Dr. Robin McWilliam, a leading researcher in early intervention/early childhood special education, and Dr. Mary Tanner, Dean of the College of Health, Education and Professional Studies, will speak at the 2010 Child Engagement Conference, a ground-breaking event for the field of early child development to be held Friday-Saturday, March 5-6, at the UTC University Center. To register for the conference, please visit http://www.childengagementconference.com/
Early childhood professionals and families are invited to participate in lively discussions and learn from top scholars in the fields of early child development and community engagement.
Speakers presenting at the Child Engagement Conference will impart tools for promoting child engagement in the home, in early childhood settings, and in the community. Both families and professionals will benefit from the strategies and skills presented in general lectures and breakout sessions.
Participants may include childcare providers, childcare center directors, family counselors, municipal government leaders, college students, graduate students, parents and caregivers, therapists, school counselors, school administrators, early intervention professionals and early childhood educators.
This conference will offer 20 different breakout sessions on a variety of topics, as well as Dr. Robin McWilliam’s keynote speech and Dr. Mary Tanner’s closing general session speech.
McWilliam is one of the nation’s leading researchers in early intervention/early childhood special education (EI/ECSE). He is the director of Siskin Center for Child and Family Research and serves as the Siskin Endowed Chair of Research in Early Childhood Education, Intervention and Development. He holds a faculty appointment in the UTC Education: Graduate Studies Division.
Before coming to Chattanooga, he was the director of the Center for Child Development at Vanderbilt Children’s Hospital in Nashville. In his previous position, he was Senior Scientist and Professor at the Frank Porter Graham Child Development Institute at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. He was the founder and director of the National Individualizing Preschool Inclusion Project, working in 15 states.
He co-authored the book Engagement of Every Child in the Preschool Classroom.
McWilliam is the Past President of the CEC Division for Research and is on the steering committee for CEC’s efforts to define and identify evidence-based practices in special education. McWilliam’s workshops are highly interactive and applied, and he is in constant demand as a speaker and consultant, throughout the U.S. and in Europe.
Tanner received her Ph.D. in Family and Child Development from the University of Georgia. She joined the faculty of the Human Ecology Department at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga in 1973 and served as the head of the department. In 1995 she was appointed Dean of the College of Health, Education and Professional Studies. She holds a UC Foundation Professorship and was named a Guerry Professor of Education.
As Dean, she has led the College through a number of major academic improvements. It has established its first professional development school and become the first university approved to provide 21st Century Classroom training for K-12 teachers. She developed first Master’s degree in Athletic Training in Tennessee and the first post-master’s degree at UTC, the Education Specialist degree in Educational Technology. Most recently she led the College in gaining approval to offer an Ed.D. in Learning and Leadership.
Tanner represented the University as a member of the planning committee that designed a new school system in Hamilton County, Tennessee. In this effort she facilitated the collaborative work between schools, the University, and the community that created two new downtown elementary university partnership schools.
