Dr. Jean Ann Summers
Research Associate Professor
University of Kansas
1200 Sunnyside Ave., 3144 Haworth Hall
Lawrence, KS 66045-7601
Office Phone: (785) 864-7602
Fax: (785) 864-7605
Email: jsummers@ku.edu
Bio:
Jean Ann is the Director of Research for the Family Research Unit of the Beach Center, and is a Research Professor at the Life Span Institute at the University. She has conducted research, published results, and presented both nationally and internationally on a number of topics related to family support for families of children with disabilities, family-professional partnerships, family quality of life, and early childhood education. Jean Ann received her Ph.D. from the University of Kansas in 1987. She was Director of the Kansas University Affiliated Program (now called University Centers for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities) from 1982 to 1989. She was a Research Associate Professor at the Juniper Gardens Children’s Project in Kansas City, Kansas, where she participated in a national longitudinal study of Early Head Start programs and in an evaluation of district-wide school reform.
Jean Ann’s current projects include: (1) Director of Inclusive Network of Kansas (INKS), which provides technical assistance to schools around Kansas to develop inclusive and meaningful instructional programs for students with disabilities, using a system of Master Teachers (Field Based Consultants) to provide peer coaching to school teams; (2) Principal Investigator of the Kansas Deaf-Blind Project, which also provides peer coaching and other training to professionals to serve students who are deaf and blind in Kansas, but in addition coordinates the annual census and identification of children who have dual sensory impairments, and provides family support services to families of these children; (3) Principal Investigator of a grant from the federal Institute for Educational Science, to develop a curriculum for preschool special educators and families to encourage the development of foundations for self-determination in young children with disabilities; (4) Evaluation Coordinator of a grant from the National Institutes of Disability and Rehabilitation Research to develop training for college students with disabilities to enable them to negotiate reasonable accommodations for their coursework; and (5) Coordinator, under Ann Turnbull, of two Doctoral Leadership grants, supporting approximately ten doctoral students in Special Education, to complete their doctoral studies and gain research experience at the Beach Center.
Education: Ph.D., University of Kansas, 1987 B.S., University of Kansas, 1982
Interests:
Jean Ann lives with her son and three cats, and commutes to Lawrence from Kansas City, Missouri. She loves to knit, garden, cook, and read, especially books about history, and especially loves spending time with her two year old grand-niece, who also lives in Kansas City.