2006 Award Recipients

From Left to Right: President C.D. Mote, Julianne Simpson, Olivia Norman, Dr. Debra Neubert, Lindsey Snyder, Charles E. Bowler

• John W. King Staff Disability Achievement Award: Charles E. Bowler
• Faculty Disability Achievement Award: Dr. Debra Neubert
• Undergraduate Student Disability Achievement Award: Olivia Norman
• Graduate Student Disability Achievement Award: Lindsey Snyder
• Special Distinguished Award: Julianne Simpson

Staff Award recipient: Charles E. Bowler
Nominator: Terry Brenner

Charlie Bowler is responsible for the CAD infrastructure staff within Facilities Management. He is a major contact person for specialized mapping presentations. Charlie took it upon himself to generate a prototype of a campus accessibility map. This map has now been used by several offices on campus, and now, the Provost’s office will be printing Charlie’s map as the campus’ official accessible routes map. The map will be made available to faculty, staff, students, and visitors at key public distribution points.

Faculty Award recipient: Dr. Debra Ann Neubert
Nominator: Dr. Sherril Moon

Dr. Debra Neubert is a professor in the Department of Special Education. Dr. Neubert is the Co-PI of two innovative state and federally funded projects at UMD that allow high school students with significant disabilities to experience college. Both programs, UMD High School High Tech and UMD OCO, are recognized nationally as innovative ways to help prepare students with disabilities to participate in post-secondary experiences that lead to better cared opportunities.

Undergraduate Student: Olivia Norman,
Nominator: Sally Koblinsky,

Olivia, who is visually impaired, is a highly motivated, excellent student in the Family Studies Department who has not only overcome personal obstacles, but has continuously strived to improve learning conditions for other students who may be challenged by a disability. Olivia has gone the extra mile to improve physical access for students who may experience visual impairment or other disabilities. With great tact, she has also helped the campus libraries understand why some of their facilities and technologies are not always accessible to disabled students.

Graduate Student: Lindsey Snyder,
Nominator: Rita Phelps

Lindsey Snyder is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Theatre Arts whose research focuses on the ways in which disability has been represented on-stage. She has been a strong advocate for deaf students at the University of Maryland, encouraging both participation in and attendance of theatre productions. She is also a mentor to undergraduates interested in disability studies has taken an active role in working to create an awareness of disability issues/studies in the department.

Distinguished Service Award: Julianne Simpson
Nominator: Arshad Mughal

Julianne Simpson was a dedicated and dependable employee for the University of Maryland for 17 years. In her last five years at the university, Julianne served as a program planner in the Department of Facilities Planning. Due to her dedication to access issues, she did much more beyond her job duties to help make the campus more accessible. While her job did not call for her to design solutions to access problems, she took the initiative to learn the ADA design guidelines. Due to her knowledge of ADA design guidelines, she was sought out by both her Facilities Management (FM) colleagues and campus citizens to solve access problems. Julianne Simpson worked well beyond the call of duty to help make our campus more accessible to our students, faculty and visitors.

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