People

Susan Barrett is the Director of the Center for Social Behavior Support at Old Dominion University. She has a Masters in Counseling Psychology and certification in Special Education, having served as a teacher, administrator and coordinator with Old Dominion University. Mrs. Barrett serves as an Implementer Partner with the United States Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)’s National Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). In her role with the center, she assists with large-scale implementation of PBIS by providing training and technical assistance to states and districts across the country. She also works with Johns Hopkins University, University of Virginia and University of New Hampshire to evaluate the impact of PBIS on students, school staff and school communities. She serves on the Association of Positive Behavior Supports Board of Directors. She co-leads the development of the Interconnected Systems Framework, a mental health and PBIS expansion effort, as well as serving on a National Coaching workgroup to develop systems coaching materials, tools and curriculum. Susan has been published in the areas of large-scale adoption of PBIS, mental health, cost-benefit analysis, advanced tier system development, and adoption of evidence-based practices in schools.

Patti Hershfeldt, Ed.D, is the Co-Director of the Center for Social Behavior Support at Old Dominion University. Dr. Hershfeldt as an Implementer Partner with the United States Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)’s National Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS). In her role with the center, she assists with implementation of PBIS by providing training and technical assistance to states and districts, specific to high school implementation, across the country. She co-leads the national high school workgroup and is the co-coordinator of the APBS High School Network. Both of which address the need for high school implementers to form a community for engaging in shared problem solving and collaboration as well as a forum for researchers to make connections. Dr. Hershfeldt is a Steering Team member for the Family-School-Community Alliance. She is a Faculty Associate for the Johns Hopkins University, School of Education, teaching coursework and supporting doctoral candidates in Special Education. Dr. Hershfeldt’s research interests include implementation in high schools, equity, youth voice, and coaching and has published in these areas.

Kimberly Yanek, Ph.D, is the Co-Director of the Center for Social Behavior Support at Old Dominion University, an Implementer Partner with the United States Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP)’s National Technical Assistance Center on Positive Behavioral Interventions and Supports (PBIS), and the coordinator of the APBS MA PBIS Network. Through her work, she develops curriculum and instructional materials to provide a continuum of support around multi-tiered frameworks, systems change, capacity building and sustainability, coaching, and classroom behavior support systems to state departments, school divisions, and schools. Her research interests include positive behavioral interventions and supports, positive classroom behavioral supports, function-based thinking, and equity. Her teaching career currently focuses on adult learning and it began in the classroom as a special education teacher.