Part Two in Our Series Highlighting CUNY SPS Alumni and the School’s Disability Studies Programs
As part of our observance of CUNY Disability Awareness Month this April, contributing writer Tanzina Vega shines a spotlight on the CUNY Disability Services Apprentice Program and the CUNY SPS alumni involved in the project who are making a difference. (Read part one of this series here.)
Among the many ways the CUNY School of Professional Studies (CUNY SPS) provides hands-on learning for students interested in exploring the world of disability services is through participation in the CUNY Disability Services Apprenticeship Program (DSAP).
The CUNY-wide program is a paid internship where students provide virtual and in-person support to disabled peers while gaining practical work experience. Apprentices work at colleges across the CUNY system including Baruch, Lehman, Queensborough, Hostos, Brooklyn College and more. The first cohort of DSAP had 12 trainees and has increased to 15 trainees this year across 14 campuses. These DSAP trainees learn about all aspects of disability services and the culture of service to students, along with some core themes of disability studies as part of the training curriculum.
CUNY SPS alum Jenna Lamm (pictured left), former Associate Director of CUNY Disability Programs, now acts as a professional development specialist and oversees DSAP. “The model for DSAP accomplishes longstanding goals around providing more support to the campuses, unifying a curriculum for training new staff, and exposing more students to the amazing career opportunities in disability services,” said Lamm. “It has great opportunities for growth, and you can truly see the impact of helping students succeed in their studies and learn more about themselves in the process.
DSAP came into being with the support of COSDI, a council made up of directors of disability services across CUNY. The formation of a program to develop a talent pipeline of people interested in the field is a direct result of CUNY’s 2023 agreement with the US Department of Justice on a Voluntary Compliance Agreement. Reaching this agreement enabled CUNY to implement important changes to the accommodations process and improve support for students. DSAP trainees are an important part of finding qualified staff to help students. “The trainees are the most exciting part of this project,’ said Lamm. “The enthusiasm and wealth of knowledge they bring to the program really highlights for me the facilitation part of the role. Yes, we have speakers come in and I share my experience, but the trainees come in with a lot of expertise as well.”
Erin Pennill (pictured left), who graduated with a BA in Disability Studies from CUNY SPS in 2025, is the DSAP apprentice for Spring 2026. “I wanted to be a part of something that I could gain wisdom from while being of service to others. After years of searching, I found my fit with Disability Studies.” said Pennill.
It was Pennill’s own experience that led her to pursue this path. “As someone who struggled many times in school, socially, and health wise, I did not truly grasp how disability was something that affects everyone and that it affects us on a systemic level, collectively,” she said. “The topic of disability is often left out of many discussions when it comes to different types of advocacies, people have different experiences. But disability itself is something that will affect the majority of us at some point in life, many of us experience it co-occurring with other marginalizations.”
As a DSAP apprentice, Pennill has been busy learning about how to process student requests for accommodations including “sifting through a whole inventory of assistive tech devices that the college lends out to students, investigating along with my supervisors what is and isn’t needed.”
Pennill is also learning about note-taking applications and other adaptive technologies that allow students with disabilities to participate more fully in their coursework. She also highlighted her experience learning from Dr. Chris Rosa, the president and CEO at the Viscardi Center, an organization led by disabled people that provides numerous services for people with disabilities of all ages and backgrounds.
For Pennill, this apprentice position aligns directly with her career goals. “In this role I want to learn how I can best contribute to an equitable and supportive learning environment for students,” she said. “I want to contribute to the students achieving tangible results in their lives, in the same way I was able to achieve them as a formerly disabled student. While part of this may be me ‘paying it forward,’ education is transformative and it has been a gateway to many opportunities for so many people.”
What is unique about the CUNY SPS Disability Studies programs and the DSAP position is how much the focus is on people as well as process. “I know that unfortunately this is not the case everywhere, many places serving people with disabilities aren’t well educated on the human experiences and fail to see any harmful constructs they may be endorsing and upholding,” said Pennill. “But at the CUNY SPS Office of Student Disability Services and the School’s Disability Studies programs I have observed that the faculty and staff genuinely care and understand. They want to meet with students where they are at and the students are looked at as individuals. The topics that I studied provided me with a higher perspective.”
As CUNY SPS observes Disability Awareness Month this April, Lamm recognizes the challenges the disabled community still faces. “For me, focusing on how I can use my skills to serve the community has always been the best way forward,” she said. “The CUNY Neurodiversity Conference, which held its virtual day on April 17, is an example of how we advance conversations by bringing people together.”
Lamm, who graduated in 2021 with a MA in Youth Studies from CUNY SPS, said watching her mother’s experience as an instructor at a Long Island preschool that included disabled students inspired her to explore the topic years later. “Looking back, I think it is important that my earliest experience was with inclusion, which quickly came to be my expectation,” she said.
After earning a BA in Psychology from Wesleyan University, Lamm said she became interested in how people transition from school to the workplace. “Who finds themselves prepared for the world of work after school, and who is not? I was definitely not,” she said. “That is how I ultimately got to thinking about transition-age students with disabilities.”
By then, the US Department of Education had awarded CUNY a grant to develop an inclusive higher education program. While working with the JFK Jr., Institute for Worker Education at CUNY SPS, Lamm learned about the MA in Youth Studies, which focuses on providing students with the knowledge and skills needed to design, run, research, and work in youth settings.
“It combined so many of my interests—developmental psychology, the process of policy creation, and program administration,” Lamm noted. At CUNY SPS Lamm also found many opportunities to connect her research to practical applications. “I learned a lot from my classmates, who had deep and varied experiences in the world of youth services. I feel it contributed to my understanding of how policy is developed and implemented, especially in New York City,” she said.
Lamm encourages students who are interested in learning more about disability services to talk to people who have already been through the program and apply. “I always find that people have such individual journeys in their careers, and you can learn a lot about what might work for you by talking to others who have gone through it,” said Lamm. “I’d also emphasize that disability services can encompass varied roles-accommodations, faculty support, assistive technology, programs for neurodivergent students, sign language interpreting, job development and more. There are many kinds of opportunities.”
Today, in addition to her work with DSAP, Lamm is working toward a MA in Landscape Architecture at Pratt Institute. She plans to build on her experience with accessibility in disability services. “My path forward in landscape architecture is an extension of this work,” she said. “I am working on how I can reduce barriers in the material environment in the same way I have applied these ideas to higher education so far. Access is a process, one that I look forward to being a part of for quite a long time—but check back with me in another ten years.”
About the CUNY SPS Disability Studies Programs
Disability Studies is an emerging academic field that explores disability from multiple perspectives, including the social sciences, humanities, science, and the law. The CUNY School of Professional Studies (CUNY SPS) offers groundbreaking, fully accredited programs within Disability Studies. The School’s offerings include a BA, Advanced Certificate, and MA in Disability Studies, an Advanced Certificate and MS in Disability Services in Higher Education, and an Advanced Certificate in Disability Advocacy.
About the CUNY School of Professional Studies
As New York's leading online school since 2006, the CUNY School of Professional Studies (CUNY SPS) offers the most online bachelor's and master's degree options at the City University of New York, and serves as the University's first undergraduate all-transfer college. With over 26 degrees and numerous other non-degree and grant-funded workplace learning programs, CUNY SPS meets the needs of adults who wish to finish a bachelor's degree, progress from an associate's degree, earn a master's degree or certificate in a specialized field, and advance in the workplace or change careers. Consistently ranked highly by U.S. News & World Report for its online offerings, CUNY SPS has emerged as a nationwide leader in online education. The School's renowned and affordable online programs ensure that busy working adults may fulfill their educational goals on their own time and schedule.
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