Fiscal Year 2009

Awards & Honors

• Robin Jones, Project Director/Instructor, was elected to the Board of the National Association of Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers in May 2009.
• Fabricio Balcazar, Professor, received the National Association of Rehabilitation Research and Training Centers Special Commendation Award in May 2009.
• Chitra Gurung, MS Student, was awarded the 8th Annual Ann and Edward Page-El, MD Scholarship Award in May 2009.
• Mary Kay Rizzolo, Associate Director, was appointed Vice-Chairman of the Ray Graham Board of Directors in May 2009.
• Tamar Heller, Director, was awarded the 2009 Autism Ally for Public Policy Award by The Arc of Illinois and The Autism Program of Illinois in April 2009.
• Lennard Davis, Professor, was awarded a Liberal Arts and Sciences Distinguished Professorship award in April 2009.  
• Beth Marks, Research Assistant Professor, received a Distinguished Alumnus Award from the University of Cincinnati College of Nursing Alumni Association in April 2009.
• Joseph Caldwell, Adjunct Research Assistant Professor, was appointed Kennedy Public Policy Fellow in November 2008.
• Katie Keiling, Community Support Coordinator/MS student, and John Kramer, alumnus, were chosen as co-chairs of the National Sibling Leadership Network in February 2009.
• Vladimir Cuk, PR and Advocacy Coordinator/PhD student, was awarded the Chicago Consular Corps scholarship in February 2009.
• Katie Keiling, Community Support Coordinator/MS student, was awarded the AUCD Anne Rudigier Award in November 2008.
• Two PhD students were awarded the Provost's Award for Graduate Research. Kelly Munger for her dissertation project "Exploring the Lived Experience of Stigma Among Individuals with Cerebral Palsy" and Edurne Garcia for her dissertation project "Increasing Participation of Adults with Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities in their Individual Service Plans."
• The late Annie Hopkins, MS student, was awarded Advocate of the Year by the Progress Center for Independent Living in October 2008.
• Lennard Davis, Professor, had his book Obsession: A History, named one of the five best books by Chicagoans in 2008.

Bronwynne Evans, RN, PhD and Beth Marks, RN, PhD produced the documentary film "Open the Door, Get ‘Em a Locker: Educating Nursing Students with Disabilities," chronicles the experience of a nursing student who entered a baccalaureate program using a wheelchair. For more information please visit: www.nurseswithdisabilities.org

Grants

• Ann Cutler, Clinical Assistant Professor, was awarded the Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental and related Disabilities (LEND) Training Program grant in September 2008.
• Tamar Heller, Director, IDHD, was awarded a grant by the Illinois Department of Human Services entitled "An Analysis of Movement from State Operated Developmental Centers in Illinois."
• Robin Jones, Director, Great Lakes ADA Center, was awarded a contract to provide technical assistance to the 2016 Chicago Olympic Bid Committee regarding the accessibility of their website in September 2008.
• Robin Jones was awarded a grant by the City of Chicago for the development of their ADA Title II Self-Evaluation/Transition Plan. This will be a three year process which will commence in the Fall of 2008.

 Lennard Davis, Professor, began hosting a PsychologyToday.com blog, "Obsessively Yours" in November 2008.

Theses and Dissertations Defended

The following students successfully defended their doctoral dissertations:

• Shilpaa Anand, "Delusive discourse: Tracing the conceptual history of disability in India."
• Denise Nepveux, "‘In the same soup': Marginality, vulnerability and belonging in the life stories of disabled women in Accra, Ghana."
• John Kramer, "People with disabilities and their siblings: Building concepts of support and transitions."
• Edurne Garcia Iriarte, "Participation of people with intellectual disabilities in empowerment evaluation: Process and impact."
• Alberto Guzman, "Exploring postsecondary education disability service's standards: Alignment with Disability Studies."

The following students successfully defended their Master's thesis:

• Kate Bacon, "Establishing an instrument to assess the need for home modifications to enable community access."
  
• Karen Eder, "Social enterprise in a nonprofit agency serving people with developmental disabilities: A case study." 
• Sarah Franz, "Not Deaf enough: Experiences of oral Deaf individuals." 
• Norma Jane Mejias, "The influence of a support group for young disabled women on members' sense of belonging." 

Alumni

• Supriya Raman, alumnus, accepted a position at the Federal Aviation Administration as and FAA Civil Rights - ADA Specialist in April 2009.
• John Kramer, alumnus, accepted a job as a Research Associate at the Institute on Community Inclusion, the MA UCEDD at the University of Massachusetts, Boston.
• Jessica Kramer, alumnus, accepted a position as an Assistant Professor in the Occupation Therapy Department at Boston University.
• Edurne Garcia, alumnus, accepted a two year post-doctoral fellowship at the National Institute for Intellectual Disability in Dublin, Ireland in February 2009.

Edurne Garcia, PhD alumnus, and Tamar Heller, Director, presenting at the

National Scientific Conference on Disabilities in Salamanca, Spain in March 2009