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 Co-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.
Taylor Morris, Ph.D.
Dr. Taylor Morris (he/him/his) is a research assistant professor at the Center for Transition and Career Innovation. He currently serves as an evaluator for the Connecticut Pathways to Integrated Employment (CTPIE) Project and as a consultant to other CTCI projects. He is a licensed psychologist and earned his M.A. and Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park. He received his B.S. in psychology from the University of Maryland, College Park as well. In his graduate programs, he specialized in the career development of marginalized populations and has contributed to over a dozen journal articles and educational briefs on related topics. He also served as a graduate assistant for the CTCI and helped implement and evaluate the Way2Work Maryland and Maryland PROMISE projects.
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 (She/her/hers) is a Faculty Specialist at UMD Center for Transition and Career Innovation. Kathleen has over 10 years of experience in employment capacity building, organizational transformation, Medicaid Home and Community Based policy and waivers, and interagency systems change for people with I/DD as Director of Day and Employment Services for the Massachusetts Department of Developmental Services and Maryland's Developmental Disabilities Administration. Kathleen is a graduate of the National Leadership Institute on Developmental Disabilities at the University of Delaware and an Ambassador of Charting the Lifecourse Framework through University of Kansas City Missouri, Institute for Human Development. Kathleen additionally has a background in providing targeted case management and transition for people with I/DD and bachelor's in psychology from Salisbury University. Kathleen is passionate about the implementation of the Employment First Initiative and strongly advocates for all people to have the right to live, love, work, learn, play and pursue their life aspirations in the community.
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
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.
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.