Leader in Disabilities Education Jared Schultz, PhD, Joins UA College of Education and UA Sonoran Center for Excellence in Disabilities (AZ Sonoran UCEDD)

September 6, 2018

Jared Schultz, PhD, a noted leader in disabilities education and research, has joined the UA College of Education as a professor in the Department of Disability and Psychoeducational Studies and the UA Sonoran Center for Excellence in Disabilities as the director of research. The Sonoran Center is housed within the UA Department of Family and Community Medicine, where Dr. Schultz also will have a joint appointment.

At the UA College of Education, Dr. Schultz will teach graduate counseling courses in the Rehabilitation and Mental Health Counseling Program and conduct research related to disability issues and counseling. As the research director for the UA Sonoran Center for Excellence in Disabilities, Dr. Schultz will conduct research on current programs, as well as develop new research and programming initiatives. His focus will be primarily in the area of transition services for adolescents and competitive community-based employment.

"I am so excited for this opportunity to work with the Sonoran Center and the College of Education," said Dr. Schultz. "This opportunity enables me to get back to doing the things I love to do: being engaged with the community and helping individuals with disabilities realize their potential."

"Dr. Schultz's areas of research and demonstrated expertise in working with individuals with disabilities is a perfect fit for the Sonoran Center as we work hard to improve the lives of individuals with disabilities-in Tucson and beyond," said Leslie J. Cohen, JD, director of the UA Sonoran Center.

Dr. Schultz previously worked at Utah State University, where he served as the chair for the Rehabilitation Counseling Program. Prior to that, he worked at Texas Tech University Health Science Center and Oregon Health Sciences University.

His work has focused primarily in the area of community-based competitive employment, and transition services for youth with disabilities. For example, at Utah State University, Dr. Schultz was involved in establishing the Employability Clinic-a program established to work with consumers of the public vocational rehabilitation program who were on the verge of being deemed "unemployable," and a residential-based post-secondary program for college students with developmental and intellectual disabilities.