Professor Emeritus Ken Gobbo Named College Autism Network Researcher of the Year
On Tuesday, November 4, the College Autism Network named Professor Ken Gobbo the recipient of its 2025 Outstanding Research on Autism in Higher Education award. The award was announced in Pittsburgh at the College Autism Summit, a national conference with 300 professionals and students in attendance.
Gobbo is Professor Emeritus of Psychology at Landmark College, and has produced a body of scholarship over a long and distinguished career dating back decades. His work has been foundational in the growth of research on autism in higher education. Among his most cited works are “Faculty Experience with College Students with Autism Spectrum Disorders,” a 2014 article in the journal Focus on Autism and Other Developmental Disabilities (co-authored by Landmark College Professor of Psychology Solvegi Shmulsky), and “Groundwork for Success: A College Transition Program for Students with ASD,” co-authored with Shmulsky and former Landmark College Director of Social Pragmatics Programs and Services Andy Donahue, in the Journal of Postsecondary Education and Disability in 2015.
Other notable research of Gobbo's has focused on STEM education, pedagogy and dyslexia. In January of this year, Gobbo’s newest book, The Future of Neurodiversity, was published by Ethics International Press.
Dr. Brett Ranon Nachman, CAN’s Director of Research and Assistant Professor of Education at the University of Pittsburgh, credited Gobbo with setting a tone for high quality research, saying that "Over the past 15 years, Ken Gobbo and colleagues have produced some of the most notable and important scholarship on autism in higher education." Nachman highlighted the impact of Gobbo's work on "faculty experiences with autistic learners and teaching strategies to support their success," saying that his work "has been influential to many emergent scholars in this space, allowing us to understand the pragmatic ways of leveraging autistic students' skills in classroom settings."
The College Autism Network is a national nonprofit organization that links varied stakeholders engaged in evidence-guided efforts to improve access, experiences and outcomes for autistic college students. Learn more about the organization on their website.