Burgandi Rakoska

Profile

I am originally from a rural town in New York State (about two hours south of Buffalo). I completed my Associates and Bachelors within the State University of New York (SUNY) system, at Jamestown Community College and Fredonia, respectively. My undergraduate was initially in Early Childhood Education (Birth-Grade 2). I then moved to New York City to complete my Masters at Teachers College, Columbia University, studying Higher and Postsecondary Education. I am now currently studying in the Centre for Disability Studies, here at Leeds, focusing on the factors that affect the retention rates for disabled college students.

Research interests

My research interests include:

• Disability Studies
• Higher Education
• Disability in Higher Education
• Advocacy
• Social/Cultural Reproduction
• Intersectionality and Intersectional Oppression

I’m interested in examining the ways in which universities hinder disabled students’ progress and how this impacts, not just the individual disabled students, but the overarching cultural reproduction of ableism/disablism.

Qualifications

• M.A. in Higher and Postsecondary Education
• B.S. in Early Childhood Education
• A.S. in Early Childhood Education