Contact Info
Valerie Owen is currently accepting and scheduling areas of expertise interviews. Please use the information below to arrange a meeting.
Campus: Wheeling
Email: vowen@nl.edu
Phone: 847.947.5049
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Contact NLU Public Relations to find and schedule an interview with the best source for your story.
Sue Malovany
University Publications Editor
National-Louis University
work: 847.947.5497
cell: 847.624.0919
Biography
Valerie Owen, professor at NLU, is director of the disability and equity in education doctoral program and teaches in the graduate special education program primarily preparing “change-of-career adults” to become teachers. She began her career 30 years ago as a classroom teacher of children with autism as well as those considered the most significantly disabled.
Owen is a sought-after consultant to schools and expert witness; working with teachers to re-imagine teaching, supporting access to the curriculum for all students, and advocating for disabled students’ rights to access to education in due process hearings and other litigation. She currently serves on the Professional Advisory Board of the International Rett Syndrome Foundation and the Illinois Autism/PDD Training and Technical Assistance Leadership Team. She is past president of IL-TASH, the state chapter of an international research and advocacy organization for individuals with severe disabilities. In addition to being a founding member and former officer in the Disability Studies in Education Special Interest Group of the American Educational Research Association, she is a founder of the Second City Disability Studies and Education Conference. As such, she actively supports a community of education scholars.
Education
Ph.D. University of Illinois- ChicagoPublications
Owen, V., & Gabel, S. (2010). Lack of vision? Lack of respect? Exclusion in Illinois. In P. Smith (Ed.), What happened to inclusion? The place of students with intellectual disabilities in education (pp. 86-100). New York, NY: Peter Lang.
Smith, R., Gallagher, D., Owen, V., & Skrtic, T. (2009). Disability Studies in education: guidelines and ethical practice for educators. In J. Andrzejewski, M. Baltodano, & L. Symcox (Eds.), Social justice, peace, environmental education: Transformative standards (pp. 235-251). New York, NY: Routledge.
**This book received the 2009 Peace Studies Book of the Year Award from the Peace Consortium of New York
Owen, V. & Hunter, K. (2007). Education and learning. In K. Hunter (Ed.), The Rett Syndrome Handbook, 2nd ed., (pp. 315-359). Clinton, MD: IRSA.
Owen, V., Hunter, K., & Percy, A. (2007). Rett Syndrome. World Book Encyclopedia Resource Center, Chicago, IL: World Book, Inc. Retrieved from http://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/Article?id=ar752501
Hunter, K., Owen, V., & Percy, A. (2007). Rett Syndrome. World Book Encyclopedia Resource Center, Chicago, IL: World Book, Inc. http://www.worldbookonline.com/wb/Article?id=ar752501
Presentations
Owen, V., & Winn, J. (2010, February). The CEC Inclusion Specialist Professional Standards: ATE’s voice in a collaborative process. Presentation made to the Association of Teacher Educators Annual Conference, Chicago, IL.Dickey, A., & Owen, V. (2010, February). Teacher Educator Standards: The invisibility of disability. Presentation made to the Association of Teacher Educators Annual Conference, Chicago, IL.
Albee, L. & Owen, V. (2009, May).Towards righting education wrongs: Using a Disability Studies perspective and a college conceptual framework to create a new program and evaluate evidence-based instructional supports and promising practices for students with autism, kindergarten through college. Paper presented at 9th Annual Second City Conference on Disability Studies in Education in partnership with Syracuse University Center on Human Policy, Law, and Disability Studies Conference on Disability Studies and Law, Righting Educational Wrongs: Disability Studies in Education, Policy and Law, Syracuse, NY., Syracuse, NY.
Smith, R., Gallagher, D., Owen, V. & Skrtic, T. (2009, May).DSE Guidelines: How Can We Use Them? Will They ‘Get It’? Presentation made at the Second City Disability Studies in Education Annual Conference, Syracuse, NY.
Smith, R., Gallagher, D., Owen, V. & Skrtic T. (2009, April). Disability Studies in education: guidelines and ethical practice for educators. In J. Andrzejewski, M. Baltodano, and L. Symcox. (Chairs), Transformational Standards for Peace, Justice, and Environmental Education: The Culmination of a 6-Year Project. Symposium conducted at the American Education Research Association Annual Meeting, San Diego, CA.
Monroe-Bailargeon, & Owen, V. (2009, February). Preparing Teachers with Disabilities: A critical partnership in the education of the whole child. Presentation made at the Association of Teacher Educators Annual Conference, Dallas, TX.
Owen, V. (2008, May). The continuum of placements and the continuum of supports: The process and options for determining the best classroom placement for your daughter. Presentation at the Annual Conference of the International Rett Syndrome Foundation Conference, Chicago, IL.
Lawrence-Brown, D., Owen, V., Sapon-Shevin, M., Smith, P., Rainforth, B., Marks, S., Meyer-Monk, J., Wroblewski, R., Fisher, A. (2008, December). Promoting social justice through critical perspectives in inclusive teacher preparation. Presentation at the Annual TASH Conference, Nashville, TN.
Owen, V. (2008, March). Wanted a big red button to say, “Stop wasting my time!” Re-imagining the autonomy and competence of students with significant cognitive disabilities. Paper presented at the American Educational Research Association Annual Meeting, New York, NY.
Summy, S., Rao, S., Whitten, E., Owen, V., Mantle, J., Martin, S., Santoli, S., Fraser, P., Bagli, L., Monroe-Bailargeon, A., Jones, M., Dickey, A., Hoppey, D., DeHass, S., Kim, J., & DaBoll-Lavoie, K. (2008). Dilemmas, conundrums, and processes in special education: The new realities in bridging the gap between special and general education. Symposium presented at the Association of Teacher Educators, New Orleans, LA.
Monroe-Bailargeon, A., Jones, M., & Owen, V. (2008, February). Preparing teachers with disabilities. Workshop presented at the Association of Teacher Educators, New Orleans, LA.
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