OUR TEAM
Directors
Christy H. Stuart, Ed. D.,
Christy H. Stuart (She/her/hers), Ed. D., Director, Center for Transition and Career Innovation at the University of Maryland, College Park. She received her Ed.D. in Special Education and Secondary Transition from The University of Florida in 2003. In this role, Dr. Stuart promotes the development of transition-age youth with disabilities (and their families), particularly secondary transition, vocational rehabilitation, and general education. This position also supports national and state initiatives that continuously improve services as specified federal (Graduation, Drop-Out, and Post-School Outcomes) indicators. Dr. Stuart has over 28 years of experience in the fields of special education, school-to-work transition, and employment and training of persons with disabilities, especially those from underrepresented populations and high-poverty areas. Her efforts to collaborate with local, state, and federal partners on research, evaluation, training, and technical assistance and partner with local, state, and national stakeholder groups to translate research into practice and policy have yielded positive collaborative outcomes. She has publications and has developed numerous products and web-based training materials focusing on customized employment, access and equity with outcomes, secondary transition, inclusion, disability legislation, and job development.
Kelli Crane, Ph.D.
Kelli Thuli Crane (She/her/hers), Ph.D., is the Director of the Center for Transition and Career Innovation. She earned her doctorate from Virginia Tech in vocational special needs education. She received her master’s degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in rehabilitation psychology and graduated with high honors from University of Wisconsin-Stout with a bachelor’s degree in vocational rehabilitation and secondary special education. Prior to joining Way2Work, Dr. Crane served in leadership roles on the Youth Transition Demonstration project, Maryland PROMISE, and the Center on Transition to Employment. She has worked in Federal and state government agencies including the National School to Work Office (funded by the US Departments of Education and Labor) and the Center on Education and Work, University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Crane is a recognized leader in the field transition and employment. She has a long history of organizing and leading diverse audiences at the national, state, and local levels.
Staff
Makenzie Allison, M.A., CRC
Makenzie Allison (She/her/hers) is a Faculty Specialist at the University of Maryland Center for Transition and Career Innovation. She is a current PhD candidate studying organizational leadership. Makenzie received her master's degree in Clinical Counseling and Rehabilitation from the University of South Carolina School of Medicine, a graduate certificate from the University of Maryland in Applied Counseling and Human Services, and a bachelor's degree in Psychology from the University of Southern Illinois-Edwardsville. Throughout her career working for Vocational Rehabilitation and a Center for Independent Living, providing direct support through respite programs, and serving as a researcher on the Maryland PROMISE project, Makenzie has gained expertise on strengthening interagency collaboration, promoting supported decision making, overcoming systemic barriers to employment, and engaging families. In her current role, she provides technical assistance to states’ education and service provider agencies to improve the coordination of the services they provide to people with disabilities and ultimately improve their outcomes.
Ruth Allison, MBA
Ruth Allison (She/her/hers) is a Senior Faculty Specialist at the University of Maryland. currently working primarily as a Technical Assistance provider for the National Technical Assistance Center on Transition: the Collaborative (NTACT:C), working with Education and Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) staff at both the state and local levels. Additionally, she provides technical assistance for the implementation a System Capacity Building Initiative, designed to improve coordination of transition services and employment outcomes for students with disabilities. Prior to joining the University of Maryland, Ruth’s career focused on developing, implementing and evaluating programs and services for both students and adults within the VR System. In this role she worked collaboratively with partners to successfully implement system-level initiatives at both the local and state level to create consistency and coordination of transition services for students with disabilities.
Amy D’Agati, M.S.
Amy D’Agati (She/her/hers) is a Senior Faculty Specialist for CTCI. She is also the founder and Director of TerpsEXCEED, an 2-year inclusive living and learning postsecondary program for students with intellectual disabilities at the University of Maryland College Park. She has a master’s degree in Rehabilitation Counseling/Transition & Supported Employment from the University of Illinois and a bachelor’s degree in Communication Studies from Northwestern University. She has worked for years assisting youth with disabilities and businesses in developing career matches and has trained school personnel and employment specialists across the country in customized employment and job placement strategies. She enjoys working with a young workforce and connecting them with businesses who need their talent! She has a younger brother with disabilities who has taught her a lot.
Ellen Fabian, Ph.D.
Dr. Ellen Fabian (She/her/hers) Co-Director of the Center for Transition and Career Innovation for Youth with Disabilities, and a professor in the Department of Counseling, Higher Education & Special Education in the College of Education. She is also the co-principal investigator and co-project director of the Way2Work and PROMISE research and evaluation projects at the Center of Transition & Career Innovation at the University of Maryland. Dr. Fabian has worked in the field of disability in various capacities for over 30 years; most recently her research has been in the area of transition from school to work for students and youth with disabilities. Over the past 30 years, she has developed, taught and managed academic and research projects related to disability issues, including transition for youth with disabilities. She is pleased that the Center on Transition & Career Innovation will be at the forefront in the design and dissemination of effective and evidence-based practices to improve the lives of youth with disabilities.
Paul Gold, Ph.D.
Paul B. Gold, (he/him/his) Ph.D., is an Associate Professor in the Department of Counseling, Higher Education & Special Education at the University of Maryland and the lead evaluator for Way2Work and PROMISE. He earned his doctorate from the University of Missouri, Columbia, and has worked at the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and the Medical University of South Carolina. He has worked in the field of career transition for youth with disabilities for the past eight years. Dr. Gold is a licensed psychologist and a counselor educator whose primary areas of interest are team- and community-based rehabilitation approaches for helping persons with severe mental disorders, addictions, and work disabilities to regain capacities to enter the competitive labor market. Other interests include methodological innovations; research ethics; and strategies that large organizations use to create and sustain cultures of innovation.
Meredith Gramlich, M.A.
Meredith Gramlich (She/her/hers), M.A. is a Senior Faculty Specialist at the Center for Transition and Career Innovation at University of Maryland, College Park. Ms. Gramlich has extensive experience promoting business-education partnerships, work-based learning opportunities, customized employment solutions, and model transition services. She has over 30 years of experience with systems change demonstration projects focused on improving post-school outcomes and community engagement for individuals with disabilities through use of evidence-based practices, with an emphasis on competitive integrated employment, career pathways, work-based learning, financial empowerment, and performance management. Ms. Gramlich is Associate Director for TerpsEXCEED, the University of Maryland’s flagship inclusive post secondary education program for students with intellectual disabilities. She has provided lead technical assistance and training for model demonstration projects including Way2Work Maryland, Maryland PROMISE, Maryland Customized Employment Partnership, the Maryland Transition Initiative, and Bridges... from School to Work. She taught in Montgomery County Maryland Public Schools’ Alternative Programs, where she established the Career Program. Ms. Gramlich began her career promoting creative strategies for independence with her sister.
Mark Henry, M.S.
Mark Henry (he/him/his) is a Senior Faculty Specialist at the University of Maryland working with Education and Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) staff at the national, state and local levels. He received his master’s degree from Central Connecticut State University in professional counseling and graduated from Lehigh University with a bachelor’s degree in psychology. He successfully authored and designed the Connecticut Pathways to Integrated Employment (CTPIE) model demonstration grant focused on diverting and converting individuals with disabilities from sub-minimum wage employment to competitive integrated employment opportunities. Mark’s career prior to joining the University of Maryland includes over 20 years of vocational rehabilitation and workforce development for persons with disabilities. His experience includes successfully establishing a business development unit, creating sector-based customized training programs and building a network of career pathways partnerships with local workforce boards and companies such as Advance Auto, HEI Hotels, Walgreens, CVS, Unilever, Travelers, United Health Group, Lowes, Planet Fitness and Mohegan Sun. He has provided technical assistance to Human Resource Departments and Business Resource Groups regarding disability inclusion recruitment strategies, disability awareness training, employee accommodations and retention.
Natasha Mitchell, Ph.D., NCC
Dr. Natasha Mitchell (She/her/hers) is an Associate Clinical Professor in the School Counseling program in the Department of Counseling, Higher Education & Special Education at the University of Maryland. She earned a Ph.D. in Counselor Education at the University of North Carolina and a Master's Degree in Rehabilitation Counseling at Syracuse University. She has served as a Chief Executive Officer for Student Services for Prince George’s County Public Schools and as a school counselor in Anne Arundel County Public Schools. Dr. Mitchell provides technical assistance and consultation in the Center’s Way2Work Project. She also conducts training for professional school counselors throughout the state of Maryland to improve college and career readiness services for youth with disabilities. She is committed to students having meaningful access to services and opportunities that lead to their success.
Kelly Nye Lengerman, Ph.D.
Dr. Nye Lengerman’s work focuses on making public policies and systems work for people through research, training, technical assistance, and advocacy. Her work supports meaningful community participation for individuals with disabilities. Kelly speaks nationally at conferences and events promoting a vision of community and opportunity for all citizens. She has extensive experience in program and workforce development, employment services and supports, and program evaluation. Kelly has broad professional experience working for disability provider organizations in both community and facility-based employment programs. Her interests include employment practices and policy, interdisciplinary collaborations, early screening and identification of disabilities, poverty, and autism.
Kelly is the President of the MN Association of People Supporting Employment First (APSE) and involved with the MN Employment First Coalition and the MN Employment Learning Community. She is also a licensed graduate social worker (LGSW) in Minnesota. Kelly received her PhD and MSW from the University of Minnesota School of Social Work. Her dissertation focused on Vocational Rehabilitation service usage and employment outcomes for individuals with Autism Spectrum Disorder. Kelly is a graduate of the National Leadership Consortium on Developmental Disabilities.
Elizabeth Tornquist, Ph.D.
Elizabeth Tornquist (She/her/hers) spent 9 years as a transition specialist with 2 school systems in the DMV area. She then went on to become a postdoctoral research fellow at the University of MD before joining the faculty in the College of Education where she was a grant coordinator, university supervisor and professional development school coordinator. Before returning to the University this summer, she spent 9 years as the secondary transition project manager for the Maryland Coalition for Inclusive Education.She rejoined the faculty at the University of Maryland this summer as a faculty specialist with the Center for Transition and Career Innovation. Dr. Tornquist received a bachelor’s degree in Special Education from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte, a masters degree in Secondary/Transition Special Education from the University of Maryland and a doctorate degree in Special Education from George Mason University.
Kathleen Walker, B.A.
Kathleen Walker is a Faculty Specialist at the University of Maryland’s Center for Transition and Career Innovation. She brings over a decade of experience in employment capacity building, organizational transformation, Medicaid Home and Community-Based Services (HCBS) policy and waivers, and interagency systems change efforts supporting individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities (I/DD). Kathleen has held leadership roles as Director of Day and Employment Services for both the Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services and Maryland’s Developmental Disabilities Administration.
She is a graduate of the National Leadership Institute on Developmental Disabilities at the University of Delaware and an Ambassador of the Charting the LifeCourse™ framework through the University of Missouri–Kansas City Institute for Human Development. Kathleen also has a strong foundation in targeted case management and transition services and holds a bachelor’s degree in psychology from Salisbury University. She currently provides technical assistance on two federally funded Disability Innovation Fund (DIF) projects.
Charles “Charlie” Walters, Ph.D.
Charles “Charlie” Walters (he/him/his), Ph.D., is an Assistant Research Professor at the University of Maryland in the College of Education's Center for Transition and Career Innovation (CTCI). With the CTCI team, Charlie facilitates evaluation efforts for programs supporting youth and young adults with disabilities. In his work, he leverages a career in education and publicly-funded services for people with disabilities spanning nearly 15 years. As a program evaluator, Charlie has worked on national impact evaluations of secondary transition interventions; internal and external evaluations of the service delivery of Centers for Independent Living; and systems change-driven evaluations of vocational rehabilitation agencies, schools, and Medicaid waiver service providers. As a researcher, Charlie maintains active lines of inquiry related to alternatives to guardianship, the youth initiatives of Centers for Independent Living, and systemic barriers to employment for youth with disabilities.
Todd Honeycutt, Ph. D.
Todd Honeycutt (he/him/his) (Ph.D., Public Health, Rutgers University) conducts evaluations of programs and policies to improve the employment opportunities of people with disabilities. For over twenty years, he has researched topics such as public disability benefits, vocational rehabilitation services, interagency collaborations, and the transition from youth to young adulthood for state vocational rehabilitation and federal agencies, including the US Department of Education, US Department of Labor, and the Social Security Administration. His current projects included assessing two Disability Innovation Fund projects for the Connecticut vocational rehabilitation agency, one that intends to improve employment outcomes for those involved with sub-minimum wage employment and another designed to strengthen partnerships among organizations delivering services for students and youth with disabilities. Outside of work, he enjoys writing science fiction and fantasy stories and soaking up live music.
Brianna Soares, Ph.D.
Dr. Brianna Soares holds a PhD in Special Education from the University of North Carolina of Charlotte and has a decade of experience supporting youth with disabilities in school and community settings. Her research and professional interests focus on self-determination, person-centered planning, and culturally responsive transition practices. She has contributed to national technical assistance efforts, inclusive postsecondary education programs, and systems-change projects aimed at improving interagency collaboration. Dr. Soares currently supports state and local teams through CTCI, helping them build inclusive, student-driven transition systems. Her work emphasizes the development of transferable skills in collaboration, training, facilitation, and capacity building across the education and service sectors.
Alison Lowenthal
Alison Lowenthal is a Senior Faculty Specialist in the Center for Transition and Career Innovation at University of Maryland, where she provides technical assistance for the implementation of a System Capacity Building Initiative, designed to improve coordination of transition services and employment outcomes for students with disabilities. Alison has over 25 years of experience in the field of secondary transition special education and vocational rehabilitation, specifically in Pre-Employment Transition Services and interagency collaboration. Prior work includes being the State Transition Manager at the Idaho Division of Vocational Rehabilitation where she developed and implemented statewide pre-employment transition services for students with disabilities to increased postsecondary success. Alison has also worked as a secondary special education coordinator at the Idaho State Department of Education and at the Colorado Department of Education where she collaborated with local, state, and federal partners to improve state transition services efforts.
Kyle Cyr
Kyle Cyr is a Faculty Assistant at the University of Maryland's Center for Transition and Career Innovation. He holds a M.S. in Public Policy Administration from the University of Connecticut. He is a member of the Connecticut Pathways to Integrated Employment (CTPIE) team focusing on outreach and job development. He has participated in several product developments and joint training across the state. As a technical assistant, Kyle researches and disseminates best practices to his CTPIE team and other members of CTCI.
Charlotte Smyles
Charlotte Smyles is a Faculty Specialist with the University of Maryland’s Center for Transition and Career Innovation (CTCI), where she works on the PRIME project to support job retention among individuals with disabilities served by State Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies (SVRAs). She earned her Bachelor’s degree in Psychology from the University of Maryland in May 2025.
During her time at UMD, Charlotte served as a Peer Mentor with TerpsEXCEED, supporting students with intellectual disabilities in academic, social, campus, and employment-related settings. In this role, she also conducted research and delivered presentations focused on inclusive education and employment practices and disability support services, and was actively involved with Best Buddies, gaining further hands-on experience working with individuals with disabilities. Charlotte is excited to join the CTCI team and is passionate about supporting individuals with disabilities in achieving meaningful, long-term employment success.
Joe Wendover
Joe Wendover serves as a Faculty Specialist with the University of Maryland’s Center for Transition and Career Innovation, supporting the Connecticut Pathways to Integrated Employment (CTPIE) grant by leading employer engagement, systems alignment, and technical assistance to expand competitive, integrated employment opportunities for individuals with disabilities. He holds a Master of Arts in Industrial-Organizational Psychology from the University of New Haven and a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Marist College.
His professional and research interests center on disability employment, workforce strategy, organizational culture, and authentic leadership practices that strengthen leader–employee relationships, themes reflected in his published research.
Throughout his career, including leadership roles at BAYADA Home Health Care, Walgreens Boots Alliance, and Viability Inc., he has designed national hiring initiatives and advanced workforce strategies with measurable impact. He also leads JDW Consulting and serves as President of Disability:IN Connecticut and Chair of the Connecticut State Rehabilitation Council.
Jess Monahan, P.h.D
Dr. Jess Monahan (they/them) is a neurodivergent researcher, advocate, program evaluator, and educator committed to improving outcomes for disabled individuals through meaningful, collaborative research. They hold a Ph.D. from the University of Connecticut and have published articles, book chapters, and delivered nationally invited talks on neurodiversity and mental health. Their work focuses on reducing barriers in education and employment and supporting environments where individuals can participate and thrive.
Dr. Monahan brings over 15 years of experience in research and program evaluation in higher education and transition services for disabled youth. Prior to CTCI, they taught at a public high school in Connecticut, coordinated an integrated postsecondary education program in New Orleans, and oversaw program evaluation for two disability support programs in higher education in Delaware. At CTCI, Dr. Monahan supports the evaluation of TerpsEXCEED and provides technical assistance for BRIDGE CT, a systems-change initiative focused on improving collaboration among stakeholders in the transition process.
Jessica Salas-Brooks, P.h.D
Dr. Jessica Salas-Brooks (Ph.D., Biobehavioral Health, The Pennsylvania State University) serves as an Assistant Research Professor in the Center for Transition and Career Innovation (CTCI) at the University of Maryland. She has over a decade of experience conducting applied research, evaluation studies, developing technical assistance strategies, promoting equitable engagement, and being an advocate for children with diverse needs. Dr. Salas-Brooks has led local and national research and evaluation initiatives in partnership with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), the American Red Cross, and the YMCA of the USA (Y-USA). These projects focused on public health and youth safety. She developed logic models, analytic plans (both qualitative and quantitative), and reports that synthesized complex data into actionable recommendations. Dr. Salas-Brooks led cross-sector engagement efforts and produced public-facing resources that informed community practices. She has also provided technical assistance and led participatory research that emphasized co-creation. In addition to her research and program management experience, Dr. Salas-Brooks has curated programming and fostered leadership development opportunities for early-career professionals. The Center for Transition & Career Innovation’s (CTCI) mission of improving the quality of life for students and youth with disabilities directly aligns with her personal commitment to public service.
Everett Deibler, M.A.
Everett Deibler is a Faculty Specialist and Technical Assistance Provider with the University of Maryland’s National Technical Assistance Center on Transition: The Collaborative (NTACT:C) and serves as Youth Engagement Project Coordinator for the RAISE Center at SPAN in New Jersey. He earned a Bachelor of Arts in Psychology from Millersville University (2009) and a Master’s degree in Special Education and Human Development from The George Washington University. His professional interests include youth leadership development, disability advocacy, inclusive higher education, and strengthening authentic youth voice in transition, workforce development, and systems-change efforts. As a person with Cerebral Palsy, Everett brings lived experience to his work, grounding his leadership in authenticity, accessibility, and equity.
He has supported national and multi-state initiatives including the Youth Engagement Transition Initiative (YETI) and its Youth Engagement Now website, Pennsylvania’s Statewide Advocates Influencing Leadership (SAIL) program, youth transition programs at the Lehigh Valley Center for Independent Living (LVCIL), and accessibility and inclusive higher education initiatives at Lehigh Carbon Community College, including the SEED program. In his current work, he designs and delivers technical assistance, develops youth-led engagement models and digital resources, and builds cross-sector partnerships that translate lived experience into sustainable programs and more responsive systems.