My Transition My Career
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What Are the My Transition My Career Projects?
What Communities Are We Supporting?
Project Team Members
Want to Learn More?
What Are the My Transition My Career Projects?
Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities (KUCDD) is in its second year leading two community engagement projects funded through the Administration for Community Living (ACL).
These projects, known as the My Transition My Career (MTMC) projects, are focused on supporting communities to enhance collaborations across existing local systems to improve the experiences and outcomes of youth with intellectual and developmental disabilities as they transition between school and working in the community. Through ongoing technical assistance, KUCDD has been supporting community partnerships across Kansas to establish the policies, practices, and relationships needed to sustain their efforts and ensure the voices of transition-aged youth with disabilities and their families are reflected in local transition systems and services.
What Communities Are We Supporting?
The projects are currently supporting 8 communities across Kansas. KUCDD supports each community to work towards goals specific to their area that enhance transition outcomes for youth with disabilities. A full list and map of each community part of this project is available below.
What Communities Are We Supporting?
Douglas/Jefferson
Garden City
Hays
Mid-Kansas
Olathe
Southeast Kansas
Wichita
Wyandotte
Project Team Members
Ski Adams, Assistant Researcher
Ski Adams has been a disability advocate for over twenty-four years. Some advocacy activities that he’s been involved with include passages on the Kansas Employment First Law and serving on a five-year core grant review team.
Evan Dean, Ph.D., Principal Investigator, Associate Director of Community Services
Evan Dean, Ph.D., OTR/L is an occupational therapist, researcher, and Associate Director at the Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities. His research focuses on enhancing community participation, employment, self-determination, and supported decision-making for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Evan has extensive experience with delivering interventions in community settings.
Baylee Kilburn, Research Project Coordinator
Baylee graduated from the University of Kansas in 2018 with a bachelor’s degree in environmental studies. She joined the Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities (KUCDD) in 2021 as an Administrative Assistant and currently works as a Research Project Coordinator for KUCDD. Baylee is currently involved with several research projects including the My Transition My Career project, the Kansas Navigator Series project, and the Kansas Youth Transition Network’s (KYTN) Strengthening Partnerships to Advance Transition and Employment Outcomes for Youth project. In addition to her support on research projects, Baylee also co-lead’s KUCDD’s plain language team.
Craig Knutson, Research Project Manager
Craig Knutson works as a Research Project Manager for the Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities (KUCDD). Craig is currently involved with several research and grant projects including the Kansas Employment First grant, the Kansas Waiting List study grant, and the My Transition/My Career project, among others. Craig has over 30 years of experience working in the disability field, and prior to coming to work at KUCDD, he served as the Policy Analyst for the Kansas Council on Developmental Disabilities (KCDD) and Self Advocacy Coordinator for the Self Advocate Coalition of Kansas (SACK). Craig has dedicated his life’s work to helping ensure people with disabilities have their voices heard and are empowered to live full, inclusive lives in the communities of their choice. In his spare time, Craig enjoys riding his bicycle on Topeka’s bike trails, hiking in the mountains, and playing nerdy video games.
Brad Linnenkamp, Assistant Researcher
Brad works for the KU Center on Developmental Disabilities (KUCDD) as an Assistant Researcher. Brad has led and contributed to nationally funded research focusing on Supported Decision Making, self-determination, and community engagement for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities. Before coming to KUCDD, Brad worked for the Self-Advocate Coalition of Kansas for 20 years. Brad sits on many state and national committees including the Disability Rights Center of Kansas, Employment First Commission, and the Self-Advocate Resource and Technical Assistance Center (SARTAC) National Advisory Board. In 1990 Brad received the “Achievement Against the Odds Award” from President Bush for overcoming obstacles in his life and assisting others to achieve independence. In his spare time Brad enjoys anything sports related but especially the Royals, Chiefs, and Jayhawks!
Stefania Petcu, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Researcher
Stefania graduated from the University of South Carolina in 2015 with a Ph.D. in Special Education. Between 2017 and 2022, Stefania worked as a Research Assistant Professor at the University of New Mexico. She joined the Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities (KUCDD) in 2023 as a Postdoctoral Researcher working under the supervision of Dr. Shogren. Her primary responsibility is coordinating the GSC APP and SDLMI research project. She is still involved with several other research projects, including the My Transition My Career and SDLMI-R research projects. In her spare time, Stefania enjoys being outdoors and engaging in hiking, backpacking, rafting, and skiing. She also enjoys traveling and exploring different cultures. Stefania, already bilingual in Romanian and English, is working on becoming fluent in Spanish.
Lindsay Rentschler, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Researcher
Dr. Rentschler earned her Ph.D. in Applied Developmental Science & Special Education from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She joined KUCDD in 2023 and supports several projects including My Transition My Career, Propel, and Kansas Health and Research Partnership (K-HARP). Her research focuses on designing and disseminating high-quality community and school-based supports for autistic adolescents and young adults, inclusive research practices, and supporting the transition from high school into adulthood for those with intellectual and developmental disabilities. She is committed to community-engaged research and has partnered with families, advocacy groups, and schools to develop and examine support strategies and instructional practices. Dr. Rentschler has more than a decade of experience working with children and youth with disabilities in schools, clinics, and homes. She has a Master’s in teaching and has worked in ethnically, linguistically, and culturally diverse public schools. She is a board-certified behavior analyst (BCBA), and she has been the director of applied behavior analysis clinics and advocated for children and teens with disabilities in schools.
Karrie Shogren, Ph.D., KUCDD Director
Karrie A. Shogren, Ph.D. is Director of the Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities (a University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities), Senior Scientist at the Schiefelbusch Life Span Institute, and Ross and Marianna Beach Distinguished Professor in the Department of Special Education all at the University of Kansas. Dr. Shogren’s research focuses on assessment and intervention in self-determination and supported decision making for people with disabilities. Dr. Shogren has led multiple grant-funded projects, including assessment validation and efficacy trials of self-determination interventions in school and community contexts. Dr. Shogren has published over 225 articles in peer-reviewed journals, is the author or co-author of 25 books, and is the lead author of the Self-Determination Inventory, a recently validated assessment of self-determination and the Supported Decision-Making Inventory System, an assessment of the supports needed to involve people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in decisions about their lives.
Claire Stelter, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Researcher
Claire Stelter, Ph.D., is a Postdoctoral Researcher at the Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities. Claire’s field of study is intellectual and developmental disabilities. She graduated with her doctorate in May 2023 from the University of Wisconsin-Madison. She has expertise in the research, policy, and practices surrounding individuals with disabilities.
Sean Swindler, Research Project Manager
Sean Swindler, M.S.Ed. has joint appointment as Director of Community Program Development and Evaluation at The Kansas Center for Autism Research and Training (K-CART) and Project Manager at Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities (KUCDD). Mr. Swindler has a Master’s Degree in Special Education and has worked in the field of developmental disability and Autism for over 25 years. Mr. Swindler has been at K-CART since 2008, and has led K-CART in managing community partnerships and the K-CART Autism Resource Center. Mr. Swindler has been involved in multiple federally and state funded research and training projects. Prior to coming to KU Swindler was coordinator for the Self-Advocate Coalition of Kansas and has worked as a direct support professional and I/DD Waiver Targeted Case Manager in Kansas. He is also parent of a young adult with Autism and I/DD.
Ashley Taconet, Ph.D., Postdoctoral Researcher
Ashley Taconet is a postdoctoral researcher at the Kansas University Center on Developmental Disabilities (KUCDD). Ashley supports on multiple research projects including the My Transition/My Career project, the Kansas Health and Research Partnership project, the GSC App & SDLMI project, among others. She has worked for an inclusive higher education program and in classrooms across the lifespan. Her work focuses on supporting people with intellectual and developmental disabilities in transition and postsecondary education settings to ensure they are prepared for their next step in life.
Want to Learn More?
If you are interested in learning more about the MTMC projects, please contact Baylee Kilburn at kucddcommunity@ku.edu.
The My Transition My Career Projects are supported, in part by grant number 90DDCI0003-01-11 and 90DNCE0002-01-00, from the U.S. Administration for Community Living, Department of Health and Human Services, Washington, D.C. 20201.