Leadership

Julie Fodor, PhD
Center on Disabilities and Human Development, University of Idaho

Julie Fodor, PhD, is the Director of the Center on Disabilities and Human Development (CDHD) (Idaho's UCEDD) at the University of Idaho. The CDHD supports 71 employees, 20 trainees, and 27 work study students. We operate three regional assistive technology centers and seven regional child care resources and referral centers and provide on-going technical assistance to schools, providers, families, and agencies across the state. Dr. Fodor is the principal investigator on seven CDHD programs and initiated our direct service programs for both children and youth. She is also an associate professor for the Department of Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education and senior faculty in Special Education.

Dr. Fodor has worked with and for people with disabilities for over 30 years as a personal care attendant, classroom aide, teacher, researcher, administrator, and as an advocate. She has engaged in numerous systems change activities during her tenure in Idaho that include the creation of a statewide structure for technical assistance and training in positive behavioral supports, a certification process and training curricula for Medicaid providers of children's services, a birth to grade three early childhood teaching certification that blends content knowledge in special education and general education, several family support initiatives, development and implementation of the Idaho self-determination waiver, and the creation of Idaho's child care system that now includes a professional development career lattice and a focus on inclusive practices. Dr Fodor co-directed a project for 15 years that focused on supporting special education services in tribal schools across four states which eventually resulted in a federally funded master's degree program for tribal school teachers. Also, over the years she provided countless trainings and on-site technical assistance to school personnel, preschool staff, and head start employees on fostering social competence and reducing aggression in young children.

Dr. Fodor has authored numerous curricula, grant applications, technical reports, and policy briefs, and she continues to teach both graduate and undergraduate courses in special education and is the chair for several doctoral and master level students. Finally, Dr. Fodor maintains an active role on state, national, and university committees and plays a significant role in the state's advocacy of human rights and self-determination.

Leslie Cohen, JD
Sonoran UCEDD, University of Arizona

Leslie Cohen graduated with a bachelors degree from Washington University in St. Louis and a juris doctor degree from the University of New Mexico School of Law.  She practiced law in the area of civil litigation for many years in both the private and public sectors.  She brings to the position extensive experience in developmental disabilities advocacy and policy as well as broad based community connections with stakeholders in government agencies, self-advocacy and family groups, provider agencies and ADD network partners.  Ms. Cohen's experience includes over ten years as Executive Director of the Arizona Center for Disability Law, Arizona's protection and advocacy system. She has been a long-time member of the Arizona's Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities, including as Chair of its Legislative and Policy Committee. She has served as a consultant to organizations in Arizona and nationally on a wide variety of strategic planning, management and substantive disability  issues and as a peer program reviewer for the Administration on Developmental Disabilities and the Center for Mental Health Services.  She is a member of the Advisory Council for the Institute for Human Development at Northern Arizona University; Board of Directors of the Primavera Foundation; and the  State Bar Committee on Persons with Disabilities in the Legal Profession.  Ms. Cohen is Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Family and Community Medicine and adjunct faculty at the Rogers College of Law, University of Arizona.

A. Anthony Antosh, EdD
Paul V. Sherlock Center on Disabilities, Rhode Island College

Anthony Antosh, EdD, is the founding Director of the Paul V. Sherlock Center on Disabilities and Professor of Special Education at Rhode Island College. Dr. Antosh has been on the faculty of Rhode Island College for more than 30 years. During that time he served as coordinator of the undergraduate and graduate programs in severe disabilities, as department chair, and as the Mary Tucker Thorp Professor for Distinguished Teaching.

Dr. Antosh completed his undergraduate studies in Secondary Education at Ohio University and his Master's degree in Special Education at Rhode Island College. He completed his Doctorate at the University of Massachusetts with a focus on the application of linguistics to the design of augmentative communication systems.

Dr. Antosh has extensive experience with children and adults who have severe disabilities. He has written and presented on a variety of program areas including augmentative communication, inclusive education, transition, positive behavioral supports, adult services and supports, and supported employment. Dr. Antosh has served on several legislative commissions and on the Boards of Directors of several community, state, and regional organizations including service as state President of the Arc-RI. He has an extensive history of advocacy and was a court appointed monitor for the class action suit that resulted in the 1994 closing of Ladd Center, Rhode Island's institution.

Daniel B. Crimmins, PhD
Center for Leadership in Disability, Georgia State University

Daniel Crimmins, PhD, is the Director of the Center for Leadership in Disability at Georgia State University (GSU).  In this role he oversees a range training, technical assistance, research, and model service programs that contribute to the independence, inclusion, and productivity of individuals with disabilities of all ages.  After a more-than-twenty-year career at the Westchester Institute for Human Development UCEDD & LEND and the New York Medical College, Dr. Crimmins joined the newly-funded UCEDD at the Marcus Institute in May 2007, moving the program to GSU in August 2008. 

Throughout his career, Dr. Crimmins has worked to improve the capacity of organizations to provide evidence-based behavioral and educational interventions for children and adults. He has taught extensively at the graduate level in special education and public health, and has a long involvement with interdisciplinary postgraduate training.  He now serves on a number of community and state boards and task forces that have the goal of improving access to quality services for individuals with disabilities.

Dr. Crimmins received his BA, MA, and PhD in psychology from Binghamton University and completed an internship in clinical psychology at the University of Mississippi Medical Center. In 2002 and 2003, Dr. Crimmins was a Robert Wood Johnson Health Policy Fellow in Washington DC, where he worked in the Office of Senator Jim Jeffords on health and education policy.