Dr. S. Etawi O'Bryne (Uprise Collective)

9:30 a.m. - 10:30 a.m.

Dr. S. Etawi O'Bryne is a multiracial Indigenous womxn and the Project Manager for the Portland Disability Justice Collaborative. She has a formal education from the Oregon College of Or***l Medicine, is chronically ill, disabled and medically augmented, and has lived experience in the houseless community. Etawi has been and is many things and no one identity takes away from any other. She is a true believer in the power of community and mutual aid. Etawi also has an extreme weakness for coffee, plants, sci fi and her dog, Merlin.

Jewls Griesmeyer-Krentz (Linfield University)

Jewls is the Associate Director of Learning Support Services at Linfield University School of Nursing where she oversees disability services, academic coaching, and tutoring. She enjoys finding creative and collaborative ways to promote equity and inclusion for students and university communities. Before joining Linfield in 2022, she had been an Access Counselor and Consultant at the Disability Resource Center (DRC) at Portland State University (PSU) for over nine years. Jewls serves on the Board of Directors of the Oregon Affiliate of the Association of Higher Disability and serves as a mentor for the Association of Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD) Start Academy for new(er) disability services professionals. She is a frequent presenter at both regional and national conferences. Jewls received her Masters in Rehabilitation Counseling from PSU in 2008 and is a PhD candidate in Adult and Higher Education at Oregon State University. Her doctoral work focuses on international and immigrant students with disabilities, disability identity, and intersectionality. Jewls is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC) and Nationally Certified Counselor (NCC).

Jennifer Lucas (Portland Community College)

Presenter bio will be added.

Jeff Larson (Linfield University)

Jeff is the Director for Learning Support Services at Linfield University and currently serves at the Past President for ORAHEAD. Prior to Linfield, he held positions with the Accessible Education Center at the University of Oregon and with Bushnell University. He has spent his entire professional career working in higher education and has a passion for student inclusion and success. He received a master’s degree in school counseling from Bushnell University and a bachelor’s degree in history from Linfield University.

Patricia Kepler (Portland Community College)

Patricia Kepler Patricia Kepler works as an Accessibility Specialist for Portland Community College And has served as a Governor appointed commissioner of the Oregon Disabilities Commission and the Oregon Commission for the Blind. She currently serves on the Metro Committee on Racial Equity and the Tri-Met Committee on Accessible Transportation. Patricia uses she/her pronouns. Other related projects she has worked on include the Access Recreation Project which can be found at http://accesstrails.org Miriam Latzer Miriam brings over 12 years of experience running small, certified naturally grown farms in the Hudson Valley of New York. She earned a Master’s Degree in Environmental Land Use Planning from Rutgers University in New Jersey. Before coming to PCC, she worked with public school communities in New York City to pilot school-based farm shares that will continue with a beginning farmer at the helm. She also worked as an assistant grower and educational coordinator for the Poughkeepsie Farm Project located on the Vassar college campus. Her ties to Portland stretch back to 1998 when she served as an AmeriCorps member and grew vegetables on the grounds of the Northeast Emergency Food Program. She’s glad to return to the area and provide her expertise to our Learning Garden and sustainability efforts.