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Dr. Brett Bollinger | Nancy Zemaitis | Bonnie Buddle | Carmen Garcia-Harris | Anita Allison
Jefri Voelkel | Julie Havill | Jacquelyn Rhamy | Kay Moore | Dr. Michael Harvey | John Hill | Adam BausermanOur commitment is to facilitate the quality implementation and expansion of sustainable, evidence-based practices that result in success for all students in their least-restrictive environment.
Back row, L to R: Jackie Rhamy, Brett Bollinger, Julie Havill-Weems, Bonnie Buddle.
Front Row, L to R: Nancy Zemaitis, Jefri Voelkel, Carmen Garcia-Harris.
Dr. Brett Bollinger, Co-Director
Dr. Brett Bollinger has spent twenty-seven years as a special education teacher and administrator. He was a learning disabilities teacher and supervisor with RISE Special Services, a special education cooperative located in Indianapolis, and was Director of Special Education for South Central Area Special Education Cooperative in south central Indiana. He taught, as an adjunct faculty member, at the School of Education at Indiana University Southeast for ten years. Dr. Bollinger completed undergraduate and graduate work at Indiana University-Purdue University at Indianapolis and his doctorate in School Administration is from Indiana University, Bloomington. Prior to accepting the position as Co-Director of the IN-SIG project, he was director of Student Support Services with New Albany-Floyd County Consolidated School Corporation in New Albany, Indiana.
Nancy Zemaitis is the Assistant Director with the Indiana Department of Education, Division of Exceptional Learners. Her area of concentration is in the transition of students from school to work. This includes working with Vocational Rehabilitation Services on the Senate Bill 290 recommendations and as Co-Director of the Indiana State Improvement Grant, a five-year federally funded project designed to improve educational services for students with disabilities. As well, her work with IDOE includes collecting historical and trend data in the areas of community supports and residential services. Her previous experience includes work as an Educational Consultant with IDOE/DEL and holding various positions with the Indiana Vocational Rehabilitation Services. She also worked in a Community Rehabilitation Program as a Work Adjustment Specialist, Vocational Evaluator, and Placement Specialist.
Bonnie Buddle, Program Coordinator (back to top)
Bonnie Buddle's experience in school improvement and reform comes from her extensive work with elementary and secondary schools in problem-solving, data analysis and intervention plan development. Prior to this position, Bonnie was the Project Coordinator of the Creative Problem Solving Initiative (Blumberg Center-Indiana State University) where she trained over 300 building-based intervention teams to develop focused and effective intervention plans for students who were not successful in the classroom. As a consultant for IDOE/Title I, Bonnie supported school leadership teams to write, implement and evaluate their school improvement plans. She has taught for over 20 years in the public schools where she facilitated her own school staff to become a Professional Development Site for ISU and a Comprehensive School Reform (CSR) site. She holds a Masters Degree in Education from ISU, and multiple licenses in facilitating and training in problem-solving and change methodologies.
Carmen Garcia-Harris is the Site Coordinator for Northeast and Greater Clark County School Corporations. Her 28-year career covers multiple elementary grade levels with background in curriculum development for remedial and gifted education and grant writing supporting early literacy intervention, integration of technology, and service learning programming for students. Carmen was the Coordinator of Project SWEEP, an award- winning School-Wide Environmental Education Program in her school, for ten years. An early advocate for inclusion, she was instrumental in the development of full inclusion and co-teaching practices, and was a team leader for Target Area School Improvement Goals. Carmen holds a Masters Degree in Elementary Education from Indiana University, where she has served as a Part-time Lecturer in the School of Education. She is currently an Online Instructor with University of Phoenix, and is a member of Curriculum Development Teams for the MAED General Education and SPED Special Education Degree programs.
Anita Allison, Early Childhood Technical Assistance/ECERS-R Coordinator (back to top)
Anita Allison is the Early Childhood Technical Assistance/ECERS-R Coordinator. Anita received her BA in Early Childhood Education from Saint Mary-of-the-Woods College, Saint Mary-of-the-Woods, Indiana and completed her M.Ed. in Early Childhood Special Education, with an emphasis in consulting and administration from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. She has been providing training and technical assistance to early care and education professionals for 22 years, working at the Quality Improvement Center for Disabilities at the University of Illinois, the Indiana Department of Education as a Reading First Consultant and the Indiana Association for Child Care Resource and Referral as the Education Director. Anita’s areas of expertise include assessing the quality of early childhood environments using the ECERS-R, training and consultation, supporting children in inclusive environments and working with young children with challenging behaviors. She is an advocate for quality care and education for all children and the rights of individuals with disabilities.
Jefri Voelkel, Site Coordinator
(back to top)
Jefri Voelkel is the Site Coordinator for Fort Wayne Community Schools and
Michigan City Area Schools. She has received her Bachelors Degree in
Education from Ball State University and her Masters Degree from Indiana
University-Purdue University Fort Wayne. She was employed by the
Garrett-Keyser-Butler School Corporation in Garrett, Indiana, for 28 years
as a general education teacher and art specialist. Jefri has worked as
part of the Autism Team for the Northeast Indiana Special Education
Cooperative and she has been an active participant in school change
initiatives in her former school district. Julie Havill, Family Coordinator
(back to top)
Julie Havill is the Family Coordinator for the IN-SIG project,
working throughout the state. She is the parent of a son born with
multiple birth defects. She has held several positions in the
developmental disabilities field. These include working as direct
support staff, as a Residential Supervisor/QMRP for an adult group home,
as a Service Coordinator for First Steps Early Intervention, as a Medicaid
Waiver Case Manager, and as Intake Coordinator for the Bureau of
Developmental Disabilities Services. She has been trained as a
Regional Parent Resource by INSOURCE and as a Parent Liaison by the
Indiana Parent Information Network. She attended Indiana
University-Bloomington and graduated with a Bachelor of Arts in Sociology
with certifications in Psychology and Women's Studies.
Jacquelyn Rhamy, Site Coordinator (back to top)
Jacquelyn Rhamy is the Site Coordinator of the Anderson and Greencastle
Community School Corporations. She is an honors graduate of Ohio State
University with a Bachelor of Science in Elementary Education and minor in
Mathematics. Her Masters in Education was earned from Defiance College.
Over her twenty-five year career, she has taught a variety of grade levels
ranging from elementary to middle school. Jackie is a trained Reading
Recovery teacher and has spent part of her career as a Title I inclusion
teacher. She has been involved in curriculum writing and served as a
member of her school’s Learning Improvement Team where she helped
coordinate and present staff development day activities geared toward her
school’s reform issues.
Kay Moore, Program Secretary (back
to top)
Kay Moore has been a part of the Indiana Institute on
Disability and Community for over 14 years. In her role as
Administrative Program Secretary for both the IN-SIG project and the
Center for Education and Lifelong Learning, she provides support for a
number of federal and state-wide initiatives. Kay's experience in
coordinating grant implementation activities provides invaluable support,
including conference planning, coordination and management of schedules,
technical and clerical support, and product development.
Dr. Michael Harvey, Project
Consultant / Evaluator (back
to top)
Michael W. Harvey is the Director of the Doctoral
Program in Special Education and an Associate Professor at Ball State
University. He has more than twenty years of experience in education where
he has served as a special educator, student services coordinator, school
administrator, adjunct faculty member, and tenure-line
undergraduate/graduate faculty member. He has taught at the University of
Southern Maine, the Pennsylvania State University, Penn State Great
Valley, and Ball State University. His Ph.D. is in Workforce Education and
Development from the Pennsylvania State University with a focus in policy
analysis. His research agenda has emphasized secondary school services for
students with disabilities, post-school transitional outcomes,
administration in special education, and policy issues. Dr. Harvey teaches
the MR course and a course in special education issues and trends in the
mild disability program at BSU. He also teaches special education
administration courses for the Director of Special Education licensure
program and conducts seminars in research and policy for the doctoral
program. He has been involved with the Penn State Summer Institute in
Special Education where he has taught and served as the Co-chair for the
strand on Enhancing Transition Services. Dr. Harvey is interested in
transition services, special education law, legal and public policy issues
in special education. Dr. Harvey has several refereed journal publications
in the area of transition, dropout, secondary programming and public
policy. He has presented at over 35 international, national, regional and
state conferences.
John Hill, Project Consultant
(back to top)
John Hill has over 29 years of experience with and on behalf
of individuals with disabilities. Throughout his career, his major focus
has been community-based services. Past work experience includes 7 years
as a program manager with Indiana’s Medicaid Home & Community Based Waiver
Program for Persons with Developmental Disabilities, as well as two years
as the state Director of the Indiana Bureau of Developmental Disabilities.
During the last four years, John has been an educational consultant with
the Indiana Division of Exceptional Learners with a focus on student
transition to adult services and Medicaid utilization. His current
professional activities include President-Elect for the National Alliance
for Medicaid in Education; Chairperson for the Indiana Commission on
Rehabilitation Services; and, the Dept. of Education’s representative on
the Indiana Council for Persons with Disabilities.
Adam Bauserman, Project Coordinator
(back to top)
Adam Bauserman is the Project Coordinator for the
Indiana Post School Follow-Up System. He has a Bachelor of Science in
Social Science with an Elementary Education certificate from the
University of Southern Colorado and a Masters of Arts in Special Education
from Adams State College. He is currently ABD in the Special Education
Doctoral program at Ball State University. His research is focused on the
transition of secondary students with emotional disabilities. Prior to his
current position, he has 10 years of teaching experience in all fields of
education in both Colorado and Indiana. This experience includes teaching
in general, special and alternative education placements from the
elementary to high school level. He is currently an Instructor in the
Special Education Department working with pre-service teachers.
