UC Santa Barbara’s Gevirtz School laments the passing of Dorothy Semmel, lecturer and coordinator in UCSB’s Department of Education from 1978-1994. Dr. Semmel passed on February 12, 2023.
Dr. Semmel, along with her husband and colleague, Melvyn Semmel, founded the special education programs at UCSB in 1978. Until her retirement in the early 1990s, she built and administered the Gevirtz School’s teacher training specialization programs in special education. For many years, she was the only UC representative to the California Association of Professors of Special Education, SIG of the California Council of Teacher Educators and a subdivision of the national Teacher Education Division of the Council for Exceptional Children. Following passage of special education national policy in 1975, Dr. Dorothy Semmel became an important leader in establishing a new generation of professional education design and content nationally, in California, and within UC.
Semmel co-wrote and contributed importantly to almost all extramural training and research grants in special education awarded to the GGSE throughout her years at UCSB. In partnership with her colleagues, she helped establish UCSB as a national center of innovation in policy and practice in special education, for which she is owed a debt of gratitude from scores of colleagues and students.
Her husband, Mel, died two years ago. She is survived by her daughter, Lisa Sharp, and son, David Semmel.