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Access Recording

Webinar

The Intersection of ADA and COVID - A Discussion on Evolving Strategies

Speaker Biographies

ElizabethConklin

Elizabeth joined Yale University in the inaugural role of Associate Vice President for Institutional Equity, Access, and Belonging in September 2020. In this role, Elizabeth provides leadership for Yale’s institutional equity, access, and belonging strategy and initiatives. This includes overseeing the Office of Institutional Equity and Access, Student Accessibility Services, and the Office of LGBTQ Resources. Elizabeth’s work also focuses on ensuring training for university community members on responding to discrimination and harassment and creating a culture of belonging to prevent such behaviors.

Prior to joining Yale, Elizabeth served for nearly nine years as UConn’s Associate Vice President for the Office of Institutional Equity, Title IX Coordinator and ADA Coordinator. Before her time in higher education administration, Elizabeth was an associate attorney with a midsize Hartford law firm practicing labor and employment law.

Elizabeth earned her law degree from the University of Oregon School of Law, and she is a cum laude graduate of the University of Connecticut, where she earned a Bachelor’s Degree with an independent double major in Political Science and Peace Studies.

Jeff Nolan Headshot

As a member of the Education Team and Labor, Employment and Benefits Group at Holland & Knight, Jeff Nolan works with clients throughout the United States regarding situations that implicate Title IX, the Clery Act, the ADA, and other laws that apply in the higher education context. Jeff conducts compliance assessments, helps clients develop appropriate policies, practices and training programs, and provides training to investigators, hearing panel members, and other professionals.  Jeff also advises clients on threat assessment practices, helps clients create appropriate violence prevention policies, and conducts independent investigations of sensitive campus and workplace issues. Jeff also represents clients in federal and state courts and before administrative agencies.

Jeff has presented for NACUA many times on Title IX/Clery Act, threat assessment, ADA, employment law and other issues, and has authored or co-authored three NACUANOTEs on issues related to fair, trauma-info

rmed sexual assault investigations, emotional support animals, and developments in the law related to transgender individuals. In 2018 and 2019, Jeff served on a working group that developed the American Council on Education's comments to the Department of Education regarding the November, 2018 proposed Title IX regulations.

Lorena PenalozaLorena Peñaloza became Chief Campus Counsel for the University of California, Santa Cruz (UCSC), one of the ten campuses in the University of California system, in March 2017.  She provides advice to the campus on a broad range of legal issues, including employment, police, and student safety and conduct issues. She reports jointly to UCSC Chancellor George Blumenthal and UC system Senior Vice President and General Counsel Charles Robinson and serves on their respective leadership teams.
Lorena previously worked for the Office of General Counsel for the California State University system, where she first served as a litigator and then as University Counsel for two of the system’s twenty-three campuses.  Prior to joining CSU, she served as Assistant City Attorney with the City Attorney’s Office for the City of Santa Ana, and began her legal career with the Social Security Administration’s Office of the General Counsel in Maryland through the Presidential Management Fellowship (formerly known as Presidential Management Internship) program.  
Lorena has been a NACUA member since 2008.  She has served on several committees, including the 2009 and 2018 Annual Conference Planning Committees.  She holds a B.A. from the University of California, Berkeley, and a J.D. from the University of California, Hastings College of the Law.