Kanako Iwanaga, Ph.D., CRC, LPC
Assistant Professor
Virginia Commonwealth University (VCU)
Iwanaga is an assistant professor of Rehabilitation Counseling. She received her Ph.D. in rehabilitation counselor education from the University of Wisconsin-Madison and worked at Northern Illinois University as an assistant professor prior to her arrival at VCU. She is a certified rehabilitation counselor and a licensed professional counselor in Wisconsin. Dr. Iwanaga has five years of professional experience working as a rehabilitation counselor for the Japanese government, two years as a researcher at the National Institute of Vocational Rehabilitation, and three years as a lecturer at the Polytechnic University, Tokyo. She has published about 80 peer-reviewed articles and 7 book chapters in the last 6 years. Her research program has a focus on evidence-based rehabilitation counseling practices, demand-side employment, secondary transition, validation of psychological and vocational assessment instruments for people with disabilities from diverse backgrounds, and validating psychosocial intervention strategies to improve psychosocial and vocational outcomes of people with chronic health conditions and disabilities. Iwanaga serves as the Associate Editor for the Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin, Standards and Exam Committee for Commission on Rehabilitation Counselor Certification, and an Ad Hoc Reviewer for the Journal of Applied Rehabilitation Counseling, Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin and Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation. In addition, she has received five National Council on Rehabilitation Education (NCRE) Bill Downey Student Poster awards, one NCRE Doctoral Student of the Year award (2018), two American Rehabilitation Counseling Association Research Award (2018 and 2019) and Dr. Alo Dutta Memorial Scholarship Award (Best Doctoral Dissertation of the year Award) (2019).
Timothy Tansey, Ph.D.
Professor and Principal Investigator
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Dr. Tansey received his Ph.D. in Rehabilitation Psychology from the University of Wisconsin–Madison. He is a professor in the Rehabilitation Counselor Education program at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. Dr. Tansey has over 20 years of experience as a rehabilitation counselor, educator, or rehabilitation researcher. He has published over 90 peer-reviewed articles in the areas of applying novel technology in vocational rehabilitation and rehabilitation counselor education, evidence-based practices in vocational rehabilitation, self-regulation, and self-determination. Dr. Tansey has extensive experience in adapting technology and utilizing social media for knowledge translation and dissemination activities. Dr. Tansey is the principal investigator on the Vocational Rehabilitation Technical Assistance Center for Quality Employment, a project sponsored by the U.S. Department of Education. He is currently the principal investigator, co-principal investigator, or co-investigator on several other federally-funded research or national technical assistance center grants from the U.S. Department of Education, U.S. Department of Labor, U.S. Department of Health and Human Services (Social Security Administration and the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living and Rehabilitation Research). These current projects seek to ascertain evidence-based practices in the vocational rehabilitation of youth with disabilities, identify employer practices in the recruitment, hiring, retention, and promotion of persons with disabilities, and provide technical assistance to state vocational rehabilitation toward increasing competitive, integrated employment of persons with disabilities living in areas of extreme poverty. Dr. Tansey has developed doctoral-level training focused on online and hybrid pedagogy as well as established numerous online, hybrid, and technology-enhanced courses. He serves as the co-editor of the Rehabilitation Counseling Bulletin and on the editorial boards for numerous other journals.
