Ann Knettler

About Ann Knettler

Ann currently Directs the Center for Disability Resources (CDR) and is the ADA & 504 Compliance Officer at Delaware State University, she also teaches in their Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership and Masters of Public Administration Programs. As a member of the Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD), Ann has served on the Standing Committee for Professional Development and currently represents the Association as a member of the Board of Directors for the Council for the Advancement of Standards in Higher Education (CAS) where she has co-authored and updated policy and standards for the entire field of higher education and currently sits on their Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion Committee.  She is a published researcher and experienced educator.  Ann regularly presents and consults at the national level on topics such as ableism, able-body privilege, assessment and the use of data as an advocacy tool, the high school to college and college to career transition for students with disabilities, disability policy reform, strategic planning, creating and using policy and standards as guidance in the non-profit field, program review, community needs assessment, and the social justice model of disability.  

Her research interests include Independent Living Theory, EEO policy and policy reform, crisis management, the legal relationship between equity and access, the social justice model of disability, use of technology to increase access, the breadth and depth of diversity and inclusion, and fostering inclusion and collaboration in communities.  Ann received a Masters of Arts in Counseling in Higher Education with an emphasis in Mental Health from the University of Delaware and a Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership in Higher Education from Delaware State University. Her dissertation focuses on the lived experiences of ableism and able-body privilege by students with disabilities in higher education and the impact that experience has on their receipt of an accessible and equitable education.