By Greta Petry 

hen M. Dolores Cimini, Ph.D.’86, lost most of her eyesight to glaucoma at the age of 16, she could have accepted her guidance counselor’s lowered expectation that “there are schools for people like you.” 
Instead, she made up her mind to go to an Ivy League school and earn a degree in psychology. “When I lost my vision, my guidance counselor and most of my teachers acted as if I had lost my intellect,’’ she told a newspaper reporter in 1993. 
     Cimini graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Barnard College in 1979 and went on to earn a doctorate in clinical psychology from the University at Albany in 1986. Today she is staff psychologist and director of the Middle Earth Peer Assistance Program at the University. Cimini began working for the University full-time in September 1992, and is the campus coordinator for alcohol and drug prevention. 
     The same sense of achievement that motivated Cimini to go to Barnard has been a hallmark of her career at the University. In 1996 she won the Chancellor’s and President’s Awards for Excellence in Professional Service. 
     The daughter of Italian immigrant parents, Cimini spoke Italian at home and English at school growing up in White Plains, N.Y. She goes by her middle name, Dolores, which she uses instead of her first name, Maria. Cimini is known on campus for planning projects well and meticulously following through on the details. It is an understatement to say that she does her homework. To promote an educational program for National Collegiate Alcohol Awareness Week, for example, Cimini used University-provided technology to design her own brochures and scan photos of the guest speaker as well. Cimini uses large-print software, a large-screen monitor, a computer that reads out loud, and a scanner. 
     “I could put a book on the scanner and have the computer read it to me,” she said, explaining some of the advantages of the technology she uses. She also designed the University Counseling Center’s Web site. 
     Until a visitor to her office meets Pacer, her black Labrador seeing eye dog, it is easy to forget that Cimini is legally blind. She has no vision in one eye and 20-200 in the other. With Pacer to help Cimini negotiate the campus she continues to lead and achieve. 
     “I got Pacer because I noticed some vision changes, especially at night. He is a big help at night. As a puppy he was raised in Virginia. I found him through Guiding Eyes for the Blind of Yorktown Heights,” said Cimini, who allowed him to sit on the sofa in her office “just for today” in order to have his photo taken. “He’s great with the students, and friendly and affectionate with the staff.” Indeed, Pacer was accommodating and looked right at the camera when it was time to take his picture. 
    As an alumna, Cimini said she is “thrilled” to have the pleasure of working with University students, particularly those who work with Middle Earth. “There are so many talented undergraduate students whom I have been able to assist in shaping their career paths. The students who work for Middle Earth are interested in the helping professions, like psychology, psychiatry, social work, and teaching,” she said. 
     About 120 undergraduates and six graduate assistants are involved with Middle Earth. Some are volunteers, while others are earning course credit. They train as volunteers to answer the 24-hour peer assistance hotline, receive credit for working on the hotline, or train to be peer supervisors. Credit is given through the Department of Counseling Psychology. 
     Cimini also serves on the President’s Advisory Council on Drug and Alcohol Abuse Prevention, and is president of the local psychological association, the Psychological Association of Northeastern New York. 
     Over the years attitudes towards disabled students across the nation have improved. “I think there have been a lot of positive changes for students with disabilities both nationally and at the University. This University has always been a leader in terms of services for students with disabilities,” Cimini said. 
     When she was a student, prior to passage of federal laws on disabilities, Cimini hired students to read to her and acted as her own advocate with professors. 
     “Here at the University there are a lot of support services provided that are quite helpful to students with disabilities,” she added. “I would encourage students with disabilities to come to the University,” she said.
 
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