Staff Bios

Debra Hart

Debra Hart is the Director of the Education and Transition Team for the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts, Boston. She serves as the Principal Investigator for the NIDRR funded Center on Postsecondary Education for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities, the ADD funded Consortium on Postsecondary Education for Individuals with Developmental Disabilities and the OSEP Funded College Career Connection. Together, these projects will conduct research to better understand characteristics and outcomes of postsecondary education options for individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities, provide training and technical assistance to enhance existing initiatives, and to grow the choice of a postsecondary education for individuals with intellectual/developmental disabilities and their families nationwide. Debra has over 25 years of experience working with youth and adults with disabilities, their families, faculty, and professionals that support youth in becoming contributing valued members of their community via participation in inclusive secondary and postsecondary education, and competitive employment. Since 1997, Ms. Hart has directed five federal grants designed to create access to postsecondary education for youth with intellectual disabilities.
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Meg Grigal, Ph.D.

Dr. Meg Grigal is a Senior Research Associate at TransCen, Inc. Dr. Grigal is the Co-Principal Investigator for the NIDRR funded Center on Postsecondary Education for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities, in collaboration Debra Hart at the Institute for Community Inclusion at University of Massachusetts, Boston and Children’s Hospital Boston. Dr. Grigal is also the Principal Investigator of the Postsecondary Education Research Center Project. Through this five-year project, she collaborates with local school systems and colleges in Maryland and Connecticut to collect data on the efficacy and outcomes of postsecondary education for students with intellectual disabilities. Prior to joining TransCen, Dr. Grigal directed On-Campus Outreach (OCO), an OSEP funded outreach project at the University of Maryland. Through OCO, she provided technical assistance and training and conducted research on the provision of transition services to students with significant disabilities in postsecondary settings across the country and has published numerous journal articles on the topic. She has extensive experience in adult vocational and independent living programs as well as secondary special education for students with disabilities and in developing community based transition programs for students with significant disabilities. She has conducted and published research in the areas of, transition planning, postsecondary access, self-determination, inclusion, and the use of person centered planning techniques. Dr. Grigal was appointed by the Governor to serve on the Maryland Interagency Transition Council and has served on this council for the five years.
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Cate Weir, M.Ed.

Cate is the project coordinator for the NIDRR funded Center on Postsecondary Education for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities and the ADD funded Consortium on Postsecondary Education for Individuals with Developmental Disabilities at the Institute for Community Inclusion at the University of Massachusetts Boston. Previously, she served as project coordinator for the OSEP funded Postsecondary Education: A Choice for Everyone and the OPE funded Equity and Excellence in Higher Education at the Institute on Disability at the University of NH. She also has experience as a disability support coordinator and faculty member for the NH Community College System. Cate’s expertise includes the provision of individual supports for postsecondary education for people with intellectual or developmental disabilities, universal design for learning, person-centered planning and strategic planning for organizations.
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Maria Paiewonsky, Ed.D.

Maria Paiewonsky is the Participatory Action Research Coordinator for Think College. She is a transition specialist at the Institute for Community Inclusion, where she oversees numerous postsecondary and transition related projects with teachers, interdisciplinary team members, students and families to develop positive transition outcomes from school to adult life. Her work includes online course development and teaching, as well as face-to-face training and technical assistance on transition and postsecondary topics. These topics include youth development and self -determination, career development, access to postsecondary education and related transition topics.

Maria also has an interest in participatory action research and has been using a number of a number of research methods with various stakeholders to promote their perceptions and assessment of transition related activities. At the student level, Maria has a particular interest in assisting high school students and young adults with intellectual disabilities to articulate their perceptions and concerns of the transition process from high school to college and work. This work involves teaching transition personnel to use person-centered planning and directly working with youth to use multiple media formats such as photovoice, digital and video storytelling, and podcasts to communicate their own transition knowledge and expertise.
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Amy Dwyre, MA, CRC

Amy Dwyre is a Senior Associate at TransCen, Inc, assisting with activities of the Center for Postsecondary Education for Individuals with Intellectual Disabilities. Amy is working to collect and disseminate materials related to postsecondary education for individuals with intellectual disabilities. Additionally, she is working on the Post-Secondary Education Research Centers project funded by OSEP to set up technical assistance centers and collect data on college-based transition programs for students with intellectual disabilities. Formerly, she was the Coordinator of the Baltimore Transition Connection, a 5-year federally funded transition project integrating the efforts of the Baltimore City Public Schools, Maryland adult service providers, local colleges and universities, the local community, and TransCen, Inc. She has over 10 years of experience in job development and training, including work with the Chicago Public Schools and community rehabilitation programs and school systems around the country, and has designed and facilitated several strategic planning sessions conducted by TransCen, Inc. for the National Supported Employment Consortium at Virginia Commonwealth University. Ms. Dwyre is a Certified Rehabilitation Counselor and holds a master's degree in Rehabilitation Counseling, Supported Employment and Transition from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. In addition, she is a sibling of an individual with severe disabilities with whom she has spent a great deal of personal time assisting in transition, career, and self-determination planning.
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Becca Smith

Becca Smith is a Research Associate for TransCen, Inc. She has extensive experience utilizing Microsoft Office software to optimize the performance of the projects she participates in. She is currently pursuing her Specialist Certification in Access 2007, is a certified Community Work Incentives Coordinator, Project Coordinator for the Employment and Benefits Resource Center at TransCen, and has a Masters Level Certificate in Job Development and Job Placement from the University of Maryland.

Paul Foos

Paul Foos is a Web Specialist at the Institute for Community Inclusion. He has developed and maintained several sites for ICI, including Think College. The focus of his work is helping non-technical folks to communicate via the Web. He also makes every effort to provide accessible sites. His background is in education and technology, and he worked for several years as a counselor in halfway houses for the mentally ill. Paul has a Ph.D. in History and an MLIS degree.
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