Accommodations and Accessibility Services Announces New Hires

Accommodations and Accessibility Services is pleased to announce Dr. Sarah Sweetman as the newest Counselor to join the department on June 27th, and Mrs. Christina Lyaskovskiy as the department’s Assistive Technology Coordinator.

Dr. Sweetman has been assigned to the Loudoun campus and will have a college-wide presence as part of this centralized office.

She has worked for Fairfax County Public Schools for the past 8 years as a special education teacher with most of her work focusing on literacy. Previously, she was a faculty member and Director of Student Services for the School of Integrative Studies at George Mason University. There she taught learning communities focusing on leadership, childhood studies, and memory studies, among others. She earned GMU’s Academic Advisor of the Year award in 2008 and was nominated for the Association of American Colleges & Universities’ K. Patricia Cross Future Leaders Award in 2006.

Dr. Sweetman is a Mind in the Making Master Facilitator who is often an invited speaker for several classes and organizations. She has been interviewed on the local and international news and has presented papers and training sessions at more than 15 schools and conferences.

She holds a Ph.D. in Cultural Studies from GMU with foci in Adoption Studies and Memory Studies, a M.Ed. in Special Education for Students who Access the General Education Curriculum, and an M.A.I.S. in Social Institutions.

Dr. Sweetman enjoys reading, spending time with her family, traveling, and making jewelry from metal and stone. 

Mrs. Lyaskovskiy will have the unique responsibility of identifying assistive technology that will serve to provide students with disabilities with access to the educational setting. She will also be responsible for providing training to students and faculty/ staff about strategies for using assistive technology in the classroom and testing environments. Mrs. Lyaskovskiy began in this position on June 10th and is currently seated at the Loudoun campus.

Prior to NOVA, she practiced as an Occupational Therapist licensed by the Commonwealth of Virginia Department of Health Professions Board of Medicine at a special education day school. There she had the opportunity to work with students with disabilities to include autism and other developmental disabilities and use assistive technology to increase students’ independence and accessibility in the school environment. She has also worked as an OT in outpatient pediatrics and skilled nursing facilities to assist people in all stages of life to reach their highest level of autonomy.

Mrs. Lyaskovskiy is a graduate of Shenandoah University where she received her master’s in Occupational Therapy. She also graduated with her bachelor’s in Health Sciences with honors from James Madison University.

Her interests include spending time with family, reading, traveling, and enjoying the outdoors, especially the beach! Her personal motto is “Whatever you want to do, do it now. There are only so many tomorrows”. -Michael Landon Jr.

Please join us in welcoming Dr. Sarah Sweetman and Mrs. Christina Lyaskovskiy to the NOVA community!

Submitted by:
Krystal Edmead, kedmead@nvcc.edu