Special Services Counselor
Career Summary
I am a Counselor in the Special Services area of the Counseling and Academic Advising office. I work with students with disabilities, students who place into developmental courses on the MCC placement test, and students from other countries who have not yet mastered the English language. I provide assistance to students from application through graduation. I help students understand how to navigate our online catalog, registration system, how to read and understand program plans and transfer plans, and how to make informed career decisions. The majority of my job involves helping students with disabilities receive accommodations for their classes. I evaluate the documentation that students provide and determine what types of accommodations are warranted. I provide Accommodation letters that students give to their instructors to inform them of the accommodations that they are eligible to receive.
The busiest time in my job is during the summer, when many teaching faculty are not on-campus. We work with a large number of incoming high school students during the summer months. Students are coming in for Starting at Macomb sessions, taking the placement test, and meeting with us to plan courses for the fall semester. During the summer we also meet with current students to plan classes for their next semester or discuss transferring to a university.
I have worked as a full-time faculty member since 2010, and worked for 2 years prior as an adjunct faculty. Before coming to Macomb Community College, I worked for 10 years for the State of Michigan as a Rehabilitation Counselor, assisting people with disabilities in finding employment.
Other responsibilities while at MCC
I have been a member of the New Student Orientation team since it began in 2011. In this role I have attempted to make the New Student Orientation experience more accessible to students with disabilities. I currently serve on the MCC Institutional Review Board, which is responsible for reviewing and approving research studies that our faculty want to conduct. I also served for 2 years on the MCC Financial Aid appeals committee where we made decisions about students’ eligibility for financial aid based on documentation that they provided.
I have had several opportunities to present breakout sessions at FDD and IDD to provide faculty and staff with information about the Special Services department, the students that we serve, and how we can be a resource for them when working with students with disabilities.