Jen Dugger Spalding is the Director of the Disability Resource Center at Portland State University and has been in the field of disability resources and services for more than fifteen years. Jen has worked at PSU since 2012. Jen recently came off of a four year stint with the Association of Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) where she served three years as a Director at Large and then one year as the board’s Equity Officer. Jen also just resigned from her role as co-chair of the LGBTQA Knowledge and Practice Community for AHEAD (which she held for 12 years). Jen proudly served four years on the board of the ACLU of Oregon (2014-2018) as well.
Jen says that one of the best parts of her job is working with disability services professionals to find creative solutions to address the latent ableism within the field. As a white, cisgender, queer woman who does not identify as having a disability or being disabled, Jen understands the gravity of leveraging power and privilege for those experiencing more barriers.