Paula J. Stanovich

Paula J. Stanovich is a Professor in the Department of Special and Counselor Education at Portland State University where she directs the Inclusive Elementary Educators Program. Paula came to PSU from the University of Toronto where she held a faculty appointment for over eight years.

Paula is on the Walk of the Heroines to honor her advocacy for inclusive education. She has worked for over three decades to see that students with disabilities have the opportunity to be taught alongside their non-disabled peers in general education classrooms.

A passionate advocate, Paula Stanovich’s life has been dedicated to helping individuals with disabilities fulfill their potential.

Paula is one of those rare individuals who always knew what she wanted to do with her life, deciding at the age of ten that she wanted to be a special education teacher. She began that journey by joining the Future Teachers of America organization in high school and asking to be paired with a special education teacher on job shadow day. At Ohio State University, Paula earned a B.S. in Special Education while majoring in intellectual disability. At OSU, she began her advocacy work by taking on two volunteer projects: leading the educational program at Franklin County’s first group home for men with intellectual disability and joining the Committee for Constitutional Care. The CCC worked to bring an end to the warehousing of persons with intellectual disabilities in state institutions.

Paula began teaching in Ann Arbor, Michigan, first at Sullivan School and later at High Point Learning Center. This began a fourteen years of teaching students with multiple disabilities in self-contained special education settings, a time during which Paula continued to actively pursue integration and inclusion for her students. After four years in Ann Arbor, Paula moved to Hawthorne Learning Center in Pontiac, Michigan where the most formative years of her teaching career took place. As she developed professionally, her advocacy efforts increased. She understood more deeply the importance of making schools inclusive communities and the painful costs of exclusion.

Paula’s last four years in the public school system were spent as a teacher consultant at Huron High School in Ann Arbor. There she worked as part of a team of special education professionals to include students with disabilities in general education classrooms. After many years of preaching inclusion, she finally got to practice it. At Huron, however, Paula never forgot her High Point and Hawthorne students and continued to advocate for full inclusion for all students with disabilities.

After eighteen years as a special education professional, Paula decided to pursue doctoral studies. In 1994, she received her doctorate in Instruction and Special Education from the University of Toronto and accepted a faculty position in teacher education there. At the University of Toronto, Paula continued her advocacy work through infusing inclusion into both her teacher preparation and research activities. With Professor Anne Jordan, she co-directed a research project (Supporting Effective Teaching Project) designed to investigate the effective inclusion of students with disabilities in general education classrooms. At the same time, Paula was teaching students in the general education teacher preparation program to become inclusive educators.

In 2004, Paula moved to Portland State University to become the Director of the Inclusive Elementary Educators Program, a full-time two-year graduate program leading to a master’s degree and licensure in both general and special education. Directing the IEEP has allowed Paula to combine her advocacy for disability rights with her passion for preparing effective inclusive educators. PSU has proven the ideal setting in which to pursue her goals.

A chronicle of her achievements, though, does not begin to convey the inspiration that Paula has provided to teachers, teachers in training, and to her pupils throughout all these years. More than a teacher, more than a mentor, Paula is an inspirational leader who has dedicated her life to improving the educational experiences of individuals with disabilities. As one of her PSU students said about her: “You have been an inspiration, a comforter, a mentor, a voice of reason, a resource, and so much more.”