Edina Rutland, Ph.D.
CAPED President
Edina has been the Director of the Student Accessibility Services at San Jose City College since 2014. After becoming profoundly deaf at the age of 15, she dedicated her life to provide opportunities and support for people with disabilities. She taught American Sign Language and Disability Issues classes at the University of Nevada, Reno; worked with the Legislature of three different States to help shape disability policies; and worked with non-profit organizations to provide services to individuals with disabilities. Her passion has always been education. Having completed five degrees, her goal is to encourage and inspire students with educational limitations to strive for accomplishing their dreams. She strongly believes in advocacy and collaboration to ensure that the barriers students with disabilities face are overcome both on the institutional and state level.
Adam Gottdank, Ph.D.
President-Elect
Adam S. U. Gottdank is the Associate Dean for Disability Support Services (DSS) at North Orange Continuing Education (NOCE). He has been in his current role since 2017. He was President of the NOCE Academic Senate from 2014 to 2017, and DSS faculty from 2005 to 2017. Adam was the Director of Outcomes and a Manager of Service Coordination for the Regional Center of Orange County (RCOC) for most of his tenure from 1994 to 2005. Earlier in his career, Adam worked with individuals who have disabilities in a high school, a mental health facility, and in retail settings. He conducted research related to families who have children with disabilities for 7 years as part of the U.C. Santa Barbara Special Education Research Lab. Adam earned a Ph.D. in Education Policy, Special Education and Disability, and a M.A. in Psychology and Counseling. He previously served CAPED as the Southern Chair for the ID/ASD CIG for many years, and he has been part of the Conference Planning Committee for 5 years. Adam grew up with family members who have disabilities. He is a member of several regional professional associations including the Orange County Local Partnership (OCLPA) Steering Committee, the Postsecondary Education Transition Consortium (PSETC), the North Orange County Regional Consortium (NOCRC) for adult education, The UCLA Tarjan Advisory Committee, and the Orange County Disability Coalition. Adam recently published a book with two colleagues, Transition, A Conversation with Parents. A Guide for Individuals with Disabilities, their Parents, and the Professionals Dedicated to Serving Them, 1st Edition. The book provides resources and guidance on key aspects related to transition from K12 to postsecondary education, employment, and independent living (Adam S.U. Gottdank, Ph.D., Linda O’Neal, M.A., Casey Sousa, M.S.).
Nicole Smith, Ph.D.
Past-President
Dr. Nicole Smith is a lecturer at California State University, Long Beach in the College of Health and Human Services. Dr. Smith served as the Dean of Counseling Programs and Services at Citrus College starting mid-2019 where she oversaw DSPS, EOP&S, CalWORKs, Counseling and Advisement, Career Transfer Center, Student Equity and Achievement Program, and was a lead in Guided Pathways. She earned a PhD in Education from Claremont Graduate University in 2015 focusing on social integration of students with disabilities at the university level and the predictors of success. In previous roles, she has served as the Director of Disability Support Services at Moreno Valley College and the Disability Resource Center at Riverside City College for five years. Prior to her role as a Disability Resource Director at Riverside Community College District, Dr. Smith served as an Autism Services’ Coordinator for Disabled Student Services at California State University, Long Beach.
Before her service in higher education, she taught students with disabilities in K-12, for seven years.
Dr. Smith holds a Master’s Degree in Special Education from California Polytechnic University, Pomona and earned two credentials: an Education Specialist credential for Mild/Moderate; and, a Multiple Subjects’ Credential.
She has also held other positions in CAPED such as the Secretary, Communique Editor in Chief, CAPED Mentor, Conference Chair, and CAPED Representative to Region Coordinators.
Lecturer
CSULB
Nathaniel Rice
Vice-President of CAPED Interest Groups
Nathaniel Rice has worked in disability services in numerous capacities, from student assistant to DSPS Director, at three different colleges, for nearly 25 years in total, with the last 13 at Chabot College. During his time at Chabot, starting as the Alternate Media Technology Specialist, he completely revamped the alternate media process, worked to bring back the annual (now once each semester) Accessibility Awareness Day, taught an accessibility software class, and has worked across his district on numerous projects, often with a technology focus. He has been the DSPS director at Chabot since the start of 2018.
A product of community college himself (Go DVC Vikings), he is deeply aware of their power for change and development in a student, their unique opportunities, and is very committed to helping college students cultivate their skills and achieve all that they can in their academic career. That belief extends to everyone he interacts with, and as such he has done a number of presentations and trainings to assist colleagues across his district, as well as now in the CMP, to share whatever he has gleaned over the years, to improve everyone’s abilities.
Krystle Taylor, Ed.D.
Vice-President of Committees
Dr. Krystle Taylor works to examine the experiences of disability intersections with race, culture, socio-economic status, and other identities to support students at MiraCosta College. Dr. Taylor’s experience includes supporting students with disabilities through instruction, learning disability (LD) assessments, career development, and academic counseling. In addition to leadership within Student Accessibility Services at MiraCosta College, she has served as a Learning Disabilities Eligibility and Services Model trainer with the Chancellor’s Office for the past five years. Dr. Taylor serves as the Vice President of Committees for the California Association for Postsecondary Education and Disability (CAPED), though has also served as a co-chair for the CAPED Counseling and Career Development interest group. Prior to serving at MiraCosta, Dr. Taylor worked within the San Diego Community College District for eight years and held various roles, including College 2 Career program Educational Coach and Graduate Intern, Instructor, Resource Specialist, LD Specialist, and Acting WorkAbility III Coordinator. Within these experiences, she places focus on including disability in equity conversations, disability advocacy, and analyzing student data to address equity gaps. She is committed to leading and building collaborative partnerships across institutions to meet student needs.
Prior to working in the community colleges, Dr. Taylor worked for the Department of the Air Force providing resources and services to military families with children with disabilities. Recognizing a need for continued supports and access to educational opportunities, Dr. Taylor transitioned to working to support adults with accomplishing life goals.
Dr. Taylor earned her Ed.D in Educational Leadership and M.S. in Rehabilitation Counseling from San Diego State University. She also currently serves as a board member for Autism Society of San Diego.
Outside of academia, Dr. Taylor enjoys playing softball, snowboarding, road trips, and traveling.
Dawn Decker, Psy.D.
Treasurer
Degrees:
Psy.D. in Clinical Psychology from Pepperdine University
M.A. in Clinical Psychology from Edinboro University of Pennsylvania
B.A. in Genreral Psychology from Niagara University
Dawn is a full-time CCCCO-certified Learning Disabilities (LD) Specialist at Cypress College. She has worked in DSPS as a LD Specialist for Long Beach City College, Santa Monica College, and Orange Coast College. She also worked as an intern at Santa Ana College. She has worked in disability services for 11 years. Prior to working for the California Community College system, she worked in Psychological Services at two private universities, at a community mental health clinic, at two inpatient psychiatric hospitals, and was a substance abuse counselor.
Prior to becoming Treasurer, Dawn held two other positions within CAPED. She was CAPED’s membership chair and was the Southern Co-chair for the Learning Disabilities (LD) CIG.
Non-Work Passion: In Dawn’s free time, she volunteers with dog rescue, leads her neighborhood watch, and is involved with various activities in her community. She enjoys spending time with her husband, rescue dog, and friends. They like to travel together, attend live theater, go to the movies, go out to eat, go to museums, and attend other cultural events.
DSS Counselor
Cypress College
Emmy Madrid
Secretary
Emmy Madrid, a proud U.S Army veteran who served honorably as a specialist assigned to Headquarters Company 497th Transportation Company Supply/Transportation Unit and always felt a passion to work with specialized populations throughout her career.
Upon her separation from the military, as an east coast transplant from Pennsylvania, she started her career within a foster/adoption service organization where she gained experience in working with children and teens promoting education and mental health services. A few years later, she decided to make the ultimate move and drove solo, cross country to California in 1992 for better career opportunities.
Always feeling at home in an educational environment, she began her journey with Citrus College in 2002, beginning with the Fine and Performing/Recording Arts Department. Later she was promoted to a Program Lead within Foster/Kinship Care Education (FKCE) Department for the Independent Living Skills (ILP) Program. There within this position, it was apparent that many program recipients were dually diagnosed and needed assistance to access available resources. It was here where she found great reward supporting students with disabilities who participated in the program.
In 2012, a position within Disabled Student Programs and Services Department (DSPS) became available where it felt like a natural cross over to continue to work with students participating in specialized programs. Now, after 11 years, Emmy is just as excited to contribute her hard work and efforts to see students succeed. Emmy is proud of her 20-year anniversary with Citrus College.
As a DSPS Disability Specialist, she enjoys her work serving the campus community through connecting with students, partners in local organizations, high schools and campus colleagues offering outreach and presentation opportunities.
Courtnie Voet
Executive Assistant
Courtnie is the Student Services Specialist for Disability Support Services (DSS) at North Orange Continuing Education (NOCE), and she has been a part of NOCE DSS since 2015. Courtnie has supported all the innovative programs at NOCE DSS, including: Academics Relationships Independence Self-Advocacy Emotional-Health (ARISE), College 2 Career, Independent Vocational and Educational Supports (IVES), Mobility, Work Independence Self-Advocacy Education (WISE), Workability III, and the DSS classes. Courtnie is proud of her leadership in the area of promoting programs and services to better include students with disabilities in higher education and competitive, integrated employment. Courtnie earned a Bachelor of Arts in English – Literature, Criticism, and Theory, with a minor in Film Studies from the University of California, Davis. She is a volunteer with Cage to Couch Rescue. This Southern California-based non-profit helps lab-test animal survivors find loving homes and pushes to end animal testing worldwide “until the last cage is empty”.
Magaly Rojas-Gonzalez
Fiscal Coordinator
Magaly has worked for Los Angeles Community College District for the past 17 years in Student Services Areas as well as Academic Affairs. Her experience has made her resourceful and has become instrumental in building new partners and working with community members to shape strong programs. Currently, she has become the Basic Needs Coordinator for Los Angeles Mission College (LAMC).
One of Magaly’s passions is to teach, and she enjoys being Adjunct Faculty for the Life Science Department at LAMC and for Non-Credit (Adult Education) at Los Angeles City College.
Magaly earned a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance, and Business Administration from California State University, Northridge followed by a Master’s in Science, Health Care Administration from California State University, Long Beach.
She is also part of Gus Chavez Educational Leadership Institute were experienced educational administrators in California keep mentoring and inspiring her to promote social justice and equity in education in higher education.