NCDB Staff Bios

D. Jay Gense

D. Jay Gense has nearly 30 years experience teaching and administering services in special education programs serving students with vision impairments, hearing impairments, deafblindness, and autism spectrum disorders as well programs at the Oregon School for the Blind and the Oregon School for the Deaf. Jay has served as Director of Columbia Regional Program and as the Director of Special Schools and Programs with the Oregon Department of Education. He has administered statewide Regional Programs and also served as the Director of the Oregon Deafblind Project for 12 years. Jay and his wife, Marilyn, have written and presented widely on educational strategies in working with students who are blind/visually impaired, deafblind, and have autism spectrum disorders, and on assessment and program development for students with low incidence disabilities. Their book Autism Spectrum Disorders and Visual Impairment: Meeting Student's Learning Needs (2005, AFB Press, NY) was the recipient of the 2006 National Publication Award from AER's Education Curriculum Division. [Return]

Kathy McNulty

Kathy McNulty has worked for more than 17 years on national deaf-blind technical assistance projects. She has strong experience in the provision of technical assistance and training and the development of training materials, particularly in the areas of transition and parent and family advocacy. Kathy interacts directly with state deaf-blind projects, state and local education agencies, interagency teams and national and state parent organizations and is often called upon to conduct strategic planning activities with these stakeholders. Kathy is an advisor to NFADB and the CHARGE Syndrome Foundation. [Return]

John W. Reiman, Ph.D.

John Reiman is an Associate Research Professor at TRI. He has administered programs in the fields of deafness and deaf-blindness for more than twenty-five years and served as Director of DB-LINK since it's beginning 1992. He has also directed degree programs at Gallaudet University and Western Oregon University and, since 1990, has served as Principal Investigator and Director of multiple OSEP-funded research projects.  Dr. Reiman has worked directly with persons who are deaf-blind as a rehabilitation counselor, work adjustment counselor, medical psychotherapist and sign language interpreter. He has authored thirty publications including invited book chapters and articles in refereed journals. [Return]

Joe McNulty

Joe McNulty has worked in the field of deaf-blindness for more than 25 years and has been the Director of HKNC since 1991. He is strongly involved in national initiatives and reauthorization efforts and is co-chair of the National Coalition on Deaf-Blindness. He has a long history of positive and successful interactions with key policy makers that have benefited children and youth who are deaf-blind and also works directly with families, consumers and disability organizations. [Return]

Robbin Bull

Robbin Bull has worked for the Teaching Research Institute as a Data Specialist for over 12 years, working for the National Deaf-Blind projects (TRACES, NTAC, NCDB) for most of those years. Along with managing data for the National Deaf-Blind Child Count, she has designed many evaluation tools and databases to manage and evaluate project data. In addition, she provides data management technical assistance and support to project staff as well as state deaf-blind project personnel. [Return]

Paddi Davies

Paddi Davies is an Assistant Research Professor at TRI. She has been a technical assistance specialist for 15 years and has been involved with numerous family initiatives at state and national levels. Her other contributions to NCDB have been in the areas of capacity-building, project management and organization, group facilitation and systemic intervention. [Return]

Steven Davies

Steven Davies has a master's degree from Boston College in the education of children who are deaf-blind and has worked in the field of deaf-blindness for over 30 years. He has been a classroom teacher, an itinerant teacher, the head teacher on a vocational grant, a transition planning specialist, a parent educator, and an information specialist.  He is currently the executive secretary for the National Coalition on Deafblindness, a position he has held for twenty years. He served from 1996 to 1998 as Chair of the Multiple Disabilities and Deafblind Division of the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired (AER). [Return]

Mike Fagbmeni

Mike Fagbemi currently works for NTAC at the HKNC New York office He has worked with individuals with severe multiple disabilities for 14 years and for most of that time has worked at HKNC in a number of departments and roles, including on the National Training Team. He has expertise providing supports to transition age children and young adults accessing adult service programs. [Return]

Nancy Ganson

Nancy Ganson came to TRI from the corporate travel world in 1999 to serve as travel coordinator and project assistant for NTAC.  Over the course of the past nine years her job duties have included working with a number of projects at TRI assisting with meeting preparation and office organization. Nancy has also served as the Assistant to the Director of TRI for the past eight years. [Return]

Jon Harding

Jon Harding has a bachelor's degree in social sciences and a master's degree in special education. He spent five years teaching students with mild and moderate disabilities at the middle school level in Kansas , primarily as an inclusion specialist.  Subsequently, he worked as a field instructor for the Missouri Technology Center for Special Education, a state-funded agency that worked with local schools to build capacity in assistive technology.  Jon joined NTAC (now NCDB) in 2000 and enjoys learning more about assistive technology, transition, and ways that agencies can work together to improve outcomes for children with deaf-blindness. [Return]

John Killoran

John Killoran is the Co-Principal Investigator for NCDB. John joined TRI in 1998, working primarily on projects for children who are deaf-blind. He has had an extensive and varied career in education, grants management, and administration and has been a paraprofessional, a teacher, a principal, a state agency program coordinator, and a national technical assistance provider. In each, he has been involved with services for children who are deaf-blind and their families. [Return]

Randy Klumph

Randy Klumph as been employed by Teaching Research Institute since 1992 (TRACES, NTAC, DB-LINK, and NCDB projects) providing expertise in technology applications, desktop publishing, website management and graphic design. Prior to 1992, Randy was Director of Technology and Publications for a technical/business writing company. In addition, Randy has over 14 years experience in the field of social services, including nine years working with children and families. He is the adminstrator for the deaf-blindness related LISTSERVs hosted at The Teaching Research Insitute. [Return]

Gail Leslie

Gail Leslie, an Assistant Research Professor at TRI, has a master's degree in library and information studies and has worked for more than 25 years in public service and information management as a public librarian and as an information specialist and project coordinator for DB-LINK. She has been with DB-LINK since it's inception in 1992 and has been responsible for the development and dissemination of DB-LINK products and for information management activities, including database design, website development and inquiry/response activities. [Return]

Cindi Mafit

Cindi Mafit has been employed by the TRI business office since 1998 and has been the financial specialist for both NTAC and DB-LINK for the past 5 years. She serves as a liaison between Western Oregon University and TRI for policy, protocol and financial issues, and coordinates financial activities with Helen Keller National Center and Hilton/Perkins. [Return]

Peggy Malloy

Peggy Malloy has worked at the Teaching Research Institute since 1997 on the national deaf-blind projects. She has an undergraduate degree in nursing and a master's degree in librarianship. Prior to joining TRI, she worked as a medical librarian and writer, and as a registered nurse (working primarily in pediatric oncology and neonatal intensive care). [Return]

Betsy L. McGinnity

Betsy L. McGinnity, has been with the DB-LINK project since it began. She has a master's degree in education and a 30-plus year background in classroom teaching and in employment and transition issues for youth who are deaf-blind. Betsy has administered several federally funded model projects in these areas. She coordinated the 1997 Hilton/Perkins National Conference on Deafblindness and the Perkins 175 th Anniversary History Museum Project. She oversees the Samuel P. Hayes Research Library and Archives, the Perkins History Museum , and the Hilton/Perkins DB-LINK project. She has also served on the Access Advisory Committee for the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, for the past eight years. [Return]

Barbara Purvis

Barb Purvis brings experience in both general and special education to NCDB. Her passion is early intervention, where she first worked with children with combined sensory losses. As an early intervention (Part C) developmental specialist, Barbara received specialized training to provide developmental care to premature and medically fragile infants in intensive care nurseries. Throughout her career Barbara has been drawn to involvement with children and families who face great challenges. Having “transitioned” three daughters, including one who received special education supports, Barbara remains active as an advocate for individuals with disabilities. She loves to collect art and travel with her husband. [Return]

Mark Schalock

Mark Schalock has recently returned to NCDB as evaluation specialist and Deaf-Blind Count Coordinator. In a previous life he served as regional TA coordinator and evaluator for TASH-TA and TRACES. Mark has directed or co-directed many research, evaluation and TA projects at the local, state and national level for over 25 years and brings deep and varied experience in educational evaluation and both large scale and small scale data analysis and management. His work during this time has primarily in the areas of early childhood education professional development programs, teacher preparation and licensure, teacher mentoring and induction and information literacy. Mr. Schalock has authored or co-authored more than journal 20 articles and book chapters on program and personnel evaluation, measurement, research, accountability and educational productivity. [Return]

Bernie Samples

Bernie Samples has worked for TRI since January of 1968. She has held many positions in the agency beginning as the Division Secretary and then becoming the Special Education Department Secretary working for Vic Baldwin and Bud Fredericks. She worked as the Supervisor of Support Services until 1994 when she became the Administrative Assistant for the NTAC project, now NCDB. She is also the Coordinator of the Recruitment and Retention Special Education Jobs Clearinghouse and works with the TRI staff on finalizing and submitting agency proposals and grants. [Return]

Nancy Steele

Nancy Steele is employed by HKNC ( Tennessee office) and has been with NTAC for the past three years. Prior to joining NTAC, she worked for 17 years as a teacher of the hearing impaired, including students with deaf-blindness. She has also been involved in the training of regional consultants for state deaf-blind projects related to the delivery of effective classroom TA and person-centered communication planning. [Return]

Tom Udell

Tom Udell has worked in the field of early childhood special education and early childhood education for over 20 years. He has worked on a number of local, state, and federal projects including providing direct services to young children with disabilities and their families. Tom served as the project director of the federally funded TRAC (Teaching Research Assistance to Child Care Providers Serving Children with Disabilities) Outreach project, the Social Competence Model Demonstration project, and the Partners for Early Childhood Educators in Rural Communities Project. He has been a staff member on numerous other projects. Two significant career focuses have been inclusion and supports for children with challenging behaviors. [Return]