The CPD welcomes its new AT Lab coordinator

Clay Christensen

The Assistive Technology Lab has a new coordinator from Lewiston, Utah.

Clay Christensen arrived at the lab this month, bringing with him a degree in psychology and experience as a heavy equipment technician and manager. He’s also a certified welder.

Those skills will all come in handy in his new job, as he works to help people with disabilities find creative solutions to everyday problems.

“I’m excited to assist those with needs,” he said. “I love the services this lab provides for this community.”

Christensen will replace interim coordinator Clarissa Barnhill, who is moving on to a teaching job.

In the years ahead, Christensen said he wants to strengthen the lab’s ties with the community. If there’s anyone out there with assistive technology needs, he encourages them to contact the lab at 435-797-0699. The lab’s staff, students and volunteers can find solutions for a wide range of needs, from silverware for people with limited hand ability to motorized scooters.

“Come up here,” he said. “We’ll give it our best.”

Ron Thorkildsen is the CPD Alumnus of the Year

Ron Thorkildsen

Ron Thorkildsen is one of the CPD’s pioneers. He introduced computer technology to the CPD and added grant-writing prowess to its foundations. He went on to share his expertise with the College of Education and Human Services at Utah State University.

But when anyone who knows him hears his name, the first thing they say is, “Isn’t he the nicest guy?”

Thorkildsen came to the CPD when it opened in 1972 as its director of Technology and Administrative Services. He had just earned his MBA from Utah State University, and he chose the CPD job over another offer from Walker Bank.

Once at the CPD, he started right away at setting up an accounting method and a computer system. He  began working with the center’s grant writers and used the first-ever spreadsheet program available to manage the data.

Along the way his interest in grant writing deepened. In addition to his work at the CPD, he became a research assistant professor in USU’s Special Education Department. In 1984 he earned his PhD in computer science education from the University of Oregon. In 1985 he became a tenured professor in USU’s Instructional Technology and Special Education departments.

In addition to using technology, he began developing it, working with other researchers to create videodiscs to instruct both special education teachers and students with disabilities. He explored the use of microcomputers (that’s what a desktop computer was called in the 70s). He researched the use of assistive technology and the applications of artificial intelligence in education.

Like other CPD researchers who developed instructional videodiscs, he misses them. They were easier to use, better to index and a lot more searchable than the videotape that preceded them or the DVDs that followed.  Many of the discs helped students with disabilities work on behavior issues.

“One of the best things in it that I think was applicable to everyone was how to end a conversation graciously,” he said.

In 1987 he became the CPD’s associate director—a position he held until 1993, when he became director of the Research and Evaluation Doctoral Program of the College of Education. He also served as the interim dean of the College of Education and the Associate Dean for Research in the College of Education through 2000.

All in all, it’s been a very different career than the one that might have followed if he had chosen Walker Bank. The financial world might have given him more money, he said, but the CPD gave him other, better rewards.

At a recent luncheon celebrating his 2011 Alumnus of the Year award, friends crowded the tables and offered their own stories. His daughter, Jane, said she loved going to the same university where her father worked.  She would tell people all over campus who her father was, and the reply was always the same:

“Isn’t he the nicest guy?”