Accommodating Diverse Learners: Academy Webinar with Pascuala Herrera and Debbie Reuter

Pascuala Herrera, Professor and Accessibility Specialist at Harper College, was born in Mexico and immigrated to the United States at the age of seven. She completed her undergraduate studies in Sociology at DePaul University. She obtained her Master’s degree in Education in Reading, Learning Disabilities, and Bilingual Education from DePaul University. Pascuala started her career at Harper College in 1991. In her role as Accessibility Specialist, she provides and plans services for students with disabilities. Pascuala has assisted thousands of students by conducting intake interviews, determining legal accommodations and providing support for students using disability services. Pascuala also instructs students in the classroom by teaching FYE 101 (First Year Experience) and PSY 107 (Humanistic Psychology), and doing disability awareness presentations as an invited speaker in numerous courses offered at Harper. In addition, she recently taught a graduate equivalency course (GEC) titled “Creating Accessible Environments”. She is a frequent local and national presenter on the topic of disability awareness, motivation and the importance of education for Latino students. She prides herself in leading by example. As a Latina, disabled woman, she inspires and motivates students in working towards achieving their aspirations in spite of challenges they may face.

Debbie Reuter is in her eighth year at Harper College and works as the Accessibility Outreach Specialist in Access and Disability Services. She completed her B.A. in Organizational Communications from Northern Illinois University, her M.S. in School and Community Counseling at National Louis University, and is a Licensed Clinical Professional Counselor. Debbie has been an adjunct faculty at National Louis University, Elgin Community College, and Harper. One of her areas of interest at Harper has been Universal Design for Learning Principals which allows for more equitable classroom instruction for diverse learners. She has attended the Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) UDL Presenters Academy in Massachusetts, UDL-IRN Summit in 2017, is a Diversity and Inclusion facilitator, and is a co-facilitator of the Harper UDL Community of Practice.