MSU STRIDE Center promotes independence, employment and quality of life for people with disabilities

<p><a href="https://education.msu.edu/news/2022/msu-launches-new-center-to-help-individuals-with-disabilities/">The center</a>, which launched in June 2022, is housed within the <a href="https://education.msu.edu">MSU College of Education</a> and the <a href="https://education.msu.edu/cepse/">Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education</a>. The center's co-directors and other personnel work with individuals and partner with researchers, service providers, employers, and policy makers to provide and efficiently disseminate evidence-based practices of support.</p><p>Connie Sung is an associate professor of rehabilitation counseling at Michigan State University and one of the co-directors of the <a href="https://www.facebook.com/MSUSTRIDE">MSU STRIDE Center</a>. Marisa Fisher is an associate professor of special education at MSU and the other co-director of the STRIDE Center. </p><p>“I have always been passionate about supporting adolescents and young adults with disabilities,” says Fisher. “It probably comes from my experience as a sibling of an individual with an intellectual disability. He's older than I am, so I saw his entire school-to-work transition and saw where the struggles were and saw what the successes were. I was really interested in it, and I want to help other people as well.”</p><p>“I'm passionate about the work because my mother has a medicine background,” says Sung. “I was trained in occupational therapy and psychology. I've worked with people ranging in age from the really young to toddler age and all the way to the elderly.”</p><p>STRIDE is an acronym for the MSU Center for Services, Training and Research for Independence and Desired Employment.</p><p>“I have to give credit to Marisa because she came up with the name and each of the letters,” continues Sung. “S stands for the services we provide. T is for training. As part of the land grant mission, we want to provide training for our students, but also for people who are now in service training. And then R i