CSUN Names Head of Disabilities Center

Harry F. “Bud” Rizer, an expert in the use of electronics and computers to help people with disabilities, has been appointed director of the Cal State Northridge Center on Disabilities, campus officials announced.

He assumes his post Aug. 1.

Rizer has worked in assistive technology 17 years, most recently as director of the T. K. Martin Center for Technology and Disability at Mississippi State University.

For two years, he has been on the CSUN center’s advisory board and said he welcomes the chance to assume a greater role.

“The Center on Disabilities has contributed greatly to the mission of focusing international attention toward the issues of disability and technology,” Rizer said. “Both the fields of disability and technology undergo constant change, and I plan to continue to seek new and creative means by which to benefit both.”

Rizer will work to maintain and expand CSUN’s services to students with disabilities, as well as the training program that the center sponsors.

Each year, CSUN hosts a conference on assistive technology. In March, the event drew more than 4,000 people from 37 countries representing the fields of medicine, special education and rehabilitation.

Prior to his work at Mississippi State, Rizer was technology resources office director for Maryland’s Division of Rehabilitation Services. He is coauthor of several publications on assistive technology and is the 1987 recipient of the Humanitarian Award from the National Rehabilitation Assn.

Jodi Johnson, associate director of the Center on Disabilities, said Rizer will greatly enhance CSUN’s program.