Project Description:
Objective 1.02: Educational and Internship Experiences Annual Narrative 2016-2017
The Center on Disability and Development's Graduate Fellows and Internship Program provides an opportunity to study the complex social, political, cultural, and educational issues that surround individuals with disabilities and their families. Our focus on Disability Studies supports the formation of teachers, activists, practitioners, and researchers who are interested in the phenomenon of disability from various disciplinary perspectives. Our program is designed to prepare graduate students throughout the College of Education and Human Development as well as students from other colleges wishing to make the program part of their degree plan. Our current Fellows are engaged in research, policy, and service projects that make an impact on the lives of individuals with disabilities and their families. Our program will increase the number of qualified personnel across disciplines that can provide services and supports for individuals with developmental disabilities. Our Interdisciplinary Training Program began training its first graduate students in 2006. Reflecting the interdisciplinary nature of the Center, our trainees have come from the disciplines of special education, school psychology, counseling psychology, public policy, and learning sciences. Our trainees are assigned to work with CDD Center Faculty on projects that directly address our Center's objectives and participate in research, training, and outreach activities under the direction of Center faculty. During 2015-2020, the CDD will provide educational and internship experiences to doctoral students from a variety of academic programs. Two different levels of training will be provided, along with support that corresponds to the intensity and number of hours of training provided by Center faculty: 1) Fellowships for graduate students engaged in long term (>300 hours) training under the direct supervision of Center faculty across multiple Center project objectives. These students will receive orientation to the Center and an overview of UCEDD missions, structure, and history under the direction of Dr. Stough, the Interdisciplinary Training Coordinator. These Fellows will be mentored to participate in research, presentations, grant writing, as well as participating on Center projects, as well as to participate in AUCD sponsored conferences, professional training, and webinars. Fellows will be selected by Center faculty for their interest in disability issues and desire to engage in advocacy, capacity building and systemic change in the core areas of education/early intervention and quality of life. 2) Short term training (>300 hours) for graduate and undergraduate students participating in activities usually restricted to one Center project objective. These experiences may include graduate internships, undergraduate research projects, or other involvement on a project sponsored by the Center. These short-term trainees usually will not be supported by the Center, but may be employed or sponsored by external funds that support one of the Center projects. Short term trainees will be usually selected by individual Core Faculty or Affiliated Faculty to participate on projects that have as their aim one emphasis.
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--- FY 2016?2017 Trainees ---
Dianey Leal - Bush School of Government and Public Service
Dianey Leal is a first-year graduate student at The Bush School of Government and Public Service, where she is currently pursuing her masters in public service and administration. Through this program, she seeks to understand the capabilities required for effective and ethical management in higher education. She currently serves as one of the project leads for the schools Public Service Organization and seats as a non-voting member for Twin City Mission, a nonprofit organization that works collectively to meet the needs of homeless individuals and families. She is also a member of the Diversity Committee under the Student Government Association. Dianey graduated from St. Edwards University in 2015 with a double major in political science and English writing and rhetoric. This semester she will serve as a Leadership for Diversity Fellow with the Center of Disability and Development at Texas A&M University, where she will be researching policies on disability-related issues.
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Jesse Cahill - Biochemistry
After completing a bachelors degree in music in Wisconsin, Jesse worked as a private music instructor. Jesse taught guitar, bass, and drums to students of all backgrounds and experience levels and learned he had a love of teaching. To reach more students and continue learning, Jesse enrolled at UW-Green Bay (UWGB) with a career in science and science education in mind.
Jesse graduated magna cum laude from UWGB with a Bachelors of Science, majoring in human biology and chemistry. While attending classes at Green Bay, Jesse balanced night guitar lessons with a full time course load. Jesse worked as a TA for UWGBs Targeted Opportunities for Success in Science (TOSS) program, which is designed to bridge the performance gap between multicultural students and students from non-multicultural backgrounds. Additionally, Jesse tutored at UWGB and Northeast Wisconsin Technical College (NWTC) for 2 years and taught a summer microbiology lab at UWGB. After teaching the lab course, Jesse was inspired to pursue graduate school so that he would be able to teach science at the post-secondary level.Jesse entered the Biochemistry and Biophysics graduate program at Texas A&M in 2013. He joined Dr. Ryland Youngs lab to study how viruses of bacteria (bacteriophages) lyse (destroy) bacterial cells. Jesse became a Ph.D. candidate in 2014 and completed his teaching and coursework requirement in spring 2015. In addition to teaching at Texas A&M, Jesse has mentored four undergraduate researchers. As Jesse completes his Ph.D. project, he has sought additional professional development activities: Jesse is a member of the CIRTL-TAR fellows program. This program is designed for graduate students who wish to develop a project that will improve teaching outcomes. CIRTL-TAR fellows manage the project with the same research skills and experimental rigor used in their graduate studies. In spring 2016, Jesse began the CDD Graduate Fellows program and is working with Dr. Meagan Sumbera, Dr. Dalun Zhang and Dr. Laura Stough on his fellows training and research projects related to helping people with disabilities.
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Jessica Walker - Industrial Organizational Psychology
Jessica Walker is a first-year graduate student in the doctorate program for Industrial/ Organizational Psychology at Texas A&M University. Jessica was one of three fellows selected by Texas A&Ms Center of Disability and Development for the Leadership Training for Diversity (LTD) fellowship program. For the past several years, Jessica has been involved with programs for disabilities (e.g. Best Buddies, Camp Champions, Mental Health Mental Retardation) and promoting diversity, such as through her position as VP of Multicultural Programming in Residential Housing Association. Jessicas strong interest in diversity and leadership development led to her involvement with the ADVANCE Social Sciences Team at Texas A&M, which is a National Science Foundations (NSF) funded grant for the increase and advancement of women in STEM disciplines. With her research and knowledge obtained from this fellowship, Jessicas ambition is to assist those with disabilities in the workplace.
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FY 2017 Trainees
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Jeffrey Opaleye is a second-year doctoral student in the Department of Sociology at Texas A & M University (TAMU). His research interests include race & ethnicity, marriage & family, urban poverty, and disparities in education. Actively engaged in scholarship and research, Jeffrey seeks to produce influential work that enhances the disciple of Sociology as well as make a profound impact on the lives of people.
Currently, he is working on the Aggie Ability Awareness for Graduate Student project along with the TAMU Disability Services and the TAMU Center for Teaching Excellence. This project proposes to promote a strong dialogue to graduate students about how to best work with individuals with disabilities.
In addition to being a graduate teaching assistant at TAMU, Jeffrey is a mentor who provides support to undergraduate students, volunteers by giving back to the homeless, and teaches Sociology courses at multiple institutions in the Houston area. Furthermore, he holds memberships in the following organizations: Alpha Kappa Delta The International Honor Society of Sociology, the Association of Black Sociologists. Jeffrey also engages in institutional service, as he is a committee member on The Minority Initiative Committee at Lone Star College to improve the educational experiences of all students and is a committee member on the Woodson Black Awareness Committee at TAMU.
In the Fall of 2016, Jeffrey was awarded a fellowship from the Texas A & M Center on Disability and Development for the Leadership Training for Diversity to assist with improving the lives of individuals with disabilities. It is with great determination that Jeffrey hopes to acquire as much knowledge and research skills from the Center on Disability and Development to be a better advocate for those who face adversities because of disabilities.
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Grace Ellen Brannon is a second-year doctoral student studying Health Communication in the Department of Communication in the College of Liberal Arts at Texas A&M University. She earned her B.A. in Communication Studies and her M.A. in Communication at the University of Texas at Arlington. She is currently a research assistant, but also has worked as a teaching assistant and instructor of record for communication courses. After her diagnosis of type 1 diabetes in 2011, she became interested in health-specific communication, which led to her current research interests. Graces research focuses on health in interpersonal relationships using mixed methods, investigating issues such as disclosure, information management, privacy issues, and health disparities. She currently is examining how young adults manage face and privacy in conversations about sexually transmitted infections with romantic partners.
Grace became interested in the Center for Disability and Development after becoming involved with her departments Climate and Inclusion Committee in 2015. After some research, she decided applying to the Diversity Fellow program could provide much-needed disability- and diversity-specific training, fitting well with her interests in health disparities in rural areas. Her current CDD projects include adapting an existing program (Aggie Ability Awareness) for the Texas A&M University medical community and creating a health practitioner-specific handout for patients with diabetes. In her spare time, she enjoys reading fantasy novels, spending time with her husband, Jeremy, and their dog, Ewok, practicing martial arts, and running. Grace is also active in the Bryan/College Station community, volunteering with a local United States Army Reserve unit Family Readiness Group.
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Melina Cavazos is a second-year graduate student in the College of Education and Human Development at Texas A&M University, where she is pursuing her Ph.D. in School Psychology. Inspired by her younger brother, who is diagnosed with autism, and by her mother, her brothers biggest advocate, Melina is dedicated to learning best practices in supporting students with difficulties and disabilities. She has recently worked with Dr. Deborah Simmons and Dr. Melissa Fogarty in the Integrated Vocabulary of Comprehension (IVC) Project funded by the Institute of Education Sciences (IES), where she assisted in various aspects of the project (e.g., program development, assessment, project monitoring, etc.). She is currently working with data from the Counseling and Assessment Clinic (CAC) in Bryan, TX under the supervision of Dr. Krystal Simmons to explore the effects of parent income and motivation on attrition rates. Her current research interests involve addressing the unique challenges faced by college students with autism through development of a comprehensive college transition theory and program, as well as through creating interventions and measures that address the development of self-advocacy skills in these students prior to college attendance. She excited to pursue her research goals through the Center on Disability and Development as an AIDD funded Diversity Fellow. Her current research projects as a Diversity Fellow include working with Dr. Dalun Zhang and other Diversity Fellows in surveying the current efforts taken by DD Network Partners to increase diversity in their respective programs, and with Dr. Meagan Sumbera in evaluating the effectiveness of monthly parent training sessions for parents of students with autism.
