Schiro-Geist Receives Inaugural Service Award
SAVANNAH, Ga. – Dr. Chrisann Schiro-Geist will receive the inaugural Service Award from the Association for Rehabilitation, Research, Policy and Education (ARRPE). The award recognizes an individual who has contributed to national issues related to service to persons with disabilities from a research, policy and/or education position.
“Academics are used to getting research and scholarship awards, but this is a bit different,” Schiro-Geist said.
Schiro-Geist, who helped found the University of Memphis Institute on Disability (UMID) and the University’s Inclusive Higher Education (IHE) program TigerLIFE, has been a leading voice in the field of disability for many years. Through her leadership, TigerLIFE has produced more IHE graduates, students with mental and/or developmental disabilities and delays who have gone on to acquire and hold a job, than any of the other eight IHE programs in the State of Tennessee.
“Dr. Schiro-Geist’s leadership, research and advocacy accomplishments associated with the University of Memphis’s Institute on Disability (UMID) clearly make her deserving of this recognition,” said Dr. Deirdre O’Sullivan, an associate professor of rehabilitation and human services at Penn State University and an ARRPE board member. “Her work has resulted in research collaborations, trainings and improved interventions for many people living with disabilities.”
“While made to one person, I really want to use this award to recognize my service team,” Schiro-Geist said. “I am not the success of TigerLIFE. The staff working with me are the cause of successes. I am not the research team, just the principal investigator. I am not the only one who puts in hundreds of volunteer hours toward the creation of accreditation standards, even though I may be the one who fixes the final draft. Service awards are group awards, even if they go to a person. This award should really go to our UMID team and all the staff that have made it grow over the last 17 years.”
Schiro-Geist has served as a leading voice in this field for many years, serving as president of three different national accreditation bodies: The Council on Rehabilitation Education, the National Rehabilitation Counseling Association, and the American Board of Vocational Experts. She currently serves on the board of the Inclusive Higher Education Accreditation Council (IHEAC).
###