VITAE

GOALS

COURSEWORK

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCES

ANALYTICAL THINKING

RESEARCH

ARTIFACTS

Portfolio I

At this juncture of my doctoral studies, I have participated in two professional activities.  The first I co-presented with my colleague Pat Leins at the poster session of the OSEP Project Directors Conference 2009.  We collaborated to design a poster which would depict the work that had been accomplished the first year under the 325 T grant that Dr. Kelley Regan had received.  The poster was entitled, The Road to HQT: Improving, Restructuring, and Recruiting Undergraduates to the Field of Special Education and can be viewed through this link. The second activity, I collaborated with Dr. Scruggs to write an invited response article for submission to the journal Life Span and Disability in Italy.  For my part, I came up with initial points which we discussed, collected possible references of interest, collaborated to formulate an outline, and then wrote a few pages based upon the meta analysis reference article that I had found.  What was most challenging about this endeavor, aside from being incredibly intimidated, was that we only had a few weeks to accomplish this task.  Our response can be viewed through this link. Since my particular area of interest is transition, and more specifically transition as it involves the population with intellectual disability challenges, I hope to focus my research in this area, and perhaps be able to present in some capacity at next year's CEC transition division conference.

Portfolio II

I have participated in several professional activities since Portfolio I.  Dr. Regan and I co-presented a poster at the 2010 OSEP Project Directors' conference. We also co-presented at its breakout session.  The title of our breakout session:  Special Education Pre-Service Training Improvement Project:  Improving Course Content and Syllabi Revision.  The power point for the breakout session can be viewed through this link. The article that Dr. Scruggs and I co-authored was published in the journal Life Span and Disability, 12, 141-149. The published article can be viewed through this link. Dr. Scruggs and I collaborated on submitting a proposal for a chapter in  a proposed book submission to McGraw Hill, UK Inclusion in Schools - What Works? edited by C. Boyle, & K. Topping.  The book and chapter were accepted, and Dr. Scruggs and I are to complete the chapter draft by May 30, 2011.  I am including a link to the guide so that the proposal can be viewed. Dr. Regan and I submitted a proposal for a breakout session at the CEC 2011 conference which was accepted. Dr. Regan and I also submitted an article for which we were advised to revise and resubmit.  Since the submitted article and the revised one are significantly different, I'll wait to provide a link when it is complete.

Portfolio III I was involved in several professional activities this year.  Dr. Regan and I co-presented at a multiple presentation at CEC 2011 which was titled, Developing Evidence-Based Practitioners:  A Process for Improving A University Pre-Service Training Program.  The link to the power point of this presentation can be found here.  Dr. Regan and I also co-presented at the OSEP Project Director's Conference 2011, a poster entitled, Identifying Best Practices for Managing Behaviors.  The link to that poster can be found here. I collaborated on two publications.  The first was an article I worked on with Dr. Reagan, Best Practices to Support Student Behavior, which was accepted by the journal Beyond Behavior.    The second was a chapter that I collaborated on with Dr. Scruggs, Theoretical Perspectives of Inclusion,  in Boyle and Topping (eds) Inclusion in Schools -- What Works?  Little did we know when we agreed to collaborate on this chapter that Dr. Scruggs would fall ill right before we found out that the book had been approved.  Since Dr. Scruggs continued to have faith in my research and writing ability,  I doggedly proceeded to continue throughout the spring and early summer.  It was truly a gift to have had this opportunity, and I was honored when Dr. Scruggs decided to place me as lead author for the chapter.