WIBA 2021 Speakers
Day 1 Keynote
Dr. Nasiah Cirincione-Ullezi
Dr. Nasiah Cirincione-Ullezi
Nasiah is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst, with a Doctorate degree in Education from Loyola University of Chicago. She holds a Master’s degree in Special Education from the University of Illinois at Chicago, and a Master’s degree in Educational Leadership from the American College of Education. In addition to her BCBA credential, she is an Illinois licensed special education teacher and an Illinois Early Intervention provider and State evaluator. Professionally, she has served as a special educator, clinician, educational administrator and professor of special education. Her clinical experience spans infancy through adulthood. Currently, she is the CEO & Founder of ULEZI, LLC, Co-Founder of Pivot 2 Inclusion and serves as a court appointed special advocate, for children in the Illinois foster care system. She is also an Advisory Board member for Black Applied Behavior Analysts, Board member for the Illinois Association for Behavior Analysis and an Affiliate Chapters Board Member for the Association for Behavior Analysis International. Dr. Cirincione-Ulezi has published in the journal, Behavior Analysis in Practice. She has trained leaders and teams in organizations to engage in reflective practices that lead to more diverse, equitable and inclusive environments. Her research interests include supervision, mentoring, leadership and reflective practices. She is a champion for diversity, equity and inclusion and is deeply committed to using her skills and experiences, paired with the science of applied behavior analysis, to empower the lives of the people and organizations she supports and serves, in positive, meaningful and sustainable ways.
Day 2 Keynote
Dr. Anna Petursdottir
Dr. Anna Petursdottir
Anna Ingeborg Petursdottir received her PhD from Western Michigan University. She is currently Associate Professor of Psychology and chairperson of the psychology department at Texas Christian University (TCU). She also holds an appointment as a part-time lecturer at Reykjavik University. Anna is a previous editor of The Analysis of Verbal Behavior, and a previous associate editor of both JABA and JEAB. She is the current president Division 25 of the American Psychological Association, and has served in various other professional leadership roles. Anna’s research encompasses both basic and applied interests and focuses primarily on verbal behavior, derived stimulus relations, and the relationship between the two.
Invited Speaker
Dr. Tyra Sellers, JD, Ph.D., BCBA-D, Directors of Ethics
Dr. Tyra Sellers, JD, Ph.D., BCBA-D, Directors of Ethics
Tyra P. Sellers, JD, PhD, BCBA-D is the Director of Ethics at the Behavior Analyst Certification Board. She earned a B.A. in Philosophy and M.A. in Special Education from San Francisco State University, a J.D. from the University of San Francisco and a Ph.D. from Utah State University. Her professional and research interests focus on professional ethics, training and supervision, assessment and treatment of severe problem behavior, variability, and verbal behavior. Dr. Sellers has over 20 years of clinical experience working with individuals with disabilities in a wide variety of settings. She currently serves on the editorial board for three journals.
Invited Speaker
Dr. Elizabeth Hughes Fong, PhD, MA, BCBA, LBS
Dr. Elizabeth Hughes Fong, PhD, MA, BCBA, LBS
Elizabeth Hughes Fong is a Board Certified Behavior Analyst and licensed Behavior Specialist in Pennsylvania. Dr. Hughes Fong has published in the area of behavior analysis, culture and diversity. Dr. Hughes Fong, serves on the Executive Committee for the American Psychological Association’s (APA) Division 35, as the co chair for the Committee on Technology. She is an ad hoc reviewer for Behavior Analysis: Research and Practice, Behavior Analysis in Practice, and the National Multicultural Conference and Summit. In addition, she is the founder of the Multicultural Alliance of Behavior Analysts (now called the Culture and Diversity SIG of ABAI), and a member of the Association for Behavior Analysis International (ABAI) Diversity, Equality and Inclusion board. She was also a “Distinguished Scholar” with the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies.
Workshop Presenters
Stephanie Peterson, Ph.D.
Stephanie Peterson, Ph.D.
Stephanie M. Peterson, Ph.D., is Professor Psychology and Chair of the Department of Psychology at Western Michigan University. She earned her doctorate in Special Education at The University of Iowa in 1994. Previously, she taught at Gonzaga University, Utah State University, The Ohio State University, and Idaho State University. Her primary research interests are helping to decrease chronic severe behavior problems in children with developmental disabilities. Specifically, she studies choice making in the treatment of problem behavior, functional communication training, reinforcement-based interventions for children with problem behavior, concurrent schedules of reinforcement in the treatment of severe problem behavior, functional analysis of problem behavior, and teleconsultation. She also has interests in applications of behavior analysis to educational interventions and teacher/behavior analyst training. She has served on a variety of editorial boards, including the Journal of Applied Behavior Analysis and Behavior Analysis in Practice. She served as a Senior Editor for Education and Treatment of Children for many years and is the current Editor of Behavior Analysis in Practice. She served two 3-year terms on the Board of Directors for the Behavior Analyst Certification Board and has now been appointed by the Governor of Michigan to the Michigan Board of Behavior Analysts, Michigan’s licensing board for behavior analysts. She served as the President of the Board for two years.
Sarah Lechago
Sarah Lechago
Dr. Sarah Lechago is an Associate Professor in the Behavior Analysis master’s program at the University of Houston-Clear Lake (UHCL). She directs the UHCL Verbal Behavior Clinic (VBC) and the VBC telehealth clinic and co-directs the UHCL Connecting the Dots program. Her research interests include verbal behavior, student and caregiver training, motivating operations, and diversity, inclusion, and equity. She has published in numerous journals including JEAB, JABA, and TAVB. She serves as the founder and chair of the Texas Association for Behavior Analysis’ (TxABA) Equity, Diversity, and Inclusivity for Everyone (EDIE) Committee.
Nicole Hollins
Nicole Hollins
Nicole A. Hollins M.A., BCBA, LBA is a doctoral candidate in the Department of Psychology at Western Michigan University and plans to graduate in April 2021 with her doctorate in Behavior Analysis. Her primary area of research and practice are Universal Classroom Management and the Assessment and Treatment of Challenging Behaviors. Over the past four years, she has provided services to individuals with and without developmental disabilities in over 30 various applied settings including schools, autism treatment centers, family homes, and group homes. During this time, Nicole also served as the clinical supervisor and project coordinator for two school-based university training sites. Additionally, she has had the opportunity to present at national and local conferences, while also contributing to empirically supported publications such as academic journals and books. As for community partnerships, Nicole has coordinated several grants that focused on an evaluation of current teacher practices while providing systemic recommendations for improving equity in the classrooms. It has brought her so much joy to empower and coach teachers from all backgrounds on Universal Classroom Management, supporting students through individualizing educational curricula, and increasing access for individuals with challenging behaviors.
Jessica Detrick
Jessica Detrick
Jessica J. Detrick, M.A., BCBA, LBA is a first-year doctoral student in Clinical Psychology at Western Michigan University. She received her B.A. (2016) from the University of Iowa and M.A. (2018) from the University of Missouri. Jessica is a Project Coordinator and Clinical Supervisor of the Psychological Assessment and Treatment Services (PATS) team. PATS is a team of BCBAs working with Integrated Services of Kalamazoo who provide consultative services to adult and children consumers with developmental disabilities, mental illness, and emotional behavior disorders who engage in challenging behaviors. PATS conducts functional behavioral assessments, develops behavior treatment plans, provides parent and staff training on the plan, and monitors treatment progress.
Trina Spencer, Ph.D., BCBA-D
Trina Spencer, Ph.D., BCBA-D
Dr. Spencer is an associate professor at the Rightpath Research & Innovation Center in the Department of Child and Family Studies, University of South Florida. She earned a specialist degree in School Psychology and a PhD in Disability Disciplines from Utah State University with emphases in language and literacy and early childhood special education. She has been a board certified behavior analyst since 2001. Dr. Spencer has worked with culturally, linguistically, and economically diverse children as well as children with disabilities, their teachers, and their families for 20 years. She has published 50 articles in peer-reviewed journals, 5 book chapters, and 22 non-peer reviewed articles, briefs, or encyclopedia entries. Much of her research has resulted in commercialized or open access educational materials, most of which are available at trinastoolbox.com. She has two current Institute for Education Sciences (IES) funded projects related to academic language and literacy interventions for at risk students. Her publications and editorial service span a number of disciplines including applied behavior analysis, speech-language pathology, early childhood education, special education, applied linguistics, and school psychology. Dr. Spencer is president elect for Four Corners Association for Behavior Analysis. She serves as the chair for the American Speech Language Hearing Association’s (ASHA) committee on Clinical Research, Implementation Science, and Evidence-Based Practice (CRISP), leads a national network of early childhood researchers who study Multi-Tiered Systems of Supports (MTSS), serves on the executive committee of the Speech Pathology ABA (SPABA) special interest group, and serves as an editorial board member for Language-Speech-Hearing Services in Schools (LSHSS). Dr. Spencer led the ABAI Practice Board workgroup to develop the resource document entitled, Interprofessional Collaborative Practice Between Speech Language Pathologists and Behavior Analysts.
Alice Shillingsburg
Alice Shillingsburg
Landria Seals Green
Landria Seals Green
Landria Seals Green has garnered a reputation as an engaging speaker, clinical program designer, and a leader with systematic and practical perspective in organization behavior management. Her background as a Speech-Language Pathologist and Board Certified Behavior Analyst is supported by work within the clinical field for over 20 years. Landria founded Momentum Autism Therapy and later merged her organization with Blue Sprig Pediatrics. She has extensive practice in social communications, curriculum and program development for learners with autism. Landria is the co-founder of ABA Taskforce, an organization that supports Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion across the industry of applied behavior analysis as well as health and social justice issues seen in the community at large. She has been a ground-breaking speaker for over ten years in clinical training and diversity-equity-inclusion within the clinical field.
Landria is a graduate of the University of Illiniois at Urbana-Champaign and Northwestern University. She completed coursework in Applied Behavior Analysis at FIT and University of North Texas. She is able to embrace her field and engage with people with such clarity and authenticity because of the foundational support of her parents, her sister, her amazing husband Alfred and the honestly of her children Adam and Alison.
