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About the Network
Network Focus
Related Resources
Contact Us
National Capacity Building Institute
Invited Speakers
Reneta Adjibodou Deputy Director, Office of Youth Services, U.S. Department of Labor (yet to be confirmed)
Kelli Crane, Ph. D., is currently a Program Manager at TransCen, Inc., a non-profit organization based in Rockville, MD. She is involved in designing national technical assistance strategies to better align systems and services for youth with disabilities. She works with the National Center on Secondary Education and Transition to develop professional development materials for educators, employers, policy-makers, and disability service providers. Prior to working at TransCen, Dr. Crane was a Senior Research Associate for the National School-to-Work Office.
Elizabeth Getzel, Ph. D., has been a Research Associate at the Virginia Commonwealth University RRTC for the past 15 years and currently directs a project on workplace supports. Dr. Getzel has worked for a research and development center at the University of Wisconsin-Madison developing evaluation strategies which enabled individuals to talk about their experiences in a particular service or educational program to learn what worked well and where improvements were needed. Dr. Getzel has also been involved in a number of evaluation studies in the field of special education, specifically focusing on transition services for youth with disabilities and those attending postsecondary education programs.
Debra Hart, M. Ed., is Education Coordinator for the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She directs several projects related to building the capacity of school districts to support their youth with disabilities to develop career paths and move into inclusive postsecondary education and employment. Ms Hart is also involved in working with teachers to apply principles of universal design for learning to create access to secondary education curriculum in general education courses, and in assisting youth in developing social networks across secondary, postsecondary education, and employment settings.
David Hoff, M.S., CRC is a Senior Training Associate at the Institute for
Community Inclusion (ICI) at the University of Massachusetts in the area of
employment and career development. In this position, he provides training,
consultation, and technical assistance on a wide variety of topics related
to the employment of people with disabilities. His professional interests
and activities are focused on a passionate belief that people with disabilities
have a right to be fully included in all aspects of society, with the same
rights and responsibilities as all other citizens. Among his current projects
is the examination of how the One-Stop Career Center System can meet the needs
of people with disabilities. Prior to joining ICI, Mr. Hoff spent several
years in a direct service role, assisting individuals with developmental disabilities
to find and maintain employment. He is the co-author of several articles and
manuals related to the issue of employment of people with disabilities, and
has presented at numerous local and national conferences.
William Kiernan, Ph. D., is the Director of the Institute for Community Inclusion, at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. He also Directs the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center on State Systems and Employment as well as several Department of Labor technical assistance grants. He is recognized for his lifelong professional and personal commitment to expanding employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities.
Richard G. Luecking, Ed.D., is President of TransCen, Inc., a non-profit organization based in Rockville,
MD that specializes in school-to-work transition initiatives, systems change
in education, and career development of individuals with disabilities. During
his 15 year tenure with the organization he has written, directed and/or overseen
over two dozen federal research and demonstration projects and a nearly equal
number of foundation-funded projects that address school to work transition
and employment services for people with disabilities. He was an original consultant
in the development of the Bridges from school to work program of the Marriott
Foundation for People with Disabilities, which has since been replicated and
established in several national locations with the help of TransCen and which
has resulted in the employment of over 6,000 people with disabilities. Dr.
Luecking and his colleagues at TransCen are currently partners in the National
Center on Secondary Education and Transition for Youth with Disabilities and
the National Collaborative on Workforce and Disability for Youth.
Mary Mack Associate Director of the National Center on Secondary Education and Transition and co-leader of the systems linkages and service coordination network is responsible for assisting state policymakers to ensure the inclusion of youth with disabilities in various youth initiatives including the workforce investment and school-to-work systems. She designs and manages the coordination of technical assistance service to States. In this role, Ms Mack has worked to develop collaborative relationships with organizations that include the National Alliance for Business, CCSSO, NASDSE, and AED. She has planned and conducted several national institutes and workshops on STW, employer involvement, and standards-based education.
Joseph Marrone Senior Training Associate at the Institute for Community Inclusion, has consulted, trained, and lectured to/for professionals in Vocational Rehabilitation, Mental Health, and Developmental Disabilities, consumers, family members, employers, government officials, academics, and the general public in 48 states, Canada, Puerto Rico, and Europe. He has over 28 years direct service/administrative experience in delivering rehabilitation services in community mental health - with major emphases on services to people with serious mental illness. Mr. Marrone has been a staff member at the New England Psychiatric Rehabilitation Training Program and the University of Massachusetts at Boston, the Michigan State University Long -Term Training Grant in Psychiatric Rehabilitation as well as of the University of Pittsburgh/Western Psychiatric Institute's National Psychiatric Rehabilitation Training Grant. He has also been an Adjunct Faculty Member of the New England School of Professional Psychology and the Boston University School of Medicine.
Richard Robison is Executive Director of the Federation for Children with Special Needs, a statewide Parent Training and Information Center. Mr. Robinson brings personnel as well as professional experience of over 20 years to the field of education and disabilities to all of his work. He has served on the state advisory committee for special education and on his town’s school committee as well as being a former administrator in the MA Department of Mental Retardation.
Robert A. Stodden, Ph. D., is Director of the Center on Disability Studies and the National Center for the Study of Postsecondary Educational Supports, and is a Professor of Special Education at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. He is also the current President of the Association of University Centers on Disability (AUCD. Dr. Stodden has served as chairperson of the Department of Special Education at the University of Hawaii at Manoa and Coordinator of Career/Vocational Special Needs Training Programs at Boston College. Over the past 25 years, Dr. Stodden has served as principal investigator/director of more than 100 research and training projects spanning the areas of secondary school transition, postsecondary education, and employment for youth with special learning and behavior needs. During the process of reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) of 1997, Dr. Stodden served as a Kennedy Senior Policy Fellow with the Disability Policy Subcommittee in the United States Senate, drafting and negotiating much of the transition service language found in the legislation. He currently serves on numerous association and editorial boards and has an active record in the field for more than twenty years.
Cate Weir, M. Ed., has been working with the Institute on Disability as a project coordinator for projects that focus on expanding successful postsecondary educational opportunities for students with disabilities for over four years. Previously to this, she worked as a disability support services provider for two community colleges in NH, and has also been a college professor for over ten years. In these roles, she has experienced first hand how the quality and extent of service coordination can impact the postsecondary educational opportunities for students with disabilities. Ms. Weir holds a Master's degree in Education in Curriculum and Instruction, and is currently coordinating the college faculty development project "Equity and Excellence in Higher Education" at the Institute on Disability at the University of New Hampshire.
Teresa Whelley, Ed. D. is the Research Coordinator of the National Center for the Study of Postsecondary Educational Supports, Center on Disability Studies, and an Assistant Professor at the University of Hawaii at Manoa. She has family members who have disabilities and has worked with and for people with disabilities for 25 years in institutions, community services, state agencies, public schools, and colleges and universities. She has worked in the area of transition from school to work for 15 years. Dr. Whelley is a member of the Employment /Education Committee of the State Planning Council on Developmental Disabilities in Hawaii, and a member of the Advisory Council for the Imua Project. She is also a member of TASH and a member of the Coalition for Students with significant Disabilities in Postsecondary Education. Her research interests include transition, postsecondary education and support for families of people with disabilities
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The National Center on Secondary Education and Transition is funded by and is a partner with the US Department of Education, Office of Special Education Programs, cooperative agreement # H326J000005. |
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Utilizing Federal Financial Aid to Fund Postsecondary Education for Students with Disabilities |
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