Tandrea Skinner

Director of Accessibility Services Tandrea Skinner works with Russell Sage College students, faculty, Residence Life, and other offices to ensure compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, so students with disabilities can access the accommodations they might need for academic success.

Examples of accommodations could be a distraction-free environment for exams or the presence of a comfort animal. “It really is a case-by-case scenario, a class-by-class scenario,” Skinner said. 

She holds a master’s degree in special education with concentrations in learning disabilities and the general curriculum, and she has been a K-12 Special Education teacher for 20 years. 

Skinner joined RSC in January 2025 and said her most recent position advising high school students during their college search inspired her interest in working in higher ed.  

Learn more about her in this Q&A!

Tell me a little bit about your career and how it led you to Russell Sage. 

My last experience was with high schoolers at a charter school. I was a special ed teacher and an AVID elective teacher. AVID stands for Advancement Via Individual Determination, and it is a college and career preparatory program to get high school students ready to transition to college.

I really enjoyed that. I was helping students decide on the schools they wanted to go to and going with them on some college tours, including to Russell Sage. I was also familiar with Russell Sage because the high school has a partnership with RSC’s nursing program.

So, being on the campus became appealing to me, to step out of the classroom but stay in the education field and go to that next level of capacity.

I was looking into academic advising and career counseling, or anything that was going to be a good fit for my master’s degree in special education. That’s how I came across the position for the director of accessibility services here at Russell Sage.

What are you responsible for?

Accessibility Services falls under the umbrella of Student Wellness.

Assistant Director Lyndsey Murray and I work with students and faculty to implement testing and housing accommodations.

When students request accommodations, they provide documentation to support their accommodations, and then we’ll have a meeting with the student to discuss how to implement those accommodations in their classes. And we also have meetings with students in general, like a check-in, per their request.

What do you want the larger Russell Sage community to know about Accessibility Services?

That we’re here to help! We want students to be successful and we’re advocating for them! 

It starts with a question. So, if you have a question, please send an email to [email protected], give us a phone call, or stop by. There’s an accessibility office in the library on both campuses.

When it comes to requesting accommodations, there’s a process. It is important to follow the process, but at the same time, we’re always looking to improve and develop whatever systems make it easier for everybody. 

It really is a case-by-case scenario, a class-by-class scenario, even when things look similar. 

What has been a highlight of the semester so far?

J-College! I loved going to that event. [Short for January-College, J-College is an annual day of professional development for faculty and staff before the spring semester begins.] 

Assistant Director Lyndsey Murray is also relatively new, so J-College was a perfect opportunity for us to meet people whose names we’ve been seeing in email. And then it was wonderful having the college president sit at our table for a little bit!

Is there anything you are especially looking forward to this semester?

Building rapport with students and faculty. That’s the big thing, making sure people know who we are, and where we are, and that we really want to develop relationships. 

We want this to be a happy place where people come and connect to their services. 

And we look forward to getting out to other departments and doing different workshops. We have done a couple of workshops with classes already, speaking to students on disabilities. We just visited an RSC 301 class to speak to students preparing for their service learning. 

What do you enjoy outside of work?

I have a very energetic 6-year-old son who is in first grade, so outside of work I spend a lot of time at Chuck E. Cheese and Urban Air Adventure Park!