Instructors

Susanne Bruyère

Susanne M. Bruyère, Ph.D., CRC, is Associate Dean of Outreach in the Cornell University ILR School and Director of the Employment and Disability Institute. As Associate Dean of Outreach, Susanne contributes to the development of the School's vision and mission, as well as to the strategic, programmatic, and administrative priorities for the School. She is also responsible for leading the public relations, communications, and marketing functions of the School, promoting visibility for the School's outreach activities and proactively seeking new clients and new external sources of funding for the outreach and research activities of the School.

As Director of the Employment and Disability Institute, she is responsible for the strategic and financial direction of a multi- million dollar research, training, technical assistance, and information dissemination organization devoted to improving employment outcomes and inclusive communities for people with disabilities. Professor Bruyere is also currently Project Director and a Co-Principal Investigator of numerous research efforts focused on employment disability nondiscrimination and disability employment policy,funded by numerous federal agencies.

Dr. Bruyere is a Fellow in the American Psychological Association ,the current Chairperson of the Global Applied Disability Research and Information Network (GLADNET) and CARF (Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Faciliites), and Past President of the Division (22) of Rehabilitation Psychology of the American Psychological Association (APA), the National Council on Rehabilitation Education (NCRE), and the American Rehabilitation Counseling Association (ARCA).

Raymond A. Cebula, III, Esq.

Raymond A. Cebula, III, Esq. is a faculty member of the Employment and Disability Institute in the ILR School at Cornell University. As a faculty member, he provides technical assistance and training to an array of stakeholders on social insurance issues as well as protection and advocacy supports. As an experienced social security disability attorney Mr. Cebula practiced with the Disability Benefits Project as a Senior Staff Attorney with the Disability Law Center in Boston, Massachusetts. He has also served as a Managing Attorney of the Disability and Medicare projects at Southeastern Massachusetts Legal Assistance Corporation. He is a graduate of Franklin Pierce Law Center in Concord, NH and received a Reginald Heber Smith Community Lawyer Fellowship upon graduation. He is also a graduate of Merrimack College and holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in history. His practice has concentrated in the area of social security practice and has brought several pieces of significant litigation on behalf of low income, disabled social security beneficiaries. While working with the Disability Law Center, Mr. Cebula taught at Harvard Law School's Legal Aid Bureau for a period of three academic years. He is the co-author of the MCLE publication An Advocate's Guide to Surviving the SSI System, as well as several SSI practice manuals published by Massachusetts Continuing Legal Education, and is a regular presenter of social security related programs at local and national conferences of social security practitioners.

Wendy Strobel Gower

Wendy Strobel is the Director of the DBTAC Northeast ADA Center. She holds a Masters degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from the Medical College of Virginia at Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU). Ms. Strobel has worked extensively in the application and training of issues around assistive technology in work and school environments. She also has a great deal of experience in the area of employment and transition from school to work for people with disabilities. Other areas of interest include person centered planning philosophy and tools, disability legislation and its impact on services, and the identification and accommodation of the functional limitations of disabilities across the lifespan.

Ellice Switzer

Ellice joined Cornell University's Employment and Disability Institute (EDI) in November 2012. Ellice provides technical assistance consultation to a variety of constituents for the National Technical Assistance, Policy, and Research Center for the Employment of Persons with Disabilities funded by the US Department of Labor Office of Disability and Employment Policy (ODEP) and the Employer Practices Related to Employment Outcomes Among Individuals with Disabilities Rehabilitation Research Training Center (EP-RRTC) funded by the National Institute of Disability Rehabilitation Research (NIDRR), U.S. Department of Education.

Ellice has spent the last 15 years providing, developing, and managing services for individuals with disabilities. Her primary focus has been in the field of vocational rehabilitation with an emphasis on psychiatric rehabilitation. Previously, Ellice developed and then managed a comprehensive program for adults which combined day habilitation and pre-vocational services.

Debora L. Wagner, JD

Debora Wagner spent 25 years working with legal services and law school clinical programs. She started her career at the Legal Aid Society of Greater Cincinnati, where she represented individuals with disabilities in benefits cases before the Department of Veterans Affairs and the Social Security Administration, with a specialization in work incentive planning. She taught at the University of Cincinnati College of Law, University of Denver Sturm College of Law, and Saint Louis University School of Law, focusing on clinical legal education and poverty law.

Throughout her career, she has taught disability benefits, including post-entitlement and return to work issues for attorneys, vocational rehabilitation professionals, agency staff, individuals with disabilities, and their families. She is frequently invited to present on the intersection of VA benefits and Social Security benefits, with a focus on how work impacts benefits for Veterans. Prior to coming to Cornell, she led the statewide network of work incentive training and technical assistance for benefits planners in Ohio.

In December 2021, Debora joined the Cornell staff, where she continues to provide work incentive training and technical assistance. She also serves as an instructor on ytiONLINE, the institute's distance learning program for benefits planners and others interested in learning about Social Security disability, VA disability, and work incentive programs.

Aleyda Toruno, JD

Aleyda joined the Yang-Tan Institute in 2023 where she provides work incentives training, technical assistance and support.

Aleyda has been advocating for the rights of people with disabilities for over 20 years. Prior to her current position at the Yang-Tan Institute, she represented clients in mediations and hearings in Social Security work incentives, vocational rehabilitation, special education, California Regional Center services, and Medi-Cal. Her passion to help clients through the employment continuum led her to the world of work incentives counseling. Most recently she was the project manager and work incentives counselor through the federally funded WIPA project at Disability Rights California.