Biography

Ken Surdin is Professor of the Practice and the founding Director of EXCEL.

Excel is a four-year, dual certificate program for students with mild intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD) leading to two separate Certificates of Social Growth, Academic Enrichment, and Vocational Exploration. Before coming to Georgia Tech, Professor Surdin was a Public Health Analyst with a focus on policy at Center for Disease Control (CDC)'s National Center on Birth Defects and Developmental Disabilities.

Previously, Ken served with the Peace Corps, setting up environmental programs in Morocco. He has also worked at the Marjorie Kovler Center for Survivors of Torture in Chicago, Illinois, developing internal and external partnerships for program development, outreach and recruitment. Earlier in his career, he was a staff mentor, school aide, and group home counselor at the Crotched Mountain Rehabilitation Center in Greenfield, New Hampshire, where his duties encompassed academics, independent living, social skills and career development for students with developmental disabilities and complex medical problems.