David Norman Ellis, expert in special pedagogy, Alabama, USA, became a part of our team due to the Fulbright award which he received for winter semester 2017/2018. He will teach students and at the same time offers his knowledge and abilities to all colleagues from the faculty, with whom he has become acquainted beforehand and belongs to his area of interest. Especially thanks to long-time cooperation with prof. Kovářová he received Fulbright's scholarship for the second time: first in 2002 in Slovakia and now in the Czech Republic. Their cooperation through the Fulbright program started at a time when the professor Kovařova worked in Košice. Košice and Mobile (the city on the coast of Alabama) are partner cities. In České Budějovice, Dr. Ellis also became a member of the editorial board of Contact magazine, and on October 12 he will attend the conference on Inclusive Disability Education - examples of good practice.
David Ellis is from Alabama in the USA. He grew up in Louisiana, Tennessee, and Alabama. His father was an experimental psychologist who studied persons with intellectual disabilities in the 1950s through 1970s.
He has served children and adults with disabilities for more than 40 years. He was employed as a counselor in a residential program for children with behavioral disorders and as a teacher at a special school for children and adults with developmental disabilities. He has B.S. and M.A. degrees in Special Education from the University of Alabama and received his Ph.D. from Vanderbilt University in research in developmental disabilities.
Dr. Ellis is recently retired from the University of South Alabama as a Professor of Special Education. During his time at the university he taught a wide variety of classes including the nature and needs of children with developmental disabilities and applied behavior analysis. He has received two Fulbright Awards for faculty exchanges. The first in 2002 in Slovak Republic and now in Czech Republic.
His research interests have revolved around behavioral strategies, programs of inclusion, and advocacy. He has provided service on rights protection and behavioral review committees for community agencies serving students with disabilities.
