Former Division Administrator Mike O’Brien to Serve as Disability Agency Director

OKLAHOMA City, Okla. — The Commission for Rehabilitation Services has selected Dr. Michael O’Brien, a university professor and rehabilitation services consultant from Las Vegas, New Mexico, as the next director of the Oklahoma Department of Rehabilitation Services (DRS). He will replace DRS's current director, Linda S. Parker, when she retires in. Dec. 2008 after 35 years of state service.

O’Brien was previously employed by DRS from 1997 to 2001 as administrator of the Vocational Rehabilitation division.

He will direct more than 900 state employees who served 77,500 Oklahomans with disabilities in 2007 through vocational rehabilitation, employment, independent living and residential and outreach education programs and the determination of medical eligibility for disability benefits.

In addition to his current position as an associate professor of rehabilitation and special education at New Mexico Highlands University, O’Brien is the director of the master’s degree program in rehabilitation counseling.

He also owns and manages O’Brien Consulting, a private firm which provides private rehabilitation services, leadership consultation and training, and agency research and analysis.

A certified rehabilitation counselor and a certified vocational evaluation specialist, O’Brien has more than 30 years experience in vocational evaluation and rehabilitation counseling.

He earned doctorate of education in occupational and adult education from Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Okla., a master’s of education from Chadron State College in Chadron, Neb. and a bachelor’s in psychology from the University of Missouri in Kansas City.

His previous positions include director of the division of Vocational Rehabilitation for the State of Washington and past clinical affiliate professor at the University of Washington School of Medicine in Seattle.

O’Brien has served as an adjunct graduate school professor at Western Washington University in Bellingham, Wash., Western Oregon University in Monmouth, Ore., the University of Idaho in Moscow, Idaho, Langston University in Langston, Okla., and East Central University in Ada, Okla.

For more information about services offered by the state Department of Rehabilitation Services, call (800) 845-8476 or visit www.okdrs.gov.

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