Bob McCulley

Founding Director and Consultant, Northeast Resource Center for Vision Education

MEd, Boston College, Vision Studies: Orientation and Mobility ScB, UMass Amherst, Science

Robert McCulley is the founding director of the Northeast Resource Center for Vision Education, or NERCVE. NERCVE is affiliated with UMass Boston’s Vision Studies Program. It was established in 2002 to address a critical shortage of highly qualified education and rehabilitation personnel with training in vision studies at schools and agencies across the six New England states. Robert led ICI and UMass Boston in their first regional initiative to address low-incidence disability teacher preparation through distance learning with state, federal, and private funding and participation. He helped design the national plan for training personnel in visual impairments and was the first to implement that plan supporting the needs of agencies and schools across New England. Robert’s professional interests and activities are focused on a passionate belief that representation of low-incidence disabilities issues is one of social justice, and that representation can be obtained by expanded collaboration and shared resources across state borders. ICI and Robert have been successful in obtaining federal, state, and private funding for graduate programs in visual impairments for the past 28 years, supporting over 500 new professionals nationally. In 2012, Robert worked with Vision Studies to expand collaborations with the University of Guam as well as the University of Puerto Rico supporting graduates in American Samoa, the Federated States of Micronesia, Marshall Islands, Saipan, and Puerto Rico. Based on his leadership and accomplishments the Robert McCulley Rising Star Leadership Award was established by the Northeast Association for the Education and Rehabilitation of Individuals Who Are Blind or Vision-Impaired. Prior to joining ICI, Robert spent 13 years in direct service at the Massachusetts Commission for the Blind.