Donald D. Deshler, Ph. D.

Dr. Donald D. Deshler is currently a Professor of Special Education and Director of the Center for Research on Learning, both at the University of Kansas.  Dr. Deshler has been with the university since 1974.  He specializes in instructional interventions for at-risk learners and learning strategies. His work includes 103 published articles, 44 books and book chapters, 33 instructional materials, 26 multimedia products, and 12 professional development materials.  He currently serves on the Professional Standards and Practices Committee of the Council for Exceptional Children.  In 2007, he was awarded the Distinguished Education Achievement Award from the National Center of Learning Disabilities.  Dr. Deshler serves on a number of professional advisory boards, committees, and publication boards for a wide number of organizations.  He currently teaches a course entitled Problems of Exceptionality: Proposal Development and he is also working on several grants and projects. He earned his Bachelor’s degree in Economics from Whitman College, his Master’s degree in learning disabilities, and a Ph. D. in special education with a minor in Psychology, both from the University of Arizona.  

Beth Harry, Ph.D.

Beth Harry is a Professor of special education in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the University of Miami, Florida. Dr. Harry, a native of Jamaica, entered the field of special education as a parent of a child with cerebral palsy. Her research and teaching focus is on the impact of special education on families from diverse cultural and linguistic backgrounds. Her studies have included Puerto Rican, African American and a wide range of other cultural groups. In 2002, Dr. Harry served as a member of the National Academy of Sciences’ panel to study the disproportionate placement of minority students in special education. Her research on these topics have been published in numerous books and articles, most recently, two books: Why Are So Many Minority Students in Special Education? and Case Studies of Minority Student Placement in Special Education. In 2003 she received a Fulbright award to do research on Moroccan children’s schooling in Spain, where she was based at the University of Seville. She earned her Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees at the University of Toronto, Canada, and her Ph.D., at Syracuse University.

Bambi J. Lockman

Bambi J. Lockman has been Chief of the Bureau of Exceptional Education and Student Services in the Florida Department of Education since October 2004.  She is responsible for Florida’s implementation of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA 2004) and its regulations.  Ms. Lockman provides leadership in numerous statewide initiatives including the Florida Alternate Assessment, Florida ESE Web Process System, transition, and Response to Intervention (RtI) and provides oversight for discretionary projects to meet state needs through research-based, effective practices. She has recently been appointed by Governor Crist to serve as a member of the Governor’s Task Force on Autism Spectrum Disorders.  Ms. Lockman has had extensive experience at the classroom, school, and district levels in the Santa Rosa School District.  She was selected as the district’s exceptional student education (ESE) Teacher of the Year in 1984.  While in the district, she served as staffing specialist, assistant principal, director of inservice and instructional technology, supervisor of assessment, and director of exceptional student education and student services.  Ms. Lockman holds a Bachelor of Science in special education and a Master of Arts in Clinical Teaching/Habilitative Science from Florida State University.  Ms. Lockman has a sense of urgency to make Florida’s educational programs meet the needs of ALL students.  “There is no better place to be than where you are, and no better time than now to make a difference.”

Contact Elizabeth Cramer, FCEC Program Chair, for further information

cec.cramer@gmail.com

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