Pennsylvania Rehabilitation Association Honors University Professor
Lori A. Bruch, Ed.D., rehabilitation counseling program director at The University of Scranton, received the Pennsylvania Rehabilitation Association’s (PRA) 2013 Ralph N. Pacinelli Leadership Award at the PRA Professional Development Institute luncheon held in April.
This award is presented to a PRA member who has exercised extraordinary national and/or state leadership to rehabilitation professionals in order to strengthen, broaden and hone their professional development.
Dr. Bruch is well known as a person committed to the development of new faculty and to her service to a wide variety of University committees and programs. She joined the University in 1995 and is currently the graduate program director for the rehabilitation counseling program and an associate professor of counseling and human services. From 2008-2009 she served as the interim chair of the Education Department at the University.
Dr. Bruch has over three decades of leadership and service in the field of rehabilitation as a direct service provider, supervisor, administration, educator, researcher, and advocate. Her credentials include being a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor, Licensed Professional Counselor and CORE Site Visitor Trainer. She has served on numerous professional organizations, including: chair of the Commissioner Standards and Accreditation Council on Rehabilitation Education, board member of the National Council on Rehabilitation Education and president of the National Association of Rehabilitation Leadership. She has been the co-chair of the Northeastern U.S. Conference on Disability, hosted by the Panuska College of Professional Studies at the University, for six of the Conference’s 12 years and is co-chairing the event during its 13th year.
Dr. Pacinelli is actively involved in The University of Scranton community, where he has served as a Leahy Faculty Fellow, a valued faculty member of the Rehabilitation Counseling Program and a regular contributor to the Northeastern U.S. Conference on Disability. Recently, Dr. Pacinelli donated his significant collection of books, journals, and documents to the Weinberg Memorial Library.