KU disabilities research and outreach center names new director

LAWRENCE -- The University Center on Developmental Disabilities at the University of Kansas has named Michael L. Wehmeyer as its new director after a nationwide search.

Wehmeyer is associate director of the Beach Center on Disability and associate professor of special education at KU, positions he will continue to hold along with the directorship of the UCDD.

The UCDD, long known as the University Affiliated Program, is responsible for conducting and disseminating research on disabilities through post-doctoral and in-service training, technical assistance and direct services.

The UCDD is one of 12 affiliated centers of KU's Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies and one of 61 such centers in the United States authorized by the U.S. Administration on Developmental Disabilities.

Wehmeyer will coordinate UCDD activities at Lawrence, Parsons and the KU Medical Center in Kansas City, Kan. In 2001 alone, the UCDD trained, served or assisted some 30,000 Kansans.

Wehmeyer is noted for his research in self-determination for people with cognitive disabilities and teaching children with severe, multiple disabilities. He currently directs seven major federally funded projects at KU.

In 1999, Wehmeyer's peers gave him the Council of Exceptional Children's Division for Research's Distinguished Early Career Research Award. In 2000, he again was recognized with the American Association on Mental Retardation Region V Research Award.

"As one of the top special education-rehabilitation researchers, he is simply the best person I can imagine for this critical role," said Steven Warren, Life Span Institute director.

Recruited by the Beach Center on Disability in 1999, Wehmeyer previously was director of the Bill Sackter Center on Self-Determination and assistant director of the Department of Research and Program Services for The Arc of the United States.

"For more than 30 years, the Kansas UCDD has set high standards in promoting and supporting self-determination, independence, consumer control and direction, and inclusion for people with developmental disabilities," Wehmeyer said. "I look forward to working with the stakeholders and leaders in developmental disabilities across Kansas to continue this tradition of excellence."

A Wichita native, Wehmeyer received his doctorate in human development and communication sciences from the University of Texas at Dallas in 1989. He holds a master's degree in experimental psychology from the University of Sussex in England and bachelor's and master's degrees in special education from the University of Tulsa.

A prolific author, he has published widely in his field and has served as guest and consulting editor for several journals. He is currently the co-editor of the American Association on Mental Retardation's Research to Practice Series, Innovations. He has co-written or edited 10 books, including "Mental Retardation in the 21st Century," as well as numerous book chapters and training materials.

Wehmeyer succeeds Stephen R. Schroeder, who retired as the director of the Life Span Institute in October and continued as the interim UCDD director.

The Schiefelbusch Institute for Life Span Studies finds research-based solutions for the challenges of human and community development, disabilities and aging.