It is a three-year appointment.

The Statewide Independent Living Council is a decision-making body and advisory board responsible for overseeing the state's Independent Living Plan and ensuring California receives the federal funding for the implementation of the plan. The council also is responsible for communicating and providing leadership to the more than 60 independent living centers across the state.

The centers are responsible for providing services to promote the independent living paradigm. This includes consumer control and the right to environmental access of individuals with disabilities to ensure that they can fully participate in society.

"I am thrilled to be able to provide support to the independent living movement through my appointment to the state council," Pearson said. "I am also happy to provide the unique perspective deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals to the council and the governor's office."

Pearson was named director of CSUN's National Center on Deafness (NCOD) in 1999. Before that she served as a program director with the U.S. Department of Education. She is a member of the National Association of the Deaf and the California Association of Post-Secondary Education and Disabilities. She has a doctorate of education from George Washington University.

The National Center on Deafness' nationally recognized support system of notetakers, tutors and interpreters allows CSUN's approximately 250 deaf and hard-of-hearing students to take a full part in university life.

CSUN'S population of deaf and hard-of-hearing students is one of the largest at any mainstream university in the United States. The university was among the first to offer services to mainstream these students, beginning in the 1960s. The NCOD was founded in 1972.

California State University, Northridge has more than 30,000 full- and part-time students and offers 59 bachelor's and 41 master's degrees. Founded in 1958, it is the only four-year university in the San Fernando Valley and the third largest in the 23-campus CSU system. The Western Association of Schools and Colleges recently said CSUN "stands as a model to other public urban institutions of higher education."