Staff Spotlight Bethany Hughes

She got her wish! A staff spotlight on Bethany Hughes

Bethany Hughes always knew to some degree where her life was headed.

“People always say, Hey, I always wanted to be a firefighter,” Hughes said. “I didn’t ever know what I wanted to do, I just always wanted to be working with children in some realm.”

She got her wish. Hughes now works as a Training Coach for Child Care Aware with HDI, providing assistance and guidance to the credentials trainers who then provide training to childcare centers statewide.

“Any job I’ve ever had never falls under one category,” Hughes said. “It’s more like a paraprofessional, helping other adults.”

Hughes holds a bachelor’s degree from Murray State and a master’s from WKU, both in interdisciplinary early childhood education. Prior to HDI, that was the field she worked in before shifting to her current position when she joined the team.

“I really like the early years of development,” she said. “I truly believe in emphasizing quality learning and services early on. So much brain development happens before the age of 5. If we can be more proactive with our programs and services when children are younger, there is a greater benefit to the child and less cost associated with services as opposed to waiting until school age.”

At a certain point, though, Hughes felt called to put her skills to a different application.

“Over the years, I really enjoyed working with children and families,” she said. “But I just got to the point where I was just like, ‘You know what? I feel like I need to be helping other professionals who are out in the field to make sure that what they’re doing is good quality and good service that they’re then giving to the children.’”

Now, she ensures that children receive that level of service throughout the state.

“I really enjoy the flexibility. I like being able to reach people in ways that works for them,” she said. “I enjoy being able to kind of touch base with the trainers to say, ‘Hey, I’m here when you need me, but I’m not here to police you, it’s just I’m really here to support you. So how can I best support you?’”

Outside work, Hughes considers herself a bit of a homebody. She loves to do puzzles and read in her free time, and though she considers more of a mystery reader, she said her favorite book was Dragoncharm by Graham Edwards. She’s also a huge fan of Iris Johansen.

Hughes was raised Christian, and though she’s less of a regular churchgoer these days, she still considers herself spiritual and carries some of what she heard in church growing up.

“One of the biggest things I still always took out of church is kindness,” she said. “Treating other people with kindness and grace and understanding, because whether you agree with somebody else or get along with them, sometimes you just have to be kind to people, even if they’re not kind back to you.”

Maurice Dawson staff photo

2023 Jacki Shouse Service Award Dedicated to the Memory of Maurice Dawson, Jr

Jacki Shouse began working at the University of Kentucky Human Development Institute in March of 1990. She accepted her first position with the Human Development Institute in February of 1998, where she spent the next 19 years until her retirement. Although we miss her greatly, giving the annual Shouse Service Award gives us an opportunity to reflect on what she meant to HDI.

This award is given to an HDI staff member who demonstrates excellent job performance through their contributions to increase efficiency, provision of high-quality customer service, increased cost savings, or enhanced daily operations. The candidate must be responsive, respectful, and work collaboratively with others.

This year’s award is dedicated to the memory of Maurice Dawson, Jr., Computer Support Specialist. Nominations were received from multiple staff members who shared special memories of Maurice and his impact on HDI.

“Maurice took time to get to know each colleague in such a unique and personal way. He brightened everyone’s day with his dry sense of humor, incredible wit, and silly memes at what always seemed to be sent at the perfect time.”

“He juggled so many tasks at Coldstream and made it look effortless”.

“Maurice always made folks feel like they were his top priority, even though there were hundreds of us.”

We are grateful for another opportunity to remember our colleague and friend.

staff spotlight Chelsea Bocard

She wears many hats! A staff spotlight on Chelsea Bocard

Chelsea Bocard wears enough hats, she could open her own hatter.

Bocard’s technical job title is Disability Program Assistant, but it doesn’t get across exactly how much she assists with. She is involved in numerous projects at HDI, including the Kentucky Post School Outcomes Center (KYPSO), the Supported Employment Training Project (SETP), HDI’s Universal Design Committee, and the State Guardianship Training Program. She also renders transcription services for staff at the Kentucky Department of Education during their school district monitoring visits.

“Sometimes, it can be a little challenging keeping it all straight,” Bocard said. “But I love a good challenge.”

Before HDI, Bocard worked with Bluegrass Community and Technical College. She worked in multiple positions there for more than seven years. She’d never worked in any positions specifically related to disability before apart from a brief temporary position with HDI in the past, but had always wanted to work for UK. So when she saw a posting from HDI, she jumped at the chance.

“It sounded right up my alley,” she said. “I’ve always been interested in helping other people, but I consider myself more of an introvert, more of a behind the scenes type person.”

And at HDI, she’s had ample opportunity to do that in the three years she’s been a part of the team – and it’s one of the things she loves most about working here.

“There’s lots of opportunities for learning new things and new skills,” Bocard said. “I’ve been in jobs before where you don’t really have a chance to kind of branch out and learn things you want to learn about, but I feel like they’re always kind of open to different areas I want to get into.”

This year, she had the chance to learn about web and document accessibility, and in the past, she’s worked on plain language initiatives and universal design.

That love of discovery and learning extends to her life outside work too. She likes to cook and hike, and since Bocard and her husband moved to California after she started at HDI, she’s enjoyed the chance to discover her new home piece by piece. In particular, she remembers exploring tide pools on the beach and the things she found there.

“If you get there at just the right time of day, you can see all kinds of little creatures,” she said. “It’s all alive.”

But she appreciates that she still gets the chance to work with HDI even after moving so far away.

“I feel like a very valued employee at HDI,” she said.

group photo of summer leadership campers at UK

Applications being accepted for the 2024 Summer Leadership Experience

The University of Kentucky Human Development Institute in partnership with the Kentucky Office of Vocational Rehabilitation present the Summer Leadership Experience (SLE) in July 2024. All Kentucky high school upperclassmen (entering juniors and seniors) with disabilities are welcome to apply. Camp will take place on the University of Kentucky campus and includes a 4-night stay in a campus residence hall, all meals & snacks, interactive sessions about education and career planning, financial assistance, and resources to develop skills needed to take steps after high school with confidence and success.  The camp application is available online here. The deadline to register is April 30, 2024.

For more information, call 859-257-1714 or email Teresa Belluscio at Teresa.Belluscio@uky.edu.

Glen Jennings, HDI Communications Assistant shares more about the SLE in the following article.

What comes next after you graduate high school?

When students toss their caps in the air, a whole new world opens up and they’re faced with a number of new choices that could have a profound effect on their future. Choices like that are hard to make. How do you further your education? Do you go straight into the workforce? It’s difficult for everyone, with added stresses for students with disabilities.

But the UK Human Development Institute’s Summer Leadership Experience Camp exists to help make those decisions a little less scary and make it easier to adjust to that next step in the educational process which could lead to a career. The camp invites speakers who can help young adults find the right choice for the next stage in their lives and how to take advantage of accessibility resources available – and how to push beyond challenges like getting academic accommodations and dealing with social stigma.  

July 2023 was the seventh time the camp has been held, and according to HDI Disability Program Administrator Teresa Belluscio, who leads the team that makes the camp happen, it went wonderfully this year.

“I thought we had a really good group of campers. We had a total of twelve,” Belluscio said. “We had some really good speakers. Speakers were really compelling and engaging.”

Speakers ranged from perennial favorite Cody Clark, an autistic magician who did a special show one day, followed by a talk on resilience the next, a panel college disability service offices to talk about how to access vital accommodations, support and resources, to Travis Freeman, a Kentucky pastor who, in high school, became the first blind football player in America and was the inspiration for the film 23 Blast.

“We packed this camp with so much,” Belluscio said. “There’s more we could do, but we don’t want to make it so busy to where campers are just sitting and sitting in session after session.”

To that end, this year’s camp departed from previous years – fewer speakers, but more fun activities. Students visited the UK Esports Lounge, held dance parties, relaxed at bookstores, and even more. Belluscio thinks this gave the camp a better balance of useful information and fun and made it more effective.

“We made it a little less busy. We built in a little more time in between sessions,” she said. “Even though we were busy, we didn’t feel as rushed.”

Isaiah Jones, one of the campers who attended this year, said that he enjoyed his experience and got a lot out of it.

“It was great,” he said. “The speakers are really helpful because they get to tell you what career you get to choose, how you can get help from your disability center, and what majors to expect you can take.”

He will be attending UK as a freshman soon and felt like he especially benefitted from learning to navigate the campus. But as useful was a taste of the college experience – living in a dorm and with a roommate.

For some, the camp was a powerful experience, giving them the opportunity to see a potentially great future for themselves.

“One of the campers told me after engaging in Cody Clark’s session on reliable resilience, ‘It was like I was looking at myself from the outside,’” Belluscio said. “They connected so much.”

To learn more about the Summer Leadership Experience, contact Teresa.Belluscio@uky.edu.

HDI Podcast Logo

Johnny Collett joins a special episode of the State of HDI Podcast

The University of Kentucky Human Development Institute (HDI) is pleased to announce a special episode of the State of HDI podcast series. Listeners have the opportunity to join Johnny Collett, Deputy Director at HDI, for Advancing Ideas for Improvement or Innovation in a System Where You are Not the Boss. Learn about five principles that apply in any setting that can be used regardless of where you are organizationally situated, that could increase your ability to lead.

Listen to this episode and download a summary document of the State of HDI podcast here.

Before joining HDI, Collett served as Assistant United States Education Secretary for the Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services. Prior to that, Collett served as program director for special education outcomes at the Council of Chief State School Officers. He has also served in senior leadership roles at the Kentucky Department of Education, and as a high school special education teacher.

From his role as a classroom teacher, to state special education director, to the United States’ highest-ranking official for special education and rehabilitative services, Collett has demonstrated an unwavering commitment to raising expectations and improving outcomes for people with disabilities. Added to that is his career-long commitment to meaningful and effective collaboration with diverse stakeholders – whether students, parents, educators, business leaders, disability advocates, governors, state legislators, or members of Congress.

Collett’s extensive portfolio of leadership experience, including implementation of state and Federal laws and policies and numerous systems change efforts, provide him with a unique perspective on matters related to improving educational, employment, and other life outcomes of people with disabilities.

Follow Johnny on Twitter @JohnnyWCollett or contact him at Johnny.Collett@uky.edu.