By Anna Dickinson, Currier Times Staff///

Jerimiah Bergstrom is the new Director of Accessibility Services at Curry College.

He started his career at Lesley University in Cambridge, Massachusetts but said that Curry had been on his radar ever since he got into the field of accessibility. At Lesley, he worked in the LD/ADD academic support program. In this role, he focused on assisting students with diagnosed learning disabilities, ensuring they received the necessary resources and accommodations tailored to their individual needs.

Bergstrom would say at the college level, there are “three different tiers of support.”

He would classify Curry as a ‘tier two’ school. Students don’t come to Curry just for the Program for the Advancement of Learning (PAL) program, but it is a reason that they do. The extra level of support is a huge positive for students with learning disabilities.

As the Director of Accessibility Services, his normal day-to-day is working with students to “make sure that they have full access to the campus.”

Most commonly, it would be through academic accommodations which would make learning easier for the student. The accommodations help the student with the academic part of ‘fitting in’ at college and can make the college experience easier as a whole. Bergstrom also helps students in any other scenario where a student is struggling/facing a barrier with being at school.

Being new at Curry, Bergstrom can bring in new perspectives and bring up new conversations. He said that by being new, it can hopefully “trigger new conversations.”

The newness that he brings can force those conversations to happen, especially when he’s first meeting the other faculty. When talking with other faculty, they “can’t help but talk about the future.”

It might be easier to have certain conversations with someone who’s new compared to someone who you’ve worked with for years, particularly if the new faculty member is the one to bring such topics up.

Bergstrom is committed to actively engaging with students to understand their concerns, particularly regarding academic accommodations and broader challenges they may encounter in their college journey. By providing a supportive ear and practical guidance, he aims to empower students to overcome obstacles and make the most of their college experience.

He strongly suggests that students with concerns reach out because, “one size fits none.”

When students come to him, they can work together to find specific solutions that apply to the problem. When there are some generalizations of concerns, they may not fully capitalize the issue. Hence why, he thinks the best way to tackle these situations is to sit down and talk through it. His approach emphasizes the importance of collaboration and open dialogue in creating a more inclusive campus for everyone.

Jerimiah Bergstrom can be reached at jerimiah.bergstrom@curry.edu. His office is located in the Learning Commons to the left of Starbucks in office S-104!