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Project Partners
The Vocational Rehabilitation Technical Assistance Center for Quality Employment (VRTAC-QE) is a collaboration between the following partners.
Our partners are national leaders in research and training with a wide range of collective experience in identifying and sharing innovative employment practices for people with disabilities.
The Vocational Rehabilitation Technical Assistance Center for Quality Employment (VRTAC-QE) is funded through a grant from the U.S. Department of Education, Rehabilitation Services Administration (CFDA H264-K200003)
University of Wisconsin-Madison
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Tim Tansey, Ph.D.
Professor and Principal Investigator
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Malachy Bishop, Ph.D., CRC
Norman L. and Barbara M. Berven Professor of Rehabilitation Psychology and Co-Investigator
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David Rosenthal, Ph.D., CRC
Professor
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Fong Chan, Ph.D., CRC
Professor and Department Chair
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Jina Chun, Ph.D., CRC
Assistant Professor
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Stacie Castillo
Financial Specialist and Project Manager
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Emily A. Brinck , Ph.D.
Researcher and SVRA Liaison
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Jessica Holton, MS, CRC
SVRA Liaison
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Cayte Anderson, Ph.D., LPC, CRC
Researcher and SVRA Liaison
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Natalie Meyer
Project Assistant
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Jeff Meyer
Project Assistant
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Chelsea Brehmer, Ph.D., CRC
Researcher
Outreach to Native Americans
STEM Career Pathways
Business Engagement
Transportation
Health and Disability
Justice Involved
![autism workfoce logo](https://tacqe.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/04/AW-Logo-FINAL-Horizontal-300x81.png)
- David Geslak, BS, ACSM EP-C, CSCS
President & Founder - Amber Pantaleo, LBS1
Director of Development - Jake Smith
Marketing Manager
Autism
Business Engagement and Outreach
![Advancing Disability Inclusion and Workforce Innovation](https://tacqe.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/02/csavr3-300x74.jpg)
- John Connelly
Director, Research and Grants - Theresa Hamrick
Operations Coordinator - Inger Neal
Business Relations Consultant
Business Outreach
![florida atlantic university - counselor education logo](https://tacqe.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/Florida-Atlantic-University-CE_logo-300x40.png)
- Michael Frain, Ph.D., CRC
Professor, Department of Counselor Education
Director, FAU Center on Self-Employment
- Jennifer Sánchez, Ph.D., CRC, CVE
Associate Research Professor, Department of Counselor Education
Research Coordinator, FAU Center on Self-Employment
Self-Employment
Serious Mental Illness (SMI) and Psychiatric Disabilities
Psychiatric Rehabilitation
![S C State University established in 1896 logo](https://tacqe.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/South-Carolina-State-University_Logo-150x150.png)
- Cassandra Sligh Conway, Ph.D., CRC, GCDF, aPHR
Professor of Rehabilitation Counseling Program - Jacques Days, Director, Health Ministry of the Seventh Episcopal District of the AME Church
- Dr. Elaine Eskew, BCC, MSW
- Vernell Wolfe
- Nicolette M. Houston
Outreach to African Americans
Outreach to Faith-Based Communities
Disaster Preparedness
Counselor Bias
![UW-Stout - Stout Vocational Rehabilitation Institute](https://tacqe.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/05/UW-Stout_Logo_Full-Color_SVRI-300x127.png)
- Kyle Walker, MRC, CRC, CPM
Executive Director - Cayte Anderson, Ph.D., LPC, CRC
Associate Professor
Researcher & Grant Director - Beth Gaertner
Director of Education
Eligibility Determination
![university of illinois at urbana champaign logo](https://tacqe.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/UIUC-official-logo-300x79.png)
- David Strauser, Ph.D., CRC
Professor Department of Kinesiology and Community Health in Rehabilitation Psychology - John F. Kosciulek, PhD
Professor
Department of Kinesiology & Community Health - Bryan S. Austin, PhD, LPC, CRC, CVE
Quality Employment Project Manager
Department of Kinesiology & Community Health - Stuart Rumrill, PhD, LPC, CRC
Post-Doctoral Research Associate
Department of Kinesiology & Community Health - James Knauf
SWTCIE Project Manager
Department of Kinesiology & Community Health
Adjudicated Persons
Apprenticeships
Career Development
On-the-Job Training
Job Placement
Foster Care Youth
![University of Kentucky (UK) logo](https://tacqe.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/UK-logo-web-300x300.jpg)
- Phil Rumrill, Ph.D., CRC
Director, Training and Research
Human Development Institute - Christina Espinosa, MRC, CRC
Director, Community Education
Human Development Institute
Customized Training Program
Remote Service Provision
COVID-19
Transportation
![University of Texas at El Paso (UTEP) logo](https://tacqe.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/UTEP-logo.jpg)
- Veronica Estala-Gutierrez, Ph.D., CRC
Director of the Rehabilitation Service Clinical Teaching Laboratory - Dr. Emre Umucu, PhD, MPH
Associate Dean for Research – College of Health Sciences (#368U)
Associate Professor – Public Health Sciences - Beatrice Lee, Ph.D., CRC, NCC, LPC (WI)
Assistant Professor of Rehabilitation Sciences
Director of Neurological Disorders and Stress Management Lab
Outreach to Veterans
Outreach to Latin(x)
Outreach to Asian Americans
![Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)](https://tacqe.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/VCU-RRTC-logo-300x100.jpg)
- Alissa Brooke, M.S., C.R.C., PBSF
Director of Employment Research Training - Kanako Iwanaga, Ph.D., CRC, LPC
Assistant Professor
Department of Rehabilitation Counseling
College of Health Professions - Jennifer Todd McDonough, M.S., C.R.C.
Project Director
Associate Director of Training
Virginia Project SEARCH Statewide Coordinator
VCU-RRTC
Supported Employment
Customized Employment
Subminimum Wage
Job Coaching