Bryan Gere, PhD., CRC, is an Associate Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Services.  Dr. Gere, originally hails from the Niger Delta region of Nigeria. He graduated with a Ph.D. in Rehabilitation from Southern Illinois University Carbondale and received his M.S in Rehabilitation Counseling from University of Maryland-Eastern Shore. Dr. Gere also holds an MBA (Management) from Rivers State University of Science and Technology in Port Harcourt, Nigeria. He is a recipient of several awards such as the Dorothy Dykema Endowed Scholarship (2013), the Lorenz/Baker Award (2015), and the Dissertation Research Award (2015). Dr. Gere has experience in teaching a diverse set of courses at the graduate and undergraduate levels, such as vocational rehabilitation, statistics and research, psychiatric rehabilitation, developmental disabilities, medical rehabilitation and case management, multicultural rehabilitation, and supervision and internship. His teaching philosophy centers on developing and implementing a classroom experience that motivates students to acquire the reasoning skills and strategies that will help them learn throughout their lifetime. Gere’s scholarly activities fall under broad disciplinary fields: vocational rehabilitation and training, public health and rural health research, mental health, addictions and co-occurring mental health, HIV/AIDS, health disparities among minorities and underserved populations, leadership, disability and access to services for rural populations. Dr. Gere’s active research efforts have garnered recognition and yielded financial support over the years. He is the author of several book chapters, journal articles, and is a principal investigator and co-principal investigator on some competitive grants. Dr. Gere is a member of both National Council on Rehabilitation Education (NCRE) and The American Counseling Association (ACA).