R. Allan Allday, Ph. D.
Assistant Professor
allan.allday@uky.edu
Vita (PDF)

R. Allan Allday is an Assistant Professor of Special Education in the Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling. Prior to completing his Ph.D. at Auburn University in 2004, Dr. Allday served as a special education teacher to students with emotional/behavioral disorders and as a behavioral consultant. He is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst – Doctoral (BCBA-D). Dr. Allday served in 2008 and 2010 as a Fulbright Scholar to Ukraine, where he provided instruction and consultation to universities, schools, and rehabilitation centers on how to work with children with behavior challenges and Autism.

Dr. Allday’s research centers on how teacher behavior affects student behavior. His focus is on finding simple changes to teacher behavior that improve student outcomes. Dr. Allday has taught courses related to classroom and behavior management, characteristics of emotional/behavioral disorders, single subject research, applied behavior analysis, Autism Spectrum Disorders, and teaching methods for mild/moderate disabilities. Dr. Allday has served as President of the Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders in South Carolina. He currently serves on the Editorial Board of Journal of Disability Policy Studies and has been a reviewer for Education and Treatment of Children, Behavioral Disorders, Journal of Educational Psychology, NASSP Bulletin, and Family Relations.

Melinda J. Ault, Ph. D.
Assistant Professor
melinda.ault@uky.edu
Vita (PDF)

Melinda Jones Ault is an assistant professor in the Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling. Before coming to the university, Dr. Ault taught students with moderate and severe disabilities in rural Kentucky for 4 years. Dr. Ault served for many years as a research associate at the University of Kentucky, working on federally-funded research projects related to systematic instruction of students with moderate to severe disabilities, single subject research design, and early childhood special education. Most recently she served as the Project Director for the National Assistive Technology Research Institute, a federally funded project designed to examine factors related to the planning, development, implementation, and evaluation of assistive technology services in schools.

Dr. Ault has co-authored a book related to systematic instruction for students with moderate to severe disabilities, an environmental assessment instrument for early childhood K-3 classrooms, a computer program for single subject research design, an instructional material for the implementation of assistive technology in schools, and over 35 journal articles related to her work. She regularly presents at national and international professional conferences.

Dr. Ault received a Bachelor of Arts degree in Elementary Education and Special Education and a Masters degree in Special Education from the University of Kentucky. She received her Doctorate in Special Education from the University of Kentucky in 2010.

Her current research interests are in systematic instruction, communication, and technology applications for students with significant disabilities, and inclusion and participation of persons with disabilities in their faith communities.

Margaret E. Bausch, Ed. D.
Associate Professor
meb@uky.edu
Vita (PDF)

Margaret E. Bausch is an associate professor in the Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling. Dr. Bausch spent nine years as a teacher of students with learning and behavior disorders before coming to the University of Kentucky to devote her efforts to research and development projects in assistive and instructional technology. Since joining the faculty in 2004, she has continued her involvement in technology research and in the graduate and undergraduate training programs in Special Education Technology. Most recently, she served as a co-principal investigator of the National Assistive Technology Research Institute, a federally funded project designed to examine factors related to the planning, development, implementation, and evaluation of assistive technology services in schools. The findings of the research have been disseminated in journal articles, national presentations, book chapters, and training materials with the goal of improving assistive technology practices in the school setting for students with disabilities.

Currently, Dr. Bausch is serving as the principal investigator of the Kentucky Assistive and Rehabilitative Technology Training grant that provides scholarships to prepare personnel from varying fields to integrate instructional and assistive technology into the school curriculum, post-secondary education, employment situations, and the daily lives of persons with disabilities.

Dr. Bausch received her Bachelor of Science Degree in Elementary and Special Education at Eastern Kentucky University, a Master of Science Degree in Special Education Learning Disabilities and a Doctorate in Special Education Technology from the University of Kentucky in 1999. Dr. Bausch is a past president of the Technology and Media Division of CEC.

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Brian Bottge
Professor, Endowed Chair
brian.bottge@uky.edu
Vita (PDF)

Research Website: Visit

Dr. Brian Bottge is the William T. Bryan Endowed Chair in Special Education in the Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling. Prior to his appointment at UK, he was Professor in the Department of Rehabilitation Psychology and Special Education at the University of Wisconsin–Madison where he was given Emeritus status.

Dr. Bottge is best known for Enhanced Anchored Instruction (EAI), which is a strategy for teaching math to low-performing adolescents. EAI provides rich and engaging contexts (i.e., computer and hands-on applications) where students develop their computation and problem-solving skills. Dr. Bottge’s work has been supported by grants from the McDonnell Foundation Cognitive Studies in Educational Practice, the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services (OSERS), and the Institute of Education Sciences (IES) (Cognition and Student Learning). Dr. Bottge’s research is highlighted in the U. S. Department of Education “Doing What Works” website and has been reported in various education and technology publications.

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Belva Collins
Professor, Department Chair
bcoll01@email.uky.edu
Vita (PDF)

A former rural special education teacher, Dr. Collins earned a master’s degree from the University of Virginia and a doctoral degree from the University of Kentucky with a focus in Severe Disabilities. She has been on faculty in the Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling since 1990. Dr. Collins helped develop the department’s distance education program in Moderate and Severe Disabilities with the support of numerous federal grants to prepare special education personnel in rural Kentucky. She also was instrumental in developing UK’s graduate certificate in Distance Education and has been successful in securing several federal grants to prepare future faculty with skills in distance education delivery.

Her present research interests are in three primary areas: (a) systematic instruction of functional core content with students with moderate and severe disabilities, (b) distance education to prepare rural special education personnel, and (c) inclusion of persons with special needs in their faith communities.

Dr. Collins is a past chair of the American Council on Rural Special Education (ACRES) and currently serves as editor of the organization’s refereed journal, Rural Special Education Quarterly. She is the author of Moderate and Severe Disabilities: A Foundational Approach and Systematic Instruction for Students with Moderate and Severe Disabilities, as well as over 90 book chapters or publications in refereed journals. In addition, she regularly presents her research at a international and national professional conferences.  

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Harold Kleinert
Adjunct Associate Professor
harold.kleinert@uky.edu
Vita (Word)

Dr. Harold Kleinert is the executive director of the Human Development Institute-University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities Education, Research, and Service at the University of Kentucky. He has directed a broad range of federally funded demonstration and research projects, including the KY Alternate Portfolio Study, the Paraprofessional Training Component for Kentucky's State Improvement Grant, the KY Systems Change Project for Students with Severe Disabilities, the Personal Futures Planning Project for Individuals with Deaf-Blindness, and the KY Peer Service Learning Project.

Dr. Kleinert co-directed the development of KY's alternate assessment (resulting in the first fully inclusive educational assessment system in the nation), and is nationally recognized for his research on alternate educational assessments. He has published widely in the area of alternate assessment for students with significant disabilities under IDEA, including research on the impact of the inclusion of students with significant disabilities in large-scale assessment and accountability systems, and is the lead author of the text Alternate Assessment: Measuring Outcomes and Supports for Students with Disabilities.

Victoria Knight
Assistant Professor
vkn223@uky.edu
Vita (PDF)

Dr. Victoria Knight is an assistant professor in the Department of Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling. Dr. Knight has over ten years of experience working with students with autism spectrum disorder (ASD) and students with moderate/severe disabilities. Dr. Knight received her Bachelor of Arts Degree in Biology at the University of California at Santa Cruz, a Master of Arts Degree in Special Education Severe Disabilities from the University of Northern Colorado at Greeley, and a Doctorate in Special Education from the University of North Carolina at Charlotte in 2010. While at UNC Charlotte, Dr. Knight worked for four years on the General Curriculum Access Projects led by Drs. Diane Browder and Fred Spooner. While at UNC Charlotte, she served as a Research Associate on Project MASTERY, a three-year federally funded research project focused on developing high quality mathematics and science instruction for students who participate in alternate assessments based on alternate achievement standards. In this capacity, she assisted in (a) the development of conceptual frameworks in math and science for students with moderate and severe disabilities, (b) the delivery and evaluation of a professional development package created by the research team, and (c) research on instructional strategies in science for this population. Additionally, she co-developed an Autism Graduate Certificate Program at UNC Charlotte. Dr. Knight has authored book chapters and publications pertaining to these topics, and has presented her research at state and national conferences.

Dr. Knight’s research interests include evidence-based practices for individuals with ASD and moderate/severe disabilities, applied behavior analysis, and technologies for students with autism.

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Robert McKenzie
Professor
rmcke2@email.uky.edu
Vita (Word)

Prior to receiving his doctorate at the University of Iowa in 1981, Dr. McKenzie served as a public school secondary social studies teacher and special education resource teacher.  Since arriving at the University of Kentucky in 2002, he has been a member of the Learning & Behavior Disorders program faculty and served as that program’s Faculty Chair from 2004 - 2008.  Dr. McKenzie’s area of instructional expertise is the assessment of learning and other mild disabilities, and his current research focuses on improving the quality of collaborative, co-teaching models of instruction and issues related to response-to-intervention models.  Dr. McKenzie is the Director of Graduate Study for Special Education.

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Kim Parker-Brown
Lecturer
kimberly.parker-brown@uky.edu
Vita (PDF)

Before coming to the University of Kentucky, Kim spent 30 years as an educator. She was a special education teacher as well as a Principal in Fayette and Woodford Counties. She recently retired as an Elementary Principal. Kim is an alumnus of the University of Kentucky receiving her Bachelor's degree in Special Education. She also has a Masters in Special Education and a Rank 1 in Administration. Kim is currently teaching in the Special Education and Rehabilitation Counseling department. She serves on the Kentucky Special Olympics Board and the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Board (SACS).