DR Committees

DR's consitution calls for several standing committes to enable the Division to out its mission.  In addition, ad hoc committees are named, as needed, to address special issues and opportunities of interst to DR.  Committee membership often includes DR members who are not on the DR Board of Directors.  DR members who are interested to finding out more about or participating on one of these committees, please contact any DR Board member or the committee chair.

MEMBERSHIP COMMITTEE
This committee is responsible for maintaining an active program of membership recruitment and an active record of all DR members.  Chair of this committee is Stephen Smith.

PUBLICATIONS AND MEDIA COMMITTEE
The Publications and Media Committee reviews the publications structure of DR, including its electronic and media-based programs, and recommends publications to be issued and recommends policies and procedures related to the program's growth and development.  The Committee publishes three newsletters each year, represents DR with CEC on matters related to publications, and publicizes DR activities within the larger CEC organization.  This Committee is chaired by Cara Richards-Tutor.

FINANCE AND LONG-RANGE PLANNING COMMITTEE
This committee considers and recommends to the Executive Board specific strategies and actions designed to enhance and improve the financial status and capabilities of the division.  The committee chair position is currently vacant.  Correspondence can be forwarded to DR President Kathleen Lane.

AWARDS COMMITTEE
The Awards Committee plans and carries out a program of awards and recognition to promote and highlight the contributions of researchers in the education of children with disabilities and children with gifts and talents.  The Committee is chaired by Past President Karen Harris.  Mary Brownell administers the Distinguished Early Career Research Award program.  Janette Klingner oversees the Early Career Publication Award program and Michael Wehmeyer heads up the Student Research Award program. Karen Harris is in charge of the inaugural year of the Kauffman-Hallahan Distinguished Researcher Award (2012).

NOMINATIONS AND ELECTIONS COMMITTEE
Chaired by the immediate Past President, the Nominations and Elections Committee solicits recommendations for nominations for vacancies on the DR Executive Board and conducts the annual elections process.  The current Committee Chair is Bryan Cook.

PROGRAM COMMITTEE
The Program Committee is in charge of planning DR's program within the annual CEC convention, including the review and selection of presentations.  The Committee is also responsible for developing mechanisms for sponsoring topical and other special meetings for the membership.  This committee is chaired by the DR Vice President who is David Houchins.

KNOWLEDGE UTILIZATION COMMITTEE
This committee focuses on meaningfully and strategically utilizing research knowledge regarding children, youth, and adults with disabilities, their families, and the people who work with them. Current activities include working with (a) the Division for Learning Disabilities on the DLD/DR ALERTS and (b) CEC to establish a systematic procedure for determining evidence-based practices in special education.  Committee co-chairs are Melody Tankersley, Kent State University and Wendy Oakes, Vanderbilt University.

GOVERNMENT RELATIONS AND RESEARCH ADVOCACY COMMITTEE
This committee develops recommendations for the Executive Board concerning relations with government and other relevant entities associated with research in the education of children with disabilities and children with gifts and talents, and serves as a liaison with other CEC divisions.  The committee chair is DRs representative to the CEC Children and Youth Action Network, Linda Lewis.

DIVERSITY COMMITTEE
The CEC Division for Research Diversity Committee was designed to further two primary and interrelated objectives: to increase awareness of how research helps us understand diversity and to integrate diversity considerations into the ways we design, carry out, and evaluate research in special education. In seeking to achieve both these objectives, we actively encourage communication and collaboration with other divisions of the Council for Exceptional Children (CEC) and related professional associations.  One of this committee's first tasks was to create a position statement on the Role of Diversity in Special Education Research.  It was developed over a period of several months in 2002-2003 after first brainstorming a list of questions about diversity that would guide our thinking, then inviting input from all committee members, synthesizing this input, and sending various versions of the evolving statement out for feedback, both from committee members and then DR's executive board. 

Current members of the committee are:
Tisa Aceves, Chairperson
Kavita Rao
Tachelle Banks

RESEARCH AND FAMILIES OF INDIVIDUALS WITH DISABILITIES COMMITTEE
The Individuals with Disabilities and Families Committee has three missions:

• To develop and propose mechanisms for including individuals with disabilities and their families in research and dissemination processes.
• To promote ongoing communication between research, family, and practitioner communities by assisting the research community in understanding critical issues for families of individuals with disabilities and by assisting families in accessing and interpreting research outcomes related to individuals with disabilities.
• To foster a research agenda that addresses critical issues regarding families of individuals with disabilities.

Members are:
Katharine Shepherd , Chairperson (until April 2013)
Jennifer Diliberto, Chairperson (starting April 2013)
Jean Crockett
Sara Flanagan
Jennifer Frey
Heidi Graff
Kelly Henderson
Linda Mason
Robin McWilliam
Stacey Tucci, Student Member
Arianne Axt, Parent Member
Victoria Brennan, Parent Member