She serves on the Foundation’s development and governance committees. After graduating from SCSU in 1971, Ruth went on to work for 14 years as a special education administrator in Connecticut public schools. During this time, Ruth developed an affinity for children with autism spectrum disorders (ASD). In her words:
“We saw the public schools [in Connecticut and around the country] inundated with kids with autism spectrum disorders,” she says. “I learned as much as I could about it. Along the way, I recognized the need for others to have information about ASD.”
She returned to Southern in 2002 to teach in the Department of Special Education with the goal of starting a master’s program with a specialty in ASD, because there weren’t comparable programs to train teachers at the time. Hired as an adjunct professor, she was promoted to a full faculty member the following year and eventually chaired the department.
In 2010, along with the late former interim dean of the College of Education, James Granfield, Ruth co-created the Center for Autism Disorders at SCSU. Its mission is to develop and deliver training rooted in evidence-based practices for teachers and others working with children with ASD. She became the center’s first director, a position she held until her retirement.
For many years, Ruth consulted with public schools in CT regarding program development for children with ASD. She has been a member of several state committees related to this subject, including Connecticut’s Task Force for Children with Autism Spectrum Disorders. Ruth is a noted expert in the field of program development for children. She wrote or co-authored more than 20 papers on various aspects of autism, from examining transdisciplinary training models for teachers to helping individuals with Asperger’s syndrome become independent adults.
In 2015, after a national search, Ruth was named the Goodwin Endowed Chair in Special Education, the first (and only) endowed chair in SCSU’s history. The Goodwin Endowed Chair was funded by a gift left by the late Dorothy Weisbauer Goodwin, who graduated from Southern in 1939, when it was the New Haven State Teachers College. She died in 2009 at the age of 91. At the time, $1 million of the $1.3 million gift to the SCSU Foundation was earmarked for an endowed chair. The intent of the gift is to provide financial support for the position, including a reimbursement to the university of salary and benefit costs associated with the position; the hiring of research assistants working for the chair; and covering conference, travel, publication, and other customary expenditure associated with an endowed chair.
Following her retirement as a faculty member in 2017, Ruth joined the SCSU Foundation Board of Directors.
Charlene Hill Riccardi Service Award
The Charlene Hill Riccardi Service Award is presented to alumni who have made significant, tangible contributions to the betterment of the University’s and/or Alumni Association’s physical, social, and/or academic environment.
