Cheryl Crocker, PhD
Position: Adjunct Professor
Room: N/A
Phone: 780-497-5175
Email: crockerc@macewan.ca
Biography
Cheryl has a BSc in Elementary and Special Education from the University of South Dakota. She earned a MEd University of Alberta. Her thesis research was focused on the transition from school to work on youth with disabilities. Cheryl was awarded her PhD from the University of Victoria. Her doctoral dissertation was a policy to practice analysis of a provincial program supporting families and children with disabilities.
Cheryl is an instructor at Grant MacEwan College in Edmonton, Alberta. She is currently the program co-chair for the Disability Studies: Leadership and Community program. She also teaches in Social Sciences for the Psychology Department.
Cheryl also lectures at the University of Calgary in the Community Rehabilitation and Disability Studies program and Athabasca University in the Center for Nursing and Health Studies. Focus areas are research, program evaluation and disability policy.
In 2000, Cheryl was seconded to the Provincial Persons with Developmental Disabilities (PDD) office where she assisted in developing a framework for policy development. This framework was then used to create policy for governance and funding. As well, Cheryl was involved with a provincial workforce initiative that has resulted in common job titles and job competencies in PDD funded services.
Prior to joining Grant MacEwan College, Cheryl worked for Alberta Vocational College. Alberta Family and Social Services (Services for the Handicapped), Western Industrial Research and Training Center (now Chrysalis) and Minnesota Diversified Industries (St. Paul, MN).
Cheryl consults to various government and non-government organization primarily in the areas of program evaluation, policy development, board governance and staff development. She has worked with organizations providing services to children with disabilities and their families, adults with developmental disabilities, community and parent groups as well as service clubs.
Cheryl currently sits on the CNIB Board, chairs the client services committee and is a member of the national programs and services committee. Cheryl has recently rejoined the Board of Connect Society. She also chairs the resource and advisory committee for Planned Lifetime Advocacy Networks (PLAN). Cheryl is a past member of the Premier's Council of the Status for Persons with Disabilities and the Canadian Council of Rehabilitation and Work.
Cheryl has presented at a number of provincial, national and international conferences including the International Symposium on Disability and Human Resource Development, the Canadian Association of Rehabilitation Professionals, the Alberta Council on Disability Services, the National Council on Rehabilitation Education, the Alberta Association for Community Living and TASH.
Cheryl has authored a number of courses designed to prepare people to work in providing supports to individuals with disabilities. These courses are delivered both in the classroom and on line using WebCT and Blackboard. She has also been active in research related to on line learning at both Grant MacEwan College and Athabasca University.
Cheryl has acted as the principal or co-investigator on research projects in the areas of workforce, sexual sterilization settlement, self advocacy and person centered planning and community capacity building. Final reports are available from each of these projects.