Dr. Beth Bryant-Claxton is a professional dedicated to working with individuals with disabilities and their families. Dr. Bryant received her Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology from the University of Florida. She completed pre-doctoral and postdoctoral fellowships at the A.I. duPont Hospital for Children in Wilmington, DE, and a second postdoctoral year as a Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (LEND) fellow at the Westchester Institute for Human Development, a University Center of Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD), where she also served as faculty at the New York Medical College. Dr. Bryant previously served as the Director of the Positive Behavior Support (PBS) Training Project at Partners for Inclusive Communities, Arkansas’ UCEDD, providing statewide training and certification for positive behavior support specialists, direct support staff, and families across the state. She subsequently provided training, assessment and development of PBS plans for individuals supported by United Cerebral Palsy of Arkansas, and served as the Clinical Director for Arkansas START (Systemic, Therapeutic Assessment, Resources and Treatment), a statewide crisis prevention and intervention program for individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities and complex behavioral health needs. Currently, Dr. Bryant brings her wealth of experience to her role as Executive Director of the Institute for Disability Studies at The University of Southern Mississippi (IDS @ USM), Mississippi’s UCEDD. In this role, Dr. Bryant is responsible for oversight of all programmatic, personnel, fiscal, and budgetary activities for the agency, as well as facilitating disability-related research, teaching, and service collaborations between IDS and USM, and other local, state, and federal partners.