The 2020 Portland Convention

Hi everyone.  It is time for our 2020 convention. I understand Portland is an exciting city with lots of cultural, outdoor, arts, and culinary attractions (see www.travelportland.com).  In fact, Portland claims to have more breweries than any other city on earth.

This should provide an excellent backdrop for the program we have this year (which I describe below).  We look forward to the opportunity to update you on all the exciting things that are happening with DR.  This includes an improved financial outlook with the positive impact of our cost cutting measures, new initiatives including an expanded newsletter, and additional support from the Hammill Institute for the DR Student Scholars Program.

We have a marvelous program of DR presentations (see Table below). Our line-up includes several engaging presentations on innovative research. On Thursday, Bryan Cook, Bill Therrien, and Sara Hart will present our DR showcase session titled Take No One's Word for It: Open Science and Special Education Research. We will also have a presentation from The National MTSS Research Network on Integrating Academic & Behavior Supports and a Program Chair Featured: Special Education Research and the Division of Innovation and Development (DID) presentation titled In Recognition and Memory of Marty Kaufman … "One Good Idea."  On Friday Chad Rose, the 2019 Distinguished Early Career Researcher Award recipient will present Bullying and Youth with Disabilities: What We Have Learned and Future Directions.  We will also have the CEC-DR Interdivisional Research Group Meeting and the Graduate Student Research Colloquium: Exploring the Hallmarks of Excellent Special Education R CEC-DR Student Research Awards.

We will hold our business meeting on Friday at 5:00 p.m.  This will include a presentation of the CEC-DR Student Research Awards, recognition of DR Doctoral Scholars, and committee reports and updates on DR activities. At 6:15 p.m. we will hold the DR Awards Reception.  We will present the Kauffman-Hallahan-Pullen Distinguished Researcher Award and the Distinguished Early Career Research Award.

We look forward to seeing you in Portland.  We hope to see you at our booth in the convention hall and we encourage you to bring a friend to register as a new member of DR. Please come to our talks, our business meeting, and our reception.  But most of all, enjoy yourself, talk to each other, learn new things, and return home rejuvenated to do cutting-edge work to support children, youth, and adults with exceptionalities and their families.  That is why we are here and that is how we keep moving the field forward.  See you soon!