Stephen Gilson

Theorist and Policy Analyst

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Website: www.astos.org

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Stephen Gilson has an international reputation for his work in policy, diversity and access as a human right, with special attention to national and international disability policy and rights for disabled Jewish populations. He is an expert in domestic and international health and disability policy and rights, and is sought worldwide for training, consultation and speaking in his areas of knowledge.  Gilson graduated with his bachelor’s degree in 1973, his masters in 1980, and his PhD in 1991. He has a long career in academia and in 2000 co-founded the Evaluation Practice Group (www.evalpractice.org) a non-profit company that focuses on the development, funding and evaluation of projects and policy to advance human rights and equality of opportunity to community resources.

Born and raised in California, Gilson lived in Colorado, Washington D.C., and Virginia before relocating to rural Maine in 2000. Currently, Gilson is a professor at the University of Maine, Faculty Advisor to Hillel, and the President of Evaluation Practice Group in the US. In Israel, Gilson is a Senior Research Fellow at Ono Academic College in Kiryat Ono, Israel, and has co-authored and published 8 books and over 60 articles and has delivered lectures and workshops locally, nationally and globally.

In addition to his teaching, lecturing, and writing, Gilson is currently involved in several important initiatives:
1. He serves on local and national boards to promote human rights policy nationally and internationally;
2. He is the Chair elect of the Disability section of the American Public Health Association,
3. He is involved in developing access solutions that will allow disabled populations in Israel and the United States to participate in the Internet and in outdoor sports and recreation.

Among his many awards, in the summer of 2008, Gilson received a Faculty Fellowship for the Summer Institute in Israel, sponsored by JNF, Mediawatch and the Society for Peace in the Middle East.

Download a prepared introduction for Stephen Gilson stephen-gilson.doc

Popular Speeches:

• General
• Policy analysis
• Health and disability policy
• Jewish life
• Growing rural Hillel chapters
• Eliminating discrimination against Jews in rural areas
• Access as a human right
• Human rights policy
• Design of exclusion
• Innovative solutions to designed exclusion of disabled and aging populations from community participation, health and fitness, and recreation