Community Engagement and Outreach


A large group of KUCD staff and partners at a film screening with directors Dan and Samuel Habib

Community Engagement and Outreach

Community partnerships are essential to our work at KUCD. As a community-engaged research center, we build and sustain relationships with self-advocates, families, disability support organizations, schools, and other community partners.  

As the University Center for Excellence in Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD) for the state of Kansas, our partners are critical to our mission to ensure we are actively engaging and building partnerships through research, policy, practice, and dissemination. Ongoing collaborations with our community partners allow our team to develop and disseminate evidence-based practices and resources to support quality of life outcomes across the life span. These relationships inform our Center’s research, policy, and practice priorities, ensuring that our work is accessible and meaningful to the daily lives of people with disabilities and their families. 


Community Engagement and Outreach Team

Val Mazzotti, a woman with long gray hair, square-rimmed glasses, and an orange shirt
  • Associate Director of Community Engagement and Outreach, Kansas University Center on Disabilities
  • Distinguished Professor, KU Department of Special Education

Sean Swindler
  • Project Manager, Kansas University Center on Disabilities
  • Director of Community Program Development and Evaluation, Kansas Center for Autism Research and Training