Contact: Patti Klein Lerner,
(818) 677-2130

Nationally Known Disability Expert Takes Over CSUN Post

Rizer, 46, a native of Maryland and currently of Starkville, Mississippi, was chosen after a national search from among 20 candidates. He will assume his CSUN post on Aug. 1.

"It is with great excitement and anticipation that I join the Center on Disabilities at CSUN," said Rizer. "I hope that my 23 years of experience in rehabilitation and special education will allow me to contribute to this impressive organization."

"The Center on Disabilities has contributed greatly to the mission of focusing international attention towards the issues of disability and technology and this effort must continue," Rizer added. "Both the fields of disability and technology undergo constant change and I plan to continue to seek new and creative means by which to benefit both."

Rizer has worked for the past 17 years in the field of assistive technology, which uses electronics and computers to enhance the lives of people with disabilities, said Jodi Johnson, associate director of the Center On Disabilities.

"We're really glad to get someone of his caliber here to lead us," said Johnson. For the last six years, Rizer has been director of the T.K. Martin Center for Technology and Disability at Mississippi State University, which he founded.

From 1983 to 1994, Rizer was a part-time faculty member at the Johns Hopkins University School of Continuing Studies.

He earned his doctorate in special education and rehabilitation technology from Johns Hopkins in 1990.

From 1982 to 1994, he was technology resources office director for the Maryland State Department of Education's Division of Rehabilitation Services, Maryland Rehabilitation Center.

Rizer was the 1987 recipient of the Humanitarian Award from the National Rehabilitation Association and has been named a Switzer scholar in assistive technology.

He has served the past two years on the advisory board to the CSUN Center on Disabilities and is a founding corporate board member of the National Cristina Foundation, an international organization that recycles computers for use by people with disabilities. He has served as a peer proposal reviewer for several federal agencies. He has consulted internationally, including China, Taiwan and South Korea.

He has authored or co-authored several publications on disabilities and assistive technology. He has achieved certification as an assistive technology practitioner (ATP) from the Rehabilitation Engineering Society of North America (RESNA).

Rizer replaces Harry Murphy, who retired March 31 from his post as Director of the Center on Disabilities, which he founded in 1993. Murphy's career at CSUN spanned 23 years.

The internationally recognized Center on Disabilities at CSUN provides educational support services to students with disabilities and holds an annual conference, "Technology and Persons with Disabilities." The center also directs an "Assistive Technology Applications Certificate Program," which teaches professionals in the field how to use technology on behalf of disabled people.

For more information, call Johnson at (818) 677-2684 or (818) 677-2578.