Dr. Mary Lee Vance was born in South Korea to a single mother. In her early years, she faced significant health challenges, including the loss of muscle function in her legs due to polio and the loss of much of her hearing from an insect damaging her eardrum. After being placed in an orphanage, she was sent to a hospital for treatment. While not officially diagnosed, the nurses who cared for her believed she had intellectual disabilities. Despite these early adversities, Dr. Vance was adopted by a family in the American Midwest with Norwegian, English, Swiss, and German heritage. Her perseverance and determination were apparent from a young age as she successfully and independently navigated the public education system—long before the passage of Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act—and ultimately earned her doctorate from Michigan State University.
Currently, Dr. Vance is the Director of the Disability Access Center, Campus Testing Center, Disability Cultural Center, and Assistive Technology Lab at California State University, Sacramento. In addition to her current roles, she has served as the Interim Director for the Office of Equal Opportunity, Title IX, and Discrimination, Harassment, and Retaliation (DHR). Dr. Vance has also led student services at institutions including UC Berkeley, George Mason University, the University of Montana, and Michigan State University, in addition to various other public four-year and community colleges.
Dr. Vance has taught both undergraduate and graduate-level courses, successfully secured federal grants, and published extensively in refereed journals and periodicals. She has edited five books focused on educational barriers faced by students and employees with disabilities in postsecondary education, published by leading organizations such as NASPA, NACADA, and AHEAD. She also serves as a peer reviewer for the AHEAD refereed journal and has reviewed for NACADA's journal. For over 16 years, Dr. Vance has taught disability law courses and seminars with Grossman, Axelrod, and Vance Consulting.
Her presentations emphasize the historical intersection of ableism and racism, as well as the need to incorporate disability into discussions on retention and graduation initiatives for underrepresented populations. Dr. Vance advocates for universal design in education, focusing on the removal of educational barriers rather than their reduction. Recently, she was elected to the AHEAD Board of Directors as the Equity Officer, and among various professional honors, she received AHEAD’s highest service award, the Blosser Award. In addition to her other honors, she was selected to be a Fellow for Complete College America in 2023.
Dr. Vance’s personal motto, which she shares when discussing her background and presenting on disability, is: "I have disabilities, but they are not disabling unless I have been disabled by poor planning."
Outside of her professional endeavors, Dr. Vance has a deep passion for food. She enjoys cooking, writing food articles for Korean Quarterly, reading, spending time with her cats, and exploring diverse ethnic cuisines for both enjoyment and cultural enrichment.