The faculty steering committee has constituted itself with the charge of leading the UC system in establishing a California-wide Center for Research in
Special Education, Disabilities, and Developmental Risk (SPEDDR) as a Multi-Campus Research Unit that will unify and solidify UC resources. Primary aims of the Center are to enhance the University of California’s ability to attract from a national pool of talented students, win large extramural grants, improve national visibility of UC efforts, and enhance the doctoral preparation of the next generation of research, teacher education, and other related public service doctorates. Already, UCSB, UCR, UCSD, and UCLA and the UC Office of the President have each made ongoing financial commitments to the Center, and UCD and UCB have indicated their support.

Dr. Raskind is currently Director of Research and Special Projects at the Charles and Helen Schwab Foundation in San Mateo, California. Immediately prior to his position at the Foundation, he served as Director of Research at the Frostig Center in Pasadena, California. He is Consulting Editor to the Journal of Learning Disabilities, Learning Disability Quarterly, Annals of Dyslexia and the Journal of Special Education Technology; and former Associate Editor of Intervention in School and Clinic. Dr. Raskind is a Fellow and Vice President of the International Academy for Research in Learning Disabilities, a member of the Research Committee of the Council for Learning Disabilities, and a former member of the Professional Advisory Board of the National Center for Learning Disabilities.

Dr. Raskind has served on the faculty of Claremont Graduate University and California State University, Northridge. He is also former head of the Learning Disabilities Program and the Computer Access Lab at California State University, Northridge.

His research interests are in the areas of technology as well as of learning disabilities across the lifespan.

Dr. Raskind is a frequent presenter at international learning disability conferences and is the author of numerous professional publications on learning disabilities.

Dr. Raskind has a Ph.D. in Education, with a focus on Learning Disabilities, from Claremont Graduate University.

For previous "Spotlight On..." series people and places of interest, please see our ARCHIVES page. Last Spotlight On...: Dianna Townsend, Ed.D.