College of Education 4110 USF Apple Drive, Tampa, FL 33620

"the college of education did not adequately support me in my journey to become a teacher. I faced discrimination I did not expect to face here. they promised support that i never received, and I was punished for performing poorly without those supports. an example of being discriminated against: I was about to have an overstimulation meltdown when contacted outside of the college by a professor and had to call the professor back, warning her just before hanging up that I had to call her back. when I did call her back, she told me I needed to go to a psychotherapist and sounded really offended by me trying to support myself and managing my overstimulation meltdown. I had a difficult internship with a teacher that very clearly wanted to use me as a way to not do a lot of work that semester (as she had recently been diagnosed with a disabling health issue), and when it turned out I needed extra guidance instead, she became abusive towards me - cold shouldered me, rolled her eyes constantly, just basically did everything she could to isolate me and make me feel unwelcome in my internship. she told me I made it sound like I knew what I was doing, but that had never been what I was implying or trying to say to her ever. I even received complaints she had lodged towards me from the college where she claimed I had STOLEN stuff from her? thankfully I had proof of purchase for the things she claimed I stole. I had to withdraw from the internship as I needed an important surgery and you're not allowed to miss more than three days. I ultimately was never allowed to complete my internship or ever even share my side of the story for a chance to complete my internship. given no explanation as to why. just completely stonewalled out of the college on the word of an abusive internship teacher (who I was later told by other senior teachers in the area had a reputation for doing this to her interns). I feel like there is a deep misunderstanding about what autism looks like in adults here, how to respond to autistic adult students, and how to support adult students with autism here, which is deeply disappointing considering it's an education college. as a side note, I also suffered through an allowed student rant on trans people being mentally ill and sick, in a class. the professor gave the student special permission to speak about it because he was curious. this caused a pretty visible meltdown for me right after class ended and several of my classmates became concerned, but this was never again addressed. I will say that professors joanelle Morales and nick bardo were both excellent educators who did work to accommodate me to the best of their ability."

"Today, as the Director of D.C. Operations, I was helping to develop a skill set matrix my company's staff of researchers. I was thinking so much about everything I learned from USF Department of Ed and their wonderful professors. It was my fourth college experience and the best. I can walk into any research project in most fields and have some background in the theory and methodology. USF Department of Ed and especially measurement/evaluation/ research professors made this possible."

"Honestly, I have only used this building for a quiet place to study. And that it is. It's very quiet and very open. Clean too"