Keynote and Plenary Presenter Bios

Martha Brooks
Dr. Martha Brooks is the Associate Secretary of Education for the department’s Curriculum and Instructional Improvement Branch. This branch is responsible for curriculum development and standards for Delaware’s public schools – ranging from early childhood through adult education.

Lou Danielson
Louis Danielson, Ph.D., a national leader in the field of special education, has been involved in programs that improve results for students with disabilities for nearly three decades. He brings an unparalleled and unique depth of knowledge in both special education policy and research to his current position as Director of the Research to Practice Division in the U.S. Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP).

Dr. Danielson was awarded a doctorate of philosophy in educational psychology from Pennsylvania State University in 1976. His career spans several roles in education including secondary school science and mathematics teacher, school psychologist, and teaching at the university level. For the past twenty-five years, Dr. Danielson has held leadership roles in OSEP and is currently responsible for the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) discretionary grants program, including model demonstration, technical assistance and dissemination, personnel preparation, technology, and parent training priorities. He has served in numerous research and policy roles across the Department and has represented OSEP in major school reform activities.

A frequent contributor to professional journals, Dr. Danielson has published extensively in the literature and is a frequent speaker at national and international conferences and events focusing on special education. His particular areas of interest include policy implementation and national evaluation studies.

Dean Fixsen
Mr. Dean Fixsen began his career in human services in 1963 as a Psychiatric Aide in a large state hospital for children with profound developmental delays. He combined this work with education and received his doctorate in Experimental Psychology from the University of Kansas in 1970. Beginning in 1969 he served as co-director of the Achievement Place Research Project during the years of intense research on the treatment components of the Teaching-Family Model. In 1975, he was one of five Teaching-Family researchers who moved to Father Flanagan’s Boys’ Home to transition that large organization from institutional care to family-based care for boys and girls. In 1979 Mr. Fixsen, Karen Blase, and others began developing and evaluating a system to replicate and implement the Teaching-Family Model nationally. In 1986, Mr. Fixsen and his colleagues helped to establish and test adaptations and extensions of the Teaching-Family Model in home-based treatment settings and treatment foster care settings in Alberta, Canada.

In 1995 Mr. Fixsen began to focus on the critical dimensions associated with national implementation of evidence-based programs. This work has led to a major review of the implementation evaluation literature, reviews of successful implementation practices, and the development of a network of program purveyors, implementation sites, family and cultural experts, state and federal policymakers, and researchers.

Over the past 37 years, Mr. Fixsen has co-authored nearly 100 publications; served on numerous editorial boards; and advised local, state, and federal governments. He currently is a research professor at the Louis de la Parte Florida Mental Health Institute and, with Karen Blase, is co-director of the National Implementation Research Network.

Jim Gallagher
James Gallagher, Ph.D. has been active in special education for over five decades. He spent 13 years as professor at the Institute for Research on Exceptional Children at University of Illinois. He was the first director of the Bureau of Education for the Handicapped in 1967 (now OSEP). For 17 years, Dr. Gallagher was Kenan professor and directed the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Center at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. Now professor emeritus, he has authored over fifteen books and 200 journal articles. These include co-authorship of the basic textbook Educating Exceptional Children now in its 11th edition. His latest book published this year (2006) is Driving Change in Special Education by Paul Brookes. Among his many awards he received last year the Gold Medal for Lifetime Achievement for a Psychologist in the Public Interest from the American Psychological Association.

John Hager
John H. Hager currently serves as Assistant Secretary for Special Education and Rehabilitative Services at the U.S. Department of Education. Prior to this position, Hager served in a variety of government roles in Virginia, including the position of lieutenant governor where he received national recognition as chairman of Virginia’s Disability Commission and as a role model for disabled Virginians.

Mr. Hager graduated from Purdue University with a bachelor's degree in mechanical engineering and from Harvard University with a master's degree in business administration. He served in the United States Army and the Army Reserves, rising to the rank of captain. He is a member of the American Legion. A lifelong athlete, he has competed in many wheelchair races.

Ted Hasselbring
Ted S. Hasselbring, Ph.D., is the William T. Bryan Professor of Special Education Technology at the University of Kentucky. Over the past twenty-five years Dr. Hasselbring has conducted research on the use of technology for enhancing learning in students with mild disabilities and those who are at risk of school failure. Most recently, Dr. Hasselbring has focused his research and development efforts on the role of technology in helping middle and high school students develop literacy and math skills. In the fall of 2006, Dr. Hasselbring will be returning to Vanderbilt University where he spent 18 years prior to joining the University of Kentucky.

Ed Kame’enui
Edward J. Kame'enui, Ph.D. was appointed the nation's first Commissioner for Special Education Research in 2005. He is an international authority on learning problems and special education, and leads the National Center for Special Education Research (NCSER), within the Institute of Education Services (IES).

Dr. Kame’enui came to IES from the University of Oregon, where he has been a faculty member for the past 17 years and held the Dean Knight Professorship of Special Education. His areas of research expertise and interest include early literacy, vocabulary development, learning disabilities, school wide models of reading improvement, and the design of high quality educational materials. He has served on a multitude of national committees, review panels, and research boards in general and special education and has published over 90 journal articles, 30 book chapters, and 14 textbooks.

Kame’enui began his special education career in 1970 as a teacher and houseparent at a residential treatment center for children identified with serious emotional and behavioral problems in Wisconsin. He also served in the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services of the U.S. Department of Education as a research specialist and project officer. Dr. Kame’enui has served on the faculty at the University of Montana and Purdue University. A native Hawaiian, Dr. Kame'enui is a graduate of the Kamehameha Schools, and earned his bachelor of arts degree in English Literature at Pacific University, and his master's and doctoral degrees in special education at the University of Oregon.

Tim Lewis
Tim Lewis, Ph.D., is Professor and Chair of the Department of Special Education at the University of Missouri. His research and teaching areas include Emotional/Behavioral Disorders, social skill instruction, functional assessment, and school-wide systems of positive behavior support. Dr. Lewis is co-editor of the Behavioral Disorders, associate editor of the Journal of Positive Behavioral Interventions and serves on 10 other special education journal editorial boards.

Pedro Noguera
Pedro Noguera, Ph.D. is a professor in the Steinhardt School of Education at New York University, a co-director of the Institute for the Study of Globalization and Education in Metropolitan Settings, and the director of the Metropolitan Center for Urban Education. He is one of America’s leading urban sociologists, whose scholarship and research focus on the influence of social and economic conditions on schools in the urban environment. A powerful speaker with a unique ability to connect with diverse audiences, Dr. Noguera is has published over 100 research articles, monographs, and reports on topics such as urban school reform, conditions that promote student achievement, youth violence, the potential impact of school choice and vouchers on urban public schools, and race and ethnic relations in American society. His most recent book is City Schools and the American Dream: Reclaiming the Promise of Public Education. Dr. Noguera has served as an advisor and engaged in collaborative research with several large urban school districts throughout the United States and served as a member of the U.S. Public Health Service Centers for Disease Control Taskforce on Youth Violence, as chair of the Committee on Ethics in Research and Human Rights for the American Educational Research Association, and on numerous advisory boards to local and national education and youth organizations. His work has appeared in several major research journals and many are available online at inmotionmagazine.com. In addition to City Schools and the American Dream, he is also the author of The Imperatives of Power: Political Change and the Social Basis of Regime Support in Grenada. Thoughtful, provocative, and always on the cutting edge, Dr. Noguera is poised to make great changes in the American educational landscape.

Alexa Posny
Alexa Posny, Ph.D., came to Washington in April 2006 to serve as the Director of the Office of Special Education Programs. In her prior position as Deputy Commissioner for Learning Services at the Kansas State Department of Education (KSDE), she oversaw all statewide education programs and services and ensured the implementation of all state and federal education legislation including the No Child Left Behind (NCLB), IDEA, and the School Accreditation system.

For the two years prior to joining KSDE, Dr. Posny was the Director of Special Education for the Shawnee Mission School District where she was honored as the District Administrator of the Year in 1999. She has received a variety of other awards and recognitions including the Gifted Education Advocate award and the 2005 Governor’s Award from the Kansas State High School Activities Association. Additionally, Dr. Posny served as an adjunct professor at the University of Kansas teaching an inter-collaborative teaming course on effective instructional methods and a strategies course for diverse learners, and most recently, a course on federal, state, and local education policy.

Prior to beginning her work as OSEP Director, Dr. Posny was heavily involved in policy and compliance issues at the federal level. She was one of 23 individuals from across the country that served on the negotiated rule-making team for NCLB and was one of 12 members of the federal oversight committee. Dr. Posny was appointed by former U.S. Department of Education Secretary Rod Paige to serve on the Mid-Continent Regional Advisory Committee and the U.S. Department of Education Comprehensive Centers Grant Review team. The Comprehensive Centers are the major national technical assistance providers to state departments of education.

David Rose
David Rose, Ph.D., helped to found CAST (Center for Applied Special Technology) in 1984 with a vision of expanding opportunities for all students, especially those with disabilities, through the innovative development and application of technology. Dr. Rose specializes in developmental neuropsychology and in the universal design of learning technologies.

Ruth Ryder
Ruth Ryder is the Director of the Division of Monitoring and State Improvement Planning in OSEP, U.S. Department of Education. The Division of Monitoring and State Improvement Planning has responsibility for the IDEA formula grant programs Part B, 619, and Part C, as well as State Improvement Grants/State Personnel Development Grants, General Supervision Enhancement Grants, the Regional Resource and Federal Centers and the National Monitoring Center.  Ms. Ryder has been with OSEP since 1988, all 17 years with the formula grant division.  She has been the division director since 1995, and in that time has provided national leadership in moving special education monitoring to a more results-oriented process. 

George Sugai
George Sugai, Ph.D., is Carole J. Neag Endowed Professor in Special Education in the Neag School of Education at the University of Connecticut with expertise in behavior analysis, classroom and behavior management, school-wide discipline, function-based behavior support, positive behavior supports, and educating students with emotional and behavioral disorders. Dr. Sugai conducts applied school and classroom research and works with schools to translate research into practice. He is currently co-director of the Center on PBIS at the University of Connecticut and University of Oregon.

Sharon Vaughn
Sharon Vaughn, Ph.D., holds the H. E. Hartfelder/Southland Corp. Regents Chair in Human Development at the University of Texas at Austin . She is the author of numerous books and research articles that address the reading and social outcomes of students with learning difficulties. She is currently the Principal Investigator or Co-Principal Investigator on several Institute for Education Science, National Institute for Child Health and Human Development, and Office of Special Education Programs research grants investigating effective interventions for students with reading difficulties and students who are English language learners.

Larry Wexler
Larry Wexler, Ph.D., has been a special educator for thirty five years having been a teacher of students with severe disabilities, program director, principal, state mental retardation specialist, executive assistant to the State Director of Special Education, director of state monitoring, OSEP state contact, OSEP project officer and Deputy Director of the Monitoring and State Improvement Planning Division.  He holds a b achelor’s degree in International Relations from the School of International Service of American University, a master’s degree in teaching with concentration in mental retardation from Howard University, and a doctorate degree with concentration in severe disabilities from Johns Hopkins University.

Markay Winston
Markay L. Winston, Ph.D., is the Director for the Department of Student Services with the Cincinnati Public Schools. During her tenure, Dr. Winston has successfully led multiple district-wide efforts to promote access to the core curriculum for diverse learners through an integrated systems change model of intervention and instructional technology initiatives.

Yong Zhao
Yong Zhao, Ph.D., is University Distinguished Professor in the Department of Counseling, Educational Psychology, and Special Education at the College of Education, Michigan State University, where he also serves as the founding director of the Center for Teaching and Technology as well as the US-China Center for Research on Educational Excellence. Dr. Zhao holds both master’s and doctoral degrees from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. He is a fellow of the International Academy for Education.