Latest news with #LesleyCottrell
Dominion Post
30-07-2025
- Health
- Dominion Post
WVU Center for Excellence in Disabilities facing elimination
MORGANTOWN — After nearly five decades providing and promoting better services to West Virginians with disabilities, the WVU Center for Excellence in Disabilities has about 60 days remaining without a budgetary Hail Mary. It's not alone. All University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) are set to be eliminated Oct. 1 without changes to the upcoming federal budget. The Association of University Centers on Disabilities notes there are currently 68 UCEDDs, including at least one in every state and territory. The centers work with people with disabilities, members of their families, state and local government agencies and community providers on projects that provide training, technical assistance, services, research and information sharing. 'UCEDDs have played key roles in every major disability initiative over the past four decades,' the AUCD notes. According to the Fiscal Year 2026 Budget in Brief available at University Centers for Excellence in Development Disabilities have historically fallen under the Administration for Community Living, which is being consolidated with the Administration for Children and Families to create the Administration for Children, Families and Communities. With the consolidation comes a reprioritization of funds. 'Savings come from eliminating radical diversity, equity and inclusion and critical race theory programs, which weaponized large swaths of the federal government against the American people and moving programs that are better suited for states and localities to provide.' In addition to University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities, funding will also be eliminated for the Low-Income Home Energy Assistance Program, Community Services Block Grant programs, transitional medical services for refugees, refugee social services, chronic disease self-management education, limb loss resources, paralysis resource center, voting access for people with disabilities and the White House Conference on Aging. A press release issued by the WVU CED says the centers are being incorrectly lumped in with DEI programs. 'The WVU Center for Excellence in Disabilities has been the foundation for developing, testing and sustaining evidence-based trainings and services that help West Virginians with disabilities achieve independence and a better quality of life – building a support system that the community and state depend on,' WVU CED Director Lesley Cottrell said. 'Over the years, programs like Life Quilters and the intensive Autism Services Delivery clinic for children have originated and grown through the efforts of CED team members, trainees and experts.' Last year, the WVU CED provided services to more than 435,000 people through its numerous programs and clinics. These services are critically important, Cottrell continued, considering one in three West Virginians (37%) live with a disability according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. U.S. Census Bureau statistics also show West Virginia has the highest disability rate in the country at 19.4%. In addition to the services, loss of funding would eliminate 96 jobs and likely eliminate more than $11 million in additional funding leveraged through the federal allocation. 'Many West Virginians have been trained in some form by the services at the CED if they work with individuals with disabilities. Many of these individuals have gone on to develop and expand services within West Virginia and across the nation,' Cottrell said. 'With secured funding, the center will continue to train our future, advance our knowledge of key disabilities through innovative research and work hard to make sure that these services are available to every community in the state.' For those interested in getting involved, WVU CED is asking individuals, professionals and students to share a positive experience at Similarly, the AUCD is collecting feedback at
Yahoo
08-04-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Senate committee advances bill to remove voting power from 4 WVU BOG members
Apr. 7—MORGANTOWN — The House bill that would strip the voting rights from the two faculty representatives, the classified staff representative and the student body representative on the WVU Board of Governors advanced out of the Senate Government Organization Committee Monday morning and heads to the Senate floor. HB 3279 contains several elements. It mandates that one BOG member for WVU and West Virginia State University — the two land-grant institutions — represent agriculture, forestry or the related sciences. It raises the number of gubernatorial appointees for WVU's BOG from 12 to 15 and requires one of them to be the agriculture /forestry representative, one to represent WVU Tech and one to represent Potomac State. It raises total WVU BOG membership from 17 to 19. For West Virginia State, it requires one of nine gubernatorial appointees to be the agriculture /forestry representative. A three-year West Virginia residency requirement for a BOG member to be eligible to be elected chair was removed from the bill. And for WVU and Marshall and all other institutions, the bill makes the faculty representative, the student representative and the classified staff representative nonvoting advisory members. For WVU specifically, it makes the Extension service faculty representative also a non-voting member. Because the agenda was packed, committee chair Patricia Rucker, R-Jefferson, limited time for public testimony. WVU BOG faculty representative Lesley Cottrell spoke briefly about the right to vote, saying, "We've taken that responsibility seriously." No one knows why those voting rights are removed in this bill, she said, and she asked to have them restored. Discussion was minimal. Sen. Anne Charnock, R-Kanawha, said, "I just think the optics are horrible." The Senate has been working to ensure people have the right to vote and this takes away that right from BOG members. By way of background, debate was more thorough — if futile — in the House. Travis Mollohan, WVU's associate vice president for government relations, told the Higher Education Subcommittee that first considered the bill that the four members have had voting power since 1989. They represent 25, 000 students, 2, 000 staff and 3, 500 faculty. Board members don't always agree, but they bring valuable insights to board discussions. And Cottrell appeared before the full Education committee. "We're all trying to think about how this would affect us, " she said. WVU didn't ask for this, she said, and no one knows why it's in this bill. "It's like being at the adult table and now being asked to sit at the kiddie table, even though the family asked you to sit at the adult table." While BOG votes are typically unanimous and represent a consensus, she said, what they vote on has been shaped and modified by the voices of those proposed to have their votes taken away in this bill. "Why and why now, " she asked. While bill supporters said those members would still have a voice even without a vote, others disagreed. Delegate Lori Dittman, R-Braxton, said, "Faculty, students and staff are the heartbeat and soul of our institutions." And Delegate Mike Pushkin, D-Kanawha, said, "I don't know why we are doing this. I don't know what the purpose of this is — to silence the voice of faculty and students." The committee vote was 15-9 to advance it to the House floor. Monongalia County Republicans Geno Chiarelli and Joe Statler both voted in favor of the bill. But they reversed their votes on the House floor, where it passed 62-35. On the floor, all Mon, Marion and Preston delegates voted against it except George Street, R-Preston.
