Founder of KU disabilities research and training center steps down

LAWRENCE -- James F. Budde, founder and director of KU's Research and Training Center on Independent Living, will assume a new role as the center's director emeritus as he begins a phased retirement.

Under Budde's leadership, the center influenced public policy regarding national standards for independent living centers and produced publications including a standard reference for journalists.

A public reception will honor Budde and recognize Glen White, who will succeed him. The public is invited to attend the reception from noon to 2:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 8, in the Bruckmiller Room of the Adams Alumni Center.

Budde organized the RTC/IL as an official university center in 1980 with a $2.5 million grant from the National Institute on Disability and Rehabilitation Research. Since its inception, the center has received grants and contracts totaling more than $10 million.

Budde's leadership was instrumental in the implementation of the Developmental Disabilities Act of 1996, a state-based initiative for developing a network of local service centers.

In 1978, Budde helped establish Independence Inc., a Lawrence-based service coordination and referral center for people with disabilities, where he served two terms as president and 18 years on the board.

Budde also serves on the board and has been the president of Cottonwood Inc., Lawrence's designated developmental disabilities center. Cottonwood was designed to help people with developmental disabilities get job training, find places to live and work in the community.

At the national level, Budde served as president of the National Association of Research Rehabilitation and Training Centers, the National Association of University Affiliated Programs and the National Association of Independent Living.

"Jim Budde has devoted his long career to creating innovative solutions to problems associated with a wide range of disabilities," said Steve Warren, director of KU's Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies. "His leadership and contributions leave a powerful legacy for others to build on."

Budde will continue as a member of the RTC/IL's management team and disseminate research on advocacy and disability policy via the Internet.

The Research and Training Center on Independent Living is one of the 14 centers and more than 100 programs at KU's Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies that serve both rural and urban Kansans through research-based solutions for the problems of human and community development, disabilities and aging.