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TATS Staff

UCF Office:

Lee Cross, Ph.D.
Principle Investigator
lcross@mail.ucf.edu
(407) 823-5477

Lee is on the faculty in special education at the University of Central Florida and teaches courses in early childhood special education and curriculum and assessment for school age children with mild/moderate disabilities. She directs numerous grant programs related to teacher and paraprofessional preparation. She is the Project Director of the Central Florida Professional Development Partnership (CSPD). Her special interests include teacher preparation and improving services for young children with disabilities and their families. She enjoys gardening, reading and most of all shopping.

Susan Donovan, Ed. D.
Project Director
sdonovan@mail.ucf.edu
(407) 823-4957

Sue works in Orlando at the University of Central Florida and is the Project Director on the TATS grant with oversight responsibility for the state. Her background is in early intervention (birth to five) and developmental disabilities (birth to 21). She has worked in the field of early intervention and special education for over 30 years as a service provider, program manager and consultant. She was the Part C Coordinator in Maine and provided technical assistance to the U.S. military Early Intervention program overseas. Her work areas of interest are early intervention policy and systems change, family/professional partnerships and inclusion. She has three grown daughters and two grandchildren who live in Maine. She enjoys traveling - especially in Italy.

Clare Bai, M. S.
Coordinator, Computer Applications
wbai@mail.ucf.edu
(407) 823-1589

Clare works in Orlando at the University of Central Florida and is the Coordinator of Computer Applications on the TATS grant. Her background is in Information Systems and she has worked as a software programmer for Insurance Decisions Inc., and as a freelance website designer/developer in Connecticut. Her work areas of interest are website design, and new technologies in website development. She enjoys Internet surfing, reading, watching movies, and traveling.

Wanda Wint
Office Manager
tats@mail.ucf.edu
(407) 823-3058

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Regional Facilitators and Transition Consultant:

Bettianne S. Ford
Transition Consultant (statewide)
bettianne@floridatransitionproject.com
(352) 372-2573

Bettianne lives in Gainesville and travels throughout the State of Florida in her work as Coordinator of Florida's Transition Project. She provides training and technical assistance to local interagency teams working together on transitions of young children, birth to kindergarten. She has worked in the field of early childhood for more than 35 years, with a focus on children with disabilities in the past 14 years. Her work has included 14 years as Director of child care centers, serving as the Part H Liaison for the Florida Developmental Disabilities Council, coordinating a Local Interagency Community Collaboration Project and providing consulting services to other projects. Her early work in childcare provided the basis for community interagency work focusing on the development of transition systems. She has a son and daughter, both married, who have graced her with three darling granddaughters and one charming grandson, all living within 30 miles of Gainesville. She enjoys photography, creating stained glass, painting and traveling.

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Danielle Franco, Ed. D.
Central Florida Regional Partnership (UCF)
tats-ucf@mail.ucf.edu
(407) 579-6128
Springs Regional Partnership (UF)
tats-uf@mail.ucf.edu
(407) 579-6128

Danielle lives in the Orlando area and travels throughout the 14 school districts in the UCF/UF regions in her work as a Regional Facilitator with the TATS grant project. She provides training and technical assistance to local early childhood agencies that support the education of young children with special needs. She has worked in the field of early childhood for more than 15 years, in a variety of roles and responsibilities. Her degrees and experience are in the areas of Communicative Disorders and Educational Leadership. Her recent work with the TATS grant has focused identification of agency needs and the facilitation of interagency action plans along with the provision of professional development on a variety of topics to parents and teachers. Danielle has been blessed with a wonderful husband and beautiful son. She enjoys reading, eating out and shopping in her spare time.

Kim Galant, Ph.D.
FSU/FAMU Regional Partnership
tats-fsu@mail.ucf.edu
(850) 297-2239

Kim's background is in early childhood special education and speech-language pathology. Kim has worked as a teacher and director of inclusive preschool programs, a public school speech therapist in a prekindergarten program, coordinator of a program serving young children with autism spectrum disorders, a college professor, an early interventionist, and a consultant and trainer for programs serving children 0-5 years and their families. Her work interests include the dissemination and implementation of evidence-based practices that provide support, information, and skills to families of young children with disabilities. Kim enjoys spending time kayaking, hiking, and reading.

Sandy Johnson
North Florida Regional Partnership (UNF)
tats-unf@mail.ucf.edu
(904)588-2206

Sandy lives in Jacksonville area and is the TATS Regional Facilitator for the UNF region. Her background revolves around the classroom, having taught prekindergarten typically developing children as well as children with disabilities. Her work interests are centered around prekindergarten children with disabilities, early intervention, inclusion and autism. Sandy enjoys playing competetive tennis, painting, reading, playing bridge, and spending time with her husband, two sons, two granddaughters and infant grandson.

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Paula Kendig
West Florida Regional Partnership (UWF)
tats-uwf@mail.ucf.edu
(850) 291-4776

Paula lives in Pensacola and is the TATS Regional Facilitator for the University of West Florida (UWF) Region. As a parent of three children with disabilities, she has been involved in various aspects of special education for over thirty years. She has worked professionally in the field of early intervention and special education for the past 19 years as a parent advocate and consultant providing technical assistance and training for various early intervention and special education initiatives. Paula's work interests are family/professional collaboration, early intervention and pre-kindergarten inclusion, and transition from early intervention to pre-kindergarten. Paula has a husband, Rod, four children - Adam, Christy, Chelsey and Jacob, and a grandson, Adam Jr. Paula enjoys spending her free time traveling, reading, and knitting.

Kimberley L. Megrath, Ph.D
USF Regional Partnership
tats-usf@mail.ucf.edu
(727) 252-6869
Southwest Florida Regional Partnership (FGCU)
tats-fgcu@mail.ucf.edu
(727) 252-6869

Kimberley Megrath lives in Belleair, Florida and is the TATS Facilitator for the University of South Florida (USF) Region and the Florida Gulf Coast University (FGCU) Region. Kim has thirty years of experience in pediatric physical therapy, special education, and early intervention, working as a practitioner, administrator, teacher, researcher, grant writer, and consultant. Her interests include special education/early intervention policy; interdisciplinary personnel preparation; evaluation and assessment; curriculum and instruction; emerging literacy and reading; inclusion; transition; family involvement; and program evaluation. Kim has two sons, Todd and Kyle who are living, working, attending graduate school, and playing in Boston. Kim enjoys reading, biking, swimming, tennis, sailing, kayaking, gardening, and traveling!

Lori Miranda, M.Ed.
Southeast Regional Partnership (FAU)
tats-fau@mail.ucf.edu
(561) 632-8970

Lori spent many years teaching children with specific learning disabilities for the Palm beach County school district. After resigning to stay home with her children, she owned and operated a child care center for 8 years. Her academic background includes elementary and exceptional student education, reading, educational leadership, and principal certification. Her professional interests are in mentoring and training teachers in best practices and inclusion. Her personal time is spent as a chauffeur for her 3 sons.

Dorit Weintraub
Miami-Dade/Monroe (Broward) Regional Partnership (FIU)
tats-fiu@mail.ucf.edu
(305) 867-9398

Dorit's background is in the classroom, teaching young children, including prekindergarten children with disabilities. Her work interests include curriculum approaches which promote healthy social and emotional development for young children as well as early literacy. She enjoys writing, creative dance/movement, and singing.

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