Kellar Institute for Human DisAbilities (KIHd) - College of Education and Human Development - George Mason University
About KIHd
About Us

The Kellar Institute for Human DisAbilities (KIHd) is an interdisciplinary campus-based organization focusing on improving the lives and productivity of children and adults with disabilities. KIHd combines the resources of the university with local, state, regional, national, public, and private sector agencies and organizations to develop products, services, and programs for persons with disabilities.

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Licensure, Certificates & Training Grants

The Kellar Institute for Human DisAbilities (KIHd) collaborates with a consortium of Virginia universities to offer training/licensure options for teachers of students with visual impairments and severe disabilities. Distance education makes the programs more accessible and maximizes the number of individuals who can receive the training.

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students, parents, professionals attending state of the art conference
VDOE Grants

With the support from Virgina Department of Education KIHd serves teachers, parents, therapists, and community service providers by providing a variety of continuing learning experiences via annual workshops, conferences, and project activities. In many cases, KIHd uses distance education to provide teacher training and professional development across the state.

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Project We Got It
Research

The Kellar Institute for Human DisAbilities (KIHd) continues to build and support numerous educational research projects that vary across disciplines spearheaded by the Mason faculty members. Our goal is to increase evidence based instructional and behavioral strategies to improve academic outcomes for all students with disabilities.

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Leadership Grants
DOCTORAL AND MASTERS STUDENTS

The Kellar Institute for Human DisAbilities (KIHd) doctoral and masters students conduct cutting edge research at George Mason University that is aimed to serve persons with disabilities and their families.

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  1. KIHD
  2. PhD Students Funding
  3. Project ASPIRE
  4. ASPIRE Co-PIs

ASPIRE Co-PIs

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ASPIRE Co-PIs

Margaret King-Sears, PhD, Co-PI. Dr. King-Sears is a Professor in the Division of Special Education and disAbility Research at GMU. Between 1991 and 2014, she was principal investigator (PI) or Co-PI for two research and five personnel preparation grants totaling almost $3 million. In 2015, one of the OSEP-sponsored scholars for which she was chair and Evmenova was methodologist earned the Dissertation of the Year award. She has also been nominated for George Mason University’s Teaching Excellence Award.

King-Sears has a history of mentorship with graduate and doctoral students for publishing, presenting, and apprenticing for reviews of manuscripts submitted for publication. For most publications, doctoral students have been co-authors. At this time, she has six publications in press, with 26 publications since 2010. Among her research topics are co-teaching and universal design for learning, each of which involved George Mason University (GMU or Mason) students (cf: King-Sears, Evmenova, & Johnson, 2017; King-Sears, Brawand, Jenkins, & Preston-Smith, 2014; King-Sears, Jenkins, & Brawand, in press; King-Sears et al., 2015). Similarly, GMU students have been co-presenters on many conference presentations.

 

Anna S. Evmenova, PhD, Co-PI. Dr. Evmenova is an Associate Professor in the Division of Special Education and disAbility Research at GMU. She has approximately $8.5 million in federal grants. Since May 2014, she has been a Co-PI on an OSEP-sponsored doctoral leadership grant (2012-2018) originating with Mastropieri and Scruggs. Her mentoring for publication and presentations with students are noteworthy. She has 37 publications in peer-reviewed journals (cf: Evmenova & Regan, in press; Evmenova et al., 2016), four publications under review, and well over 50 conference presentations with GMU students. She has supported 40 students who have successfully defended their dissertations (chair for 12) and is currently serving on seven dissertation committees (chair or co-chair for five).

In just the past two years, Evmenova received seven awards in recognition of her excellence in technology, online teaching, and research accomplishments, each of which align to ASPIRE competencies. Evmenova is currently a PI for a Stepping-Up Technology grant from OSEP (2018-2023) and a Co-PI on the NSF Computer Science for ALL grant (2018-2022). She is also a Co-PI on a Global Online Course and Massive Open Online Course grant supported by the Department of State. In the past, she was a PI on another Stepping-Up Technology grant from OSEP (2012-2018) about integrating technology-based graphic organizers to improve students’ writing and a Co-PI for another OSEP-sponsored Steppingstones grant featuring video interventions for students with intellectual disabilities.