James Ferris is the newly selected endowed Disabilities Studies Program chairman.
Ferris sees great potential in the program.
"I'm hoping to develop the Disabilities Studies Program at the university into an outstanding program," Ferris said. "I'm hoping to develop it in ways that it will serve as a model for other programs around the country."
There are unprecedented opportunities in the Disabilities Studies Program, Ferris said.
"[It's] the opportunity to work with the [Ability Center of Greater Toledo] to provide students with a set of critical thinking tools and a solid knowledge based around the social implications of the range of human circumstances," Ferris said.
A search committee comprised of UT faculty members and a representative of the Ability Center selected Ferris from a number of candidates, said Yueh-Ting Lee, dean of the College of Arts and Sciences.
"[Ferris] will definitely enhance students' learning about disabilities," he said.
The chairman's duties and responsibilities include recruiting students to the Disabilities Studies Program, the development of the program curriculum and expansion of degree offerings, Lee said.
"[Ferris] will collaborate with faculty and members of the Ability Center of Greater Toledo to expand the Disabilities Studies Program," he said. "We're very proud of the relationship between our university and the ability center."
The chairman's position is funded by a $1.9 million endowment awarded to UT from the Ability Center, said Dan Wilkins, manager of public relations for the center.
The center is excited about Ferris, too.
"We're very happy to have him," Wilkins said. "He's a very nice, gentle soul."
The Ability Center's mission is to empower people to live, work and socialize in a fully accessible community, he said. The center is founded on the belief that a disability is an integral part of the human condition.
The medical field tends to view physical disabilities as a negative condition needing to be fixed, Wilkins said.
"In our world, we believe the disability is part of us," he said. "We're fine how we are."
The center views the roughly 60 million Americans with disabilities as a minority that needs to be accurately represented, Wilkins said.
"We see disabilities as a social construct," he said. "We look at disabilities as part of the fabric of human civilization."
Ferris received his doctorate in communication studies with an emphasis in performance studies from Southern Illinois University. Ferris's starting salary at UT will be $75,000.
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