Yegin Habtes, Ph.D

Virgin Islands University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities
School of Education
University of the Virgin Islands
RR! Box 10,000
St. Croix, VI 00850
 
Phone: 340-693-1323
Email: [email protected]
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Last Updated: July 17, 2012

Yegin Habtes
 

Leadership: UCEDD Director
 
Discipline(s): Education: General
Education/Special Education
Education: Early Intervention/Early Childhood
 
AUCD Council Membership: Council on Research and Evaluation
National Training Directors' Council
Community Education Directors' Council
Multicultural Council
No Council Membership
 
Research: Cross Cultural Issues in Education
Education: Interdisciplinary Teacher Preparation
Service: Curriculum Development

Vita/Bio

FELLOWSHIPS:
1966 - 1971 Lutheran World Federation Fellowship Recipient
1974 - 1975 Lutheran World Federation Fellowship Recipient
1982 - 1984 United States Public Health Services Postdoctoral Fellowship
2004 - 2005 J.P. Kennedy Fellow on Disabilities Study at the World Bank.

EDUCATION:
B.A. Geography and School Administration,
Haile Selassie First University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 1971

M.Sc. Educational Administration
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois 1976

Ph.D. Interdisciplinary Education
University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois 1979

AREAS OF EXPERIENCE:
Teacher Education:
Worked with teachers in Africa, the United States and the Caribbean.

Curriculum Development:
Participated in/or directed the following Curriculum Development Projects:

  • Special Education Mathematics Curriculum, Detriment of Education, Government of the United States Virgin Islands
  • Department of Cultural Education, Department of Education, Government of the United States Virgin Islands
  • K-12 Science Curriculum Development Project. Department of Education, Government of the United States Virgin Islands
  • K-12 Language Arts Curriculum Development, Department of Education, Government of the United States Virgin Islands
  • Tourism Awareness Curriculum Development, Department of Education, Government of the United States Virgin Islands
  • Developed an Associate degree program in Inclusive Early Childhood Education Program
  • Developed a certificate program for paraprofessionals in Education
  • Guided the development of an "Education Specialist degree" in School psychology
  • Guided the development of a certificate program in Assistive Technology


GRANTS AND CONTRACTS RECEIVED
2003-2006 US Dept. of Health and Human Services. Admi .on Developmental Disabilities $1, 500.000
1995-2003 US Dept. of Edu. National Institute on Disability and Rehab. Research (NIDER) $920,000
2003 US Dept. of Health and Human Services, Admin. on Developmental Disabilities $397,672
2002 US Dept. of Health and Human Services, Admin. on Developmental Disabilities $ 382,888
2002 US Dept. of Health and Human Services, Admin. on Developmental Disabilities $ 382,888 2001 US Dept. of Health and Human Services, Admin. on Developmental Disabilities $ 347,000
2000 US Dept. of Health and Human Services, Admin. on Developmental Disabilities $ 282,680
1999 US Dept. of Health and Human Services, Admin. on Developmental Disabilities $ 282,680
1998 US Dept. of Health and Human Services, Admin. on Developmental Disabilities $ 282,680
1997 US Dept. of Health and Human Services, Admin. on Developmental Disabilities $ 282,680
1996 US Dept. of Health and Human Services, Admin. on Developmental Disabilities $ 282,680
1995 US Dept. of Health and Human Services, Admin. on Developmental Disabilities $ 282,680
1994 US Dept. of Health and Human Services, Admin. on Developmental Disabilities $ 200,000
1990 US Dept. of Education, Leadership in Education Administration Development $ 144,000
1989 US Dept. of Education, Leadership in Education Administration Development $ 127,000
1981 US Department of Education, Teacher Corps Grant $ 150,000
1980 US Department of Education, Teacher Corps Grant $ 150,000
1979 US Department of Education, Teacher Corps Grant $ 150,000

PROFESSIONAL EXPERIENCE:
2005 - to Present Professor of Education and Executive Director
The Virgin Islands University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (VIUCEDD).

2004- 2005 Senior Education Specialist, The World Bank. As a J.P.Kennedy Fellow and on a one year Sabbatical from the University of the Virgin Islands, I worked as a Senior Education Specialist on disabilities related Issues with special emphasis on inclusion.

1994-2004 Professor of Education and Executive Director The Virgin Islands University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (VIUCEDD). The VIUCEDD formerly known as Virgin Islands University Affiliated Program (VIUAP) was established in 1994. I wrote the proposal for funding to the US Department of Health and Human Services and served as its director since its inception. The mission of the VIUCEDD is to provide inter-disciplinary training, technical assistance, and information dissemination, thereby supporting persons with disabilities to live independently, productively and included as members of their own communities.

1990-1994 Associate Professor of Education
University of the Virgin Islands, Education Division, St. Thomas, USVI 00802
Taught graduate and undergraduate courses in education, conducted workshops for teachers in the Virgin Islands and the Caribbean.

1989-1990 Associate Professor of Education and Executive Director of Leadership in Education Administration Development (LEAD), University of the Virgin Islands
The LEAD project was funded by the US Department of Education for three years to train Virgin Islanders for leadership positions in educational administration. Served as the prime investigator of the project and was able to train many Virgin Islanders for leadership positions. Currently, many of those trainees are serving in leadership positions in the Virgin Islands school system.

1985-1989 Associate Professor of Education and Chairperson
Teacher Education Division, Uiversity of the Virgin Islands, St. Thomas, USVI 00802
Supervised sixteen full-time faculty and staff and started distance learning programs in the Caribbean.

Fall, 1987 Visited the islands of Dominica, Montserrat, St. Lucia and Antigua to carryout a follow-up study on teachers who had participated in the Presidential Training Initiative for the Island Caribbean (PRIIC) sponsored by the national Development (AID)
Conducted a follow study of the PTIIC trainees in Grenada

Summer, 1987 Participated in an intensive training for about 400 teachers from the English speaking Eastern Caribbean countries. A short-term training lasted for four weeks and focused on principles of teaching and learning. The training took place at Florida Agricultural and Mechanical University (FAMU) in Tallahassee, Florida and was sponsored by the Agency for International Development (AID) as part of the Presidential Training Initiative for the Island Caribbean.

Summer 1986 Participated in a short-term training project of the Presidential Training Initiative for the Island Caribbean (PTIIC). Funded by the agency for International Development (AID), 62 teachers from Grenada participated in a six-week of intensive training in teaching skills at the University of the Virgin Islands.

1979-1982 Lecturer & Program Development
Specialist for Teacher Corps Project, University of the Virgin Islands
With funding from the US Department of Education, assisted many Virgin Islanders who were uncertified to earn their undergraduate degrees and be certified.

1975-1979 Administrative Assistant, Office of Graduate Programs
College of Education, University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, Illinois

1971-1974 Instructor and Assistant Director for Curriculum and Instruction
Adua Teacher Training College, Adua, Ethiopia

1984-1966 Principal, Evangelical School of Belleza, Belleza, Eritrea

1962-1964 Teacher, Evangelical School of Belleza, Belleza, Eritrea

PUBLICATIONS
Help them become their BEST through Education that is Multicultural (1984). St.Croix: Antilles Graphics.
Steinkamp, M.W. & Habtes (Habteyes), Y. The Functional Meanings of Behaviors: A Factor Analytic Study of Motivational Patterns in Virgin Islands Students. Intercultural, International Journal of Relations, 1985, 9 (2), p.p. 187-203.
Habtes (Habteyes), Yegin & Beady, C.H. A Close Look At Academic Self-Concept and Academic Sense of Faculty Among U.S. Virgin Islands Students. Caribbean Perspective: The Social Structure of a Region, 1991, V.1, pp.137-147.
Habtes (Habteyes), Yegin and Salimizadeh, K.M., & Monteiro, P.K. Assessing School Climate Cross culturally: A Confirmatory Factor Analytic Study. Environment and Labor in the Caribbean: Caribbean Perspectives, 1992, V.2. pp. 51-67.
"Restructuring Education in Eritrea: Policies and Practices." Published in Emergent Eritrea Challenges of Economic Development. Edited by Gebre Hiwet Tesfagorgis, 1992, pp. 61-67.
Publications in Non-Reference Journals:
The Ancient African Christians. The Voice: International Caribbean Magazine. Summer 1991, pp. 44-45.
The Geez Script-The Only African Script in Existence. The Voice: International Caribbean Magazine. January/February 1992, pp. 54-57.
The Falashas-The Black Jews. The Voice: International Caribbean Magazine. Summer 1992, pp. 54-56.
Ethiopian Orthodox Church. The Virgin Islands Daily News. Tuesday, February 19, 2002 pp. 22-23
One way to improve schools is with community coalition. The Virgin Islands Daily News, Thursday, November 7, 1996
Nyerere was a giant of man-one man worth a thousand. The Virgin Islands Daily News. Saturday, November 15, 1999
Selassie was a legend and a rarity. . The Virgin Islands Daily News, Thursday, Ethiopian Orthodox Church- Christianity Was in Africa hundreds of years before Italy. Tebruary1, 1994

PAPERS & LECTURES PRESENTED:
The Status of African Women and Their Role in Rural Development, paper presented to the Association of Business and Professional Women's Club, St. Thomas, Virgin Islands, November 22, 1980.
Habtes, Y. & Beady, C. Self-Concept and Sense of Futility in Caribbean and Mainland Students: A Comparative Analysis. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the American Educational Research Association, New Orleans, 1984.
Habtes (Habteyes), Yegin & Montairo, K. Borrowing Old Clothes and Other Bad Habits: The Case of Culturally Inappropriate Instruments for Measuring Organizational Climate in the Virgins. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the American Education Research Association, San Francisco, California, April 19, 1986.
.Restructuring Education in Eritrea: Policies and Procedures. Paper presented at the Economic Policy Conference: Asmara, Eritrea,
July 22-25, 1991.
The Status of Principals and Principalship in the United States Virgin Islands Public Schools. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Research Association of Minority Professors. Houston, Texas, February 1993.
Motivation Behaviors among Virgin Islands Students. Paper presented at the Annual Conference of the Research Association of Minority Professors. Raleigh, North Carolina, February 2-5, 1994.
Educating Eritreans for the year 2000 and beyond. Paper presented at an International Conference on Education, Sponsored by the University of Asmara, Eritrea, May 23-28, 1994