Allison Lombardi, PhD
Dr. Lombardi teaches undergraduate and graduate courses in the Special Education Program. She’s also the director of the graduate certificate program in Postsecondary Disability Services.
Dr. Lombardi studies the transition from adolescence to adulthood, with a particular focus on College and Career Readiness (CCR) and higher education experiences of underrepresented groups, including students with disabilities. She focuses on survey design methods and has experience in the development, field-testing, and initial validation of several measures intended for secondary and postsecondary students and college faculty. More recently, she’s focused on leveraging Information Technology (IT) literacy as a means to teach CCR and transition skills to secondary students with disabilities. Currently, she’s the project coordinator of an intervention study of the EnvisionIT curriculum. She’s also exploring the utility of Positive Behavior Interventions and Supports (PBIS) as an implementation vehicle for CCR in high schools, and expanding the discourse on diversity in higher education to include disabilities.
Dr. Lombardi currently serves on the editorial boards of the Journal of Diversity in Higher Education, Career Development and Transition for Exceptional Individuals, and the Journal on Postsecondary Education and Disability. Before joining the faculty at the University of Connecticut, Dr. Lombardi was a Postdoctoral Research Associate at the University of Oregon’s College of Education.
Email: allison.lombardi@uconn.edu
Tracy Sinclair, PhD
Dr. Tracy Sinclair is an Assistant Clinical Professor in the Special Education Program. She teaches courses in both the Integrated Bachelors/Masters (IB/M) and the Teacher Certification Program for College Graduates (TCPCG). Dr. Sinclair earned her PhD in Special Education in May 2020 from the University of Oklahoma concentrating on Transition and Applied Behavior Analysis. Currently, she teaches courses in assessment; behavior intervention strategies; exceptionality and inclusion; student teaching; and instructional practices. Dr. Sinclair is involved with research projects to develop transition assessments in partnership with the University of Oklahoma Zarrow Center for Learning Enrichment. Her other research interests involve infusing cultural humility into educational practices, evidence-based practices to support student learning and behavior, including self-management strategies to promote skills of self-determination. Prior to coming to higher education, Dr. Sinclair was a classroom teacher in both the elementary general and high school special education environments for over 10 years, and has been named Teacher of the Year at the school and county level.
Sherlye Jackson, M.ED.
Sherlye is a Doctoral student in the Special Education Program at the University of Connecticut. In 2020, Sherlye was awarded a UConn Fellowship in the Connecticut Leadership Education in Neurodevelopment and Related Disabilities (CT LEND) program. She completed UConn’s Special Education Transition to Adulthood Certificate. Sherlye was granted the DCDT Certification in Transition Education in 2023. She obtained her Advanced Educational Leadership Superintendence Level and A Birth to Three M.ED. Sherlye has dual undergraduate degrees in elementary and special education from Simmons University. Sherlye has served as a Principal, and a Director of Special Education. As Director she was responsible for the development of her district’s continuum of services for the Secondary Self-Contained ED Program and the 18-22 Transitional Program. She presented her work on the development and implementation of an 18-22 Transition Program at the 2023 Council for Exceptional Children’s Division of Career and Transition Conference. Her research focuses on post-secondary and transition education for adjudicated youth.