, SUNY Empire, Center for Autism Inclusivity, and Anderson Center leadership will hold a series of regional town hall meetings across New York state to learn firsthand about stakeholder needs and how the Center for Autism Inclusivity-Anderson Center partnership can help address those needs.