About the Presenters

Carol J. Gill, Ph.D. is a clinical and research psychologist specializing in health and disability. She is an Associate Professor in the Department of Disability and Human Development at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) where she teaches and provides leadership in disability studies curriculum development. She also directs the department’s Chicago Center for Disability Research, through which she and colleagues conduct research, training and community service projects in the social sciences, emphasizing a disability studies approach and substantive direction by persons with disabilities at all levels.

Since 1998, Dr. Gill has served as the Executive Officer of the Society for Disability Studies. Her research interests include disability identity development, health concerns and health service experiences of women with disabilities, disability bioethical issues and professional training. Her conceptual and research articles have been widely published in both professional journals and in the popular disability press.

Peter Blanck, Ph.D., J.D., is the Charles M. and Marion Kierscht Professor of Law, and Professor of Psychology, and of Public Health at the University of Iowa. He received his Ph.D. in psychology from Harvard University and his J.D. from Stanford Law School, where he served as President of the Stanford Law Review.

Blanck is the Director of the Law, Health Policy & Disability Center at the Iowa College of Law (see http://disability.law.uiowa.edu. The Center is a leader in law, technology, education and research, focused on improving the quality of life for persons living with disabilities. Based at the University of Iowa College of Law, with a satellite office in Washington, D.C., the Center concentrates on public policy and its impact on persons with disabilities, with an emphasis on employment, technology, self-determination and self-sufficiency.

Blanck has written over 100 articles and books on the ADA, received grants to study disability law and policy, represented clients before the United States Supreme Court in ADA cases, and testified before Congress. His work has received national and international attention. Blanck's recent books in the area include: The Americans with Disabilities Act and the Emerging Workforce (1998); Employment, Disability, and the Americans with Disabilities Act (2000).

Blanck is a former member of the President's Committee on Employment of People with Disabilities, and has been a Senior Fellow of the Annenberg Washington Program in which capacity he explored the implementation of the Americans with Disabilities Act ("ADA"). He has been a Commissioner on the American Bar Association Commission on Mental and Physical Disability Law, chair of the American Psychological Association's Committee on Standards in Research, and President of the American Association on Mental Retardation's Legal Process and Advocacy Division. He has been a Fellow at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School, and a Mary Switzer Scholar.

Prior to teaching at Iowa, Blanck practiced law at the Washington D.C. firm Covington & Burling, and served as a law clerk to the late Honorable Carl McGowan of the United States Court of Appeals for the D.C. Circuit.

Helen A. Schartz, Ph.D., J.D., is the Director of Research at the University of Iowa's Law, Health Policy and Disability Center where she oversees the Center's research projects. She has published a number of articles with Dr. Peter Blanck on research and disability issues and recently co-edited special issues of Behavioral Sciences and the Law. Dr. Schartz has a Ph.D. in Clinical Psychology (1994, University of Iowa) and a J.D. (2002, University of Iowa). Prior to pursing a law degree, Dr. Schartz was a professor in the Psychology Department at Southwest Missouri State University in Springfield, Missouri.

Mr. Searcy has extensive experience in consulting in the fields of training, speech, sales and business start-ups since 1996. He is the founding member of Communication Resource Consultants and has taught at various higher educational institutions since 1997 in various domains from computers to communication to sales to developmental studies. He has recently been listed in: Who’s Who Among America’s Teachers 2002-2003.

Mr. Searcy conducts active research and presents such research in the areas of interpersonal, nonverbal, small group, and organizational communication. He is currently pursuing research in message reception and integration, deceptive communication in nonverbal behavior, and the psychophysiological decoding of deception as it may relate to employment, law, and academic integrity and trial consulting as it relates to Jury decision making. One of Mr. Searcy’s primary goals is the active marriage of knowledge and application known as knowledge transfer – so that others may be empowered.

David Klein is the Director of Technology at the University of Iowa's Law, Health Policy and Disability Center where he oversees the Center's implementation of technology and distance learning. He has a master's degree in English and is finishing his Ph.D. dissertation in Instructional Design and Technology. Prior to coming to the Center, Mr. Klein taught classes at Keene State College and the University of Iowa and was the principal developer for X-Plain patient education software.

An Introduction to Research

About the Presenters