Officials hired a new leader for the Disability Support Services after the unit operated without a permanent director for four months.

Rochelle Mills, the former assistant director of New York University’s Center for Student Accessibility, began her role as the director of DSS earlier this month, according to her LinkedIn profile. Former DSS Director Maggie Butler stepped down as director in September to work as an accessibility consultant after leading the office for over two years.

University Spokesperson Julia Metjian said Myra Waddell served as interim director of DSS, and a new DSS staff member, part-time employees and other staff members were filling DSS responsibilities in the absence of an acting director. Former DSS Assistant Director Diedre Lamb departed from the University in October, just over a year after she joined the team. Officials are still seeking an assistant director, a senior accessibility associate and an American Sign Language interpreter for the unit.

Prior to Butler’s departure as director, DSS staff dropped from 11 employees in the 2018-19 academic year to six employees in the 2022-23 academic year, according to web archives. DSS staff said they felt “overburdened” under Butler’s leadership after she implemented increased work responsibilities, like an expanded interpreter role, and struggled with low staffing.

Students said in November that the DSS understaffing has created competition for obtaining the office’s classroom accommodations and assistive technology services and long processing times for service requests.

Mills created a task force to establish ASL and captioning services at NYU during the COVID-19 pandemic and served as the NYU Center for Student Accessibility’s first liaison to the NYU School of Law, according to the DSS website. She has also previously worked as a social worker and crisis counselor servicing individuals and families in Columbus, Ohio.