Ansley Bacon

Ansley Bacon was recognized as a Distinguished Alumna by the West Virginia University College of Education and Human Services in 2010.

Bacon earned a bachelor’s degree in psychology in 1973 and a master’s degree in psychology in 1974 from Western Michigan University, and a doctorate in educational psychology from West Virginia University in 1977.

From 1978 to 1985, Bacon served as director of the Mississippi University Center on Disability. In 1985 she became president and chief executive officer of the Westchester Institute for Human Development (WIHD), a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD), and later directed the Center on Disability and Health in the Graduate School of Health Sciences and Practice at New York Medical College. Her academic appointments at New York Medical College included professor of practice in the School of Health Sciences and Practice, associate professor of clinical psychiatry, and associate professor of clinical pediatrics. She retired in 2015.

Bacon held national leadership roles with the Association of University Centers on Disabilities, serving as president (1987–88) and co-chair of the Legislative Affairs Committee. She participated on more than 25 UCEDD site review teams and on grant review panels for multiple federal agencies. In 1993–94 she was a Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation Public Policy Fellow.