Holding a Ph.D. focusing on special education and teaching and a Certificate of Advanced Study in Disability Studies from Syracuse University School of Education, Katie Ducett G’22, G’23 is an assistant professor at SUNY-Cortland, a short drive south from Syracuse on Interstate 81.
“The department I am a part of is called Foundations and Social Advocacy, and we house the Inclusive Childhood Education department,” explains Ducett. “I teach a variety of undergraduate and graduate courses about inclusive education and disability studies. The students I teach are amazing! Plus, the classes I teach heavily relate to my research about inclusive postsecondary education. I am also heavily involved in service on campus, locally, and nationally.”
PAST: What memory from your time at SOE do you most cherish?
I cherish so many memories from my time at SOE, but across all of them are two consistent pieces: community and purpose. At Syracuse, I always felt like part of a supportive community.
One moment in particular that highlights this sense of community was in 2021. In my second semester, professors Christy Ashby and Beth Myers discovered how aligned my research interests were with the work of the Lawrence B. Taishoff Center for Inclusive Higher Education, and they asked me to take on a small organizing role for both the National State of the Art Conference on Inclusive Postsecondary Education and the related Student Leadership Conference, under the guidance of Karly Grifasi, Assistant Director of Operations and Communications in the Center on Disability and Inclusion, and the late Megan Cartier G’20.
In October 2021, I became lead organizer of the Student Leadership Conference. That year, we were still figuring out the uncertainty of life with COVID and how to organize conferences under those circumstances. We chose to make both virtual, something that none of the team had done previously.
Going into the 2021 conference, we had all hands on deck. Nervous but excited, my co-organizer—Sara Soldovieri 18, G’21—and I went to SLC headquarters (i.e., the conference room in our graduate student bay) ready to take it all on with our many electronic screens. We had doctoral students—Emilee Baker G’24 and Nikkia Borowski ’15, G’19, G’20—leading a live Zoom yoga class in the middle of Huntington Hall; people—such as Teukie Martin G’22—facilitating so many Zoom rooms; and we put on an epic hybrid karaoke party from the Jacquet Commons.
“All students should be given the opportunity to learn together and in community.”
Even with all the hiccups and headaches, we did it! When it was all over, I’ll never forget how Phillandra Smith G’23 spoke of that entire experience as akin to a huge group project. It truly was the best group project of my life, and it’s one I have tried to emulate in everything I do.
From the faculty and staff who saw my purpose and helped me find opportunities to live it, to friends and colleagues who worked together to make something wonderful happen, SOE helped me find my purpose and community, and I am forever grateful.
PRESENT: What are you working on now that you’d like to share with fellow alums?
As a pretty recent alum, I am still figuring out what I really want in my career and my personal life. I think it is important for alumni to know that almost no one knows what they are doing, and everyone is figuring out life for the first time.
What I do know is that I love talking about and living inclusion. It is a part of everything I do. Every committee I join, every event I host, every class I teach, and almost every conversation I have. And although that makes work-life balance a definite weakness, at the very least I know I am in the right research field for me.
When students ask me for advice on what to do for their master’s, or what to do in other contexts of their lives, I tell them to think about what they love. What injustices make their blood boil? What classes made them think? If you are like me and are still figuring things out, ask yourself those questions. See where it leads!
FUTURE: What is your hope for the future of education and learning?
I hope that all kids can go to school and learn together. I hope they can learn about meaningful and relevant content that is engaging and vast. But more importantly, I hope they feel a sense of belonging. If we prepare our teachers to recognize and highlight the strengths in all of their students, we can begin to create a new educational environment that fosters my hopes.
And when I say all students, I mean all students. Regardless of race, gender, ability, sexuality, religion, socio-economic status, language, or any other identity they hold. All students should be given the opportunity to learn together and in community.