Passion for Mission

Yang-Tan Institute Director Susanne Bruyère will receive the 2016 Distinguished Service Award from the National Association of Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers on May 6 at its conference in Alexandria, Va.

An ILR professor of disability studies, Bruyère was nominated for her sustained contributions to the disability field through research, education and service.

She is an internationally recognized expert in disability and rehabilitation, disability and inclusion, disability law, prevention of workplace disability, disability management and nondiscrimination for persons with disabilities in employment.
 
Bruyère’s work focuses on disability and employment from global, comparative, technological and environmental perspectives.

Her research has covered:

• Creating a workplace disability inclusive climate
• Disability disclosure in the workplace
• Workplace policies and practices facilitating employment of individuals with disabilities
• Workplace accommodations facilitating hiring and retention of employees with and without disabilities
• Information and communication technology accessibility for persons with disabilities
• Green economy job creation and inclusion of people with disabilities

The award from the country’s foremost disability and rehabilitation researchers and scientists was announced Thursday.

Bruyère completed 10 years of service as the school’s associate dean of outreach in 2015.

As director of the K. Lisa Yang and Hock E. Tan Institute on Employment and Disability, she has served as principal investigator and director of numerous federally and privately funded research efforts at Cornell.

They include projects funded by the U.S. Department of Education, National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research, U.S. Department of Labor Office of Disability Employment Policy, and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.
 
Bruyère thanked her Yang-Tan Institute team Thursday. “Whatever I have been able to achieve over the past decades has been a function of working with a remarkable team of hard working and very talented people.”

“Your passion for the mission and issues that we are about, and your high quality of work and responsiveness to the people that we serve, is a daily inspiration.”

“Let’s continue to keep raising the bar on the excellence and successful impact of our work, and to make a measured change in the lives of individuals with disabilities worldwide.”