Dr. Lyman Dukes, an education professor at USF St. Petersburg, will be recognized next month at the American College Personnel Association’s (ACPA) national convention in Tampa.
Dukes will be honored for his research, which led to the first set of program standards for Disability Student Service offices.
“My focus is the transition of students with disabilities to college settings,” Dukes said. “This involves effective preparation of students in the ‘K through 12’ school settings so that they have not only the skills, but the belief that they can succeed in a college environment.”
“I became interested in my work because I see it as a civil rights issue,” Dukes said. “Students with disabilities have been and, while we’ve made tremendous progress, remain a group that has been denied equal educational opportunity.”
Dukes began his career in education while still a student at the University of Florida, where he was hired to work as a drug and alcohol resource educator for the university. He began working in the College of Education at USFSP in 2001.
“The goal of these supports is to provide students with disabilities the same educational opportunity available to traditional students,” Dukes said. “They are intended to level the playing field, if you will.”
Aside from his continuing work to ensure students with disabilities are able to transition to college smoothly, Dukes has also co-authored a book titled Preparing Students with Disabilities for College Success, which was released in 2010.
His second co-authored book, due out next year, is titled Transition to College for All Students With Disabilities.
While co-authoring a book is greatly time-consuming, Dukes said, the final product is well worth the effort.
“Writing a book is not a particularly easy task,” Dukes said. “However, it’s important that work such as this is done so that the field of disability services – and most importantly – students can continue to progress.”
Bill Heller, dean of the College of Education at USFSP, said the school “has long had both an interest and involvement in programs supporting persons with disabilities in their transition from school to post-secondary careers or education.”
“Dr. Lyman Dukes’ research has helped higher education institutions accommodate the unique needs of students with disabilities,” Heller said.
The unique needs of the students begins at a very young age.
“Both parent’s and educator’s expectations have significant impact on whether a student considers college as an option,” Dukes said. “Research has demonstrated that the power of expectation often determines what students with disabilities do after high school.”
The ACPA national convention is from March 5 through March 8, 2015.
