SSET Faculty

Lauren Lindstrom, Ph.D.

lindstrm@uoregon.edu
Dr. Lindstrom has focused her research career on improving the lives of youth with disabilities. Her primary interest areas are transition services, post school outcomes, career development, and gender equity. She currently serves as Project Director for the Oregon Youth Transition Program, a collaborative program that serves 114 high schools and over 1600 youth, and also directs a federally funded research study designed to improve educational and career outcomes for young women with disabilities. She has published numerous curricula, training materials and journal articles, and recently co-authored a national position paper calling attention to the needs of youth with disabilities from diverse backgrounds.

Christopher Murray, Ph.D.

cjmurray@uoregon.edu
541.346.1445
Dr. Murray is interested in understanding the effects of social relationships and social contexts on the lives and outcomes of adolescents and adults with disabilities and other high risk youth. He has conducted several studies on the role teacher-student relationships play in promoting social, emotional, and academic adjustment among middle and high school students and he is currently studying interventions that are designed to promote positive employment and postsecondary school outcomes among youth and young adults with disabilities. He is particularly interested in understanding and promoting positive outcomes among youth from low-income backgrounds.

Deanne Unruh, Ph.D.

dkunruh@uoregon.edu
541.346.1424
Dr. Unruh’s research interests include improving young adult outcomes for high risk adolescents with disabilities and/or mental health issues involved in the juvenile justice system. Her recent work includes collaborative efforts with various state juvenile justice agencies and local community agencies to develop correctional facility-to-community transition programming and target employability social skills for adolescents involved in the juvenile justice system. She is also the Director of the National Post-School Outcomes Center who works with State Departments of Education and local districts to collect and use post-school outcomes of youth with disabilities for program improvement.

Affiliated Faculty

Bonnie Doren, Ph.D.

bdoren@uoregon.edu
541.346.1413
Dr. Doren’s specific research interests include a) establishing predictors of post-school outcomes to inform interventions; (b) addressing the career development and transition needs of young women with disabilities, and (c) development of self-advocacy and self-determination skills in the context of transition planning for students with disabilities. Dr. Doren’s current research projects focus on impacting the outcomes of youth with disabilities through the development and testing of interventions at three levels: universal transition interventions within whole high schools, secondary transition interventions focused on professional development and training of secondary teachers and professionals and targeted transition services aimed directly at students including the development of curricula and technology-based tools to develop student career-related knowledge and skills .

Brigid Flannery, Ph.D.

brigidf@uoregon.edu
541.346.5780
Dr. Flannery is interested in transition, postsecondary education, community college workforce training opportunities and positive behavior support at the high school level. Her work has been in collaboration with schools or other community agencies such as community colleges, vocational rehabilitation, and Centers for Independent Living.

SSET Project Staff

Charlotte Alverson, Ph.D.

calverso@uoregon.edu
541.346.1390
Dr. Alverson is an adjunct research associate at the University of Oregon for the National Post-School Outcomes (NPSO) Center. Her work at the NPSO Center involves researching post-school outcomes, analysis of states’ State Performance Plan (SPP)/Annual Progress Reports (APR), product development, and technical assistance to state department of education. Prior to completing a doctoral degree, she taught in the public schools for 13 years as a teacher for students with moderate and severe disabilities, preparing students for post-secondary life. Her research interests include post-school outcomes, secondary special education programming for students with moderate and severe disabilities, and program evaluation.

Jeri Dickinson

jerid@uoregon.edu
541.346.1411
Jeri has worked in the field of Special Education for over 30 years, working with general education students, at-risk youth, and students with disabilities. She has taught Special Education and directed the YTP program in a local high school for 25 years. For over a decade, she served as director of Lane County’s summer school and summer youth programs for low-income, disadvantaged, and other youth with special needs. She has provided statewide training and technical assistance to other YTP sites over the last 13 years. Currently Jeri is providing technical assistance and training for the YTP statewide program and the ACCESS grant.

Peter FitzGerald

petefitz@q.com
Peter FitzGerald, M.A. is a Technical Assistance Coordinator for the Youth Transition Program (YTP). Peter works with 16 YTP sites in the Portland Metro area and in Marion and Polk Counties . Prior to working with YTP Peter spent 30 years as a Special Education Teacher at the secondary level in both public and private settings, focused on transition services. He also spent a couple of years in the mid 1990's as Oregon 's Transition Specialist in the Office of Special Education in the Oregon Department of Education. Peter has a MA in Special Education.

Mike Johnson

dudley@uoregon.edu
541.346.1412
Mike has spent over thirty years working in the field of Special Education, dealing with families and students who range in age from 12-21. His experiences have focused on building social/pre-vocational and vocational programs for a broad range of students who are at-risk or marginalized during their transition to adulthood. He has worked for 18 years at the University of Oregon as a technical assistance coordinator for the Oregon Youth Transition Program. His work has focused on training teachers, administrators, and adult agency staff throughout the state of Oregon. Over 10,000 students with disabilities have been recipients of the post-school services provided by this nationally recognized program.

Pam Johnson

ohnsonp@uoregon.edu
541.346.1446
Pam Johnson has a background of public school teaching, counseling and administration. She retired from public schools after a 35 year career. Since 2001, Pam has been associated with Dr. Lauren Lindstrom and Dr. Bonnie Doren in the Department of Secondary Special Education & Transition as a qualitative field researcher. While being responsible for the recruitment and extensive interviewing of young adults with disabilities and writing case reports of individuals, she has also participated in presentations of several research projects at state and national conferences, and the preparation of articles for national publications. Pam’s special interest lies in improving the post-school outcomes of high school girls with disabilities. When time permits, gardening and travel are major interests.

Miriam Waintrup

miriamw@uoregon.edu
541.346.1471
Miriam Waintrup is interested in helping transitioning youth discover their strengths and interests in the pursuit of obtaining and maintaining employment. She is also interested in finding out what employers are looking for in the workforce and educating them on hiring individuals with disabilities. Ms.Waintrup is presently working with incarcerated youth who are transitioning into the community on job related social skills along with ways to successfully remain in the community. In her spare time, she likes to travel to far away places.

SSET Administrative Staff

Jeanette Haller

haller@uoregon.edu
541.346.3585
Jeanette Haller has worked at the University of Oregon for 5 years. In her capacity providing office support within the department, she aims to make everyone’s life a little easier and run more efficiently. Jeanette likes to explore Oregon, play the ukulele, and collect Pez dispensers!