Who We Are & What We Do
What CURRENTS Customers Say
Meet the Staff
Strategic Plan
2003 - 2008
CURRENTS (Center for the Utilization of Rehabilitation Resources for Education, Networking, Training and Service)
Jeanne Miller, M.A. - Director
Jeanne Miller is the Director at the University of Arkansas CURRENTS,
managing the Rehabilitation Continuing Education Program and a number of
other grants and contracts. She is one of the University Coordinators of the
Institute on Rehabilitation Issues and provides leadership training and
consultation at the state, regional and national levels.
Jeanne earned her Master's degree in Rehabilitation Counseling from
Gallaudet University where she was immersed in Deaf culture and American
Sign Language. She served as both a counselor and administrator of
Independent Living programs in deafness during her tenure with Arkansas
Rehabilitation Services.
During her career at the University of Arkansas, Jeanne has
developed a Leadership Institute that focuses on building communities of
practice in support of people with disabilities. She has worked closely with
tribal VR programs, led national projects in the area of hearing impairment
and established the Regional Independent Living Training Council to bring
state agencies, CILs and SILCs together to identify common issues. She has
fostered the development of a grass roots self advocacy organization,
Arkansas People First. Her career contribution involves guidance and support
for the potential of people and organizations to achieve their greatest
results. jmiller@uacurrents.org
tel: 501.623.7700
Carri George, B.A - Organizational Consultant
Carri George is an organizational consultant with the University of Arkansas
CURRENTS, providing training and technical assistance in the areas of
independent living, transition and advocacy. She has worked in the field of
independent living for more than 20 years as an advocate, executive
director, writer, trainer and facilitator. A native Texan, Carri is a
graduate of the College of William and Mary in Virginia and currently
resides in Hot Springs, Arkansas. She is the mother of two college-age young
people who are in the process of making the transition to adult roles.
cgeorge@uacurrents.org tel:
501.623.7700
Peggy Hale, M.S., CRC - Organizational Consultant
Peggy comes to the Region 6 RCEP with more than 10 years experience in
the field of rehabilitation. Peggy’s experience includes 7 years as a
Counselor in the state of Mississippi. She has experience working with
transitioning high school students to post secondary training programs and
to employment. She served on the Placement Committee for District 6,
assisting other Counselors with developing placement skills. For the last
two years, Peggy has worked as a Counselor in the state of Louisiana where
she managed a general caseload. She received her bachelor’s degree from the
University of Maryland in Business Management in 1988 and a master’s degree
in Rehabilitation Counseling from Mississippi State University in 1996. She
completed a 9 hour Community Placement Training Program at Auburn University
in July 2002. Peggy is a nationally Certified Rehabilitation Counselor.
phale@uacurrents.org
Terry Brigance, M.S. - Organizational Consultant
Consultant -
─ State of Indiana and the Indiana Council on Independent Living [ICOIL]
to facilitate the transition of the ICOIL to a fully functioning
independent organization, August 1, 2008 – July 31, 2009
─ ILRU SILC-NET to provide technical assistance and consultation regarding
IL issues and facilitate a national SILC training conference.
─ IL-NET ILRU/NCIL National Training and Technical Assistance Project to
assist with Independent Living issues in Indiana beginning June 2006.
─ University of Kansas Research and Training Center on Independent Living
and the University of New Mexico research project, Assess the Impact of
Hurricane Katrina on People with Disabilities: Albuquerque Shelter or
Relocation Experiences, to interview evacuees of Hurricane Katrina who
are people with disabilities and key personnel involved with the
Albuquerque, New Mexico shelter on their experiences and recommendations
from May 2006 through June 2006.
─ Governor’s Executive Task Force on Disability Employment to increase the
number of people with disabilities employed in state government from May
2005 through June 2006.
- Director of New Mexico Division of Vocational Rehabilitation (DVR) from 1991 to 2004.
- Employed with the New Mexico DVR from 1975 to 2004and in the field of Vocational Rehabilitation since 1970.
- President of the Council of State Administrators of Vocational Rehabilitation July 1, 2002 to June 30, 2003.
- Masters degree in vocational rehabilitation from the University of Wisconsin-Stout
- Involved in numerous administrative, policy, and programmatic aspects of vocational rehabilitation, including independent living.
- Actively involved in state, regional, and national rehabilitation legislation and public policy issues.
tbrigance@uacurrents.org tel: 505.797.8612
Julie Ballinger, M.A. - Organizational Consultant
Julie Ballinger has worked in the disability movement for over 20 years. Six of those years, she served as a Center for Independent Living (CIL) Director. Julie currently works in the Independent Living (IL) Program at the University of Arkansas CURRENTS and telecommutes from Albuquerque, New Mexico. Through relationship building with CILs and related organizations, she provides training and facilitation in the areas of IL, non-profit development, leadership and service system collaboration around youth transitioning. Through her private consulting business of StarReach Enterprises, Julie has provided hundreds of hours of training on all Titles of the Americans with Disabilities Act and the nondiscrimination requirements of the Workforce Investment Act, and continues to so with CILs, businesses, nonprofits, and state/local governments.
jballinger@uacurrents.org, tel: 505.797.8612
Dr. Skip Cochran, Ph.D. - Organizational Consultant
Dr. Skip works half-time as a Coordinator of Neuropsychological Services
with the Hot Springs Rehabilitation Center and half-time as an
Organizational Consultant with the RCEP. Skip has a Ph.D. in Psychology and
is licensed as a Psychologist in the State of Arkansas. He has completed board certification for the Prescribing Psychologist Register. He
has 20 years of experience in the field of rehabilitation as a training
coordinator and in direct service provision and 10 years of experience in
the field of Mental Health in providing clinical services and as an
administrator.
scochran@uacurrents.org tel:
501.623.7700
Paula Pottenger, M.Ed. - Organizational Consultant
Paula joins the RCEP staff with 30 years experience in counseling and
disability. Her experience includes the development of service delivery
programs for persons who are deaf-blind as well as deafness and mental
health. Paula has a strong background in systems and strategic change for
organizations. She is a graduate of the University of Oklahoma Academy for
Executive Leadership. Paula is an experienced trainer on ADA issues and
Assistive Listening Technology. She is certified by the Center for
Leadership Studies as a trainer in Situational Leadership. Her background in
counseling includes work in Missouri, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania and Arkansas.
Ms. Pottenger holds a master's degree in Rehabilitation Counseling with an
emphasis in Deafness and Hearing Impairment from the University of Arkansas.
ppottenger@uacurrents.org tel:
501.623.7700
Doug Wilson - Organizational Consultant
Doug Wilson has served as a management consultant and leadership instructor over the past four decades. He brings experience in managing line organizations and capabilities in data gathering and solution development in order to design solutions to his clients. Doug uses data gathering and a rational based decision making process and extensive organizational involvement in developing solutions and implementing change interventions to achieve defined results. He has worked with Fortune 500 companies world wide as well as with numerous governmental agencies throughout the southeastern United States. Interventions have included strategy formulation and implementation, organization structure design, process re-design, complexity reduction, performance management and leadership mentoring and development. Recently he has assisted a number of agencies in making meaningful and rational cost reduction decisions. Doug also provides services in facilitating leadership groups in decision making, problem solving, risk assessment and project planning.
Doug was formerly the Chief Knowledge Officer, Practice Manager and Director of North American Consultant Development for Kepner-Tregoe, a problem solving and decision making consulting and training firm. In his role, he was responsible for hiring and development of Kepner-Tregoe consultants as well as managing a group of 20 North American consultants.
Prior to Kepner-Tregoe, Doug was the Director of Training and Organizational Development for the State of Georgia. In this position he designed and implemented the Certified Public Manager program, an innovative and systematic approach to the development of management. He was also responsible for employee-management relations in the State of Georgia. He is in demand nationally as a leadership development instructor.
He is married with three children and three grandchildren. He and his wife live in College Park, Georgia.
Kevin Red, M.S. - IT Specialist
Kevin Red has more than five years of experience developing custom business
applications. His experience as a systems analyst/programmer in the plastics
manufacturing and nonprofit industries has given him a broad range of skills
to meet the information systems needs of many businesses. His leadership in
information management has unified companies and streamlined processes
providing efficiencies and cost savings that provides invaluable competitive
advantage.
Kevin received his MS from Florida Institute of Technology and his BS from
Henderson State University. He also volunteers as a sound engineer for
praise and worship service at his church where he and his wife have been
members for ten years. They have two wonderful boys.
kred@uacurrents.org tel:
501.623.7700
Nina Mitchell - Assistant to the Director /Office Manager
Nina joined the team in April of 06 and her main function is Assistant to
the Director /Office Manager. Nina has a diverse background stemming from 25
yrs in the railroad industry and 5 yrs. with a local non-profit
organization. Nina brought strong organizational and support skills along
with versatility to the organization.
nmitchell@uacurrents.org tel: 501.623.7700
Judy Garrett, BS - Event Coordinator
Judy coordinates logistics for state, regional and national events. She is
responsible for contract negotiations with hotels, meetings sites, vendors
and support accommodations. Other duties include materials design and
development, travel arrangements and expenditure reimbursement. Judy is
co-project coordinator for CLICK (Community Leadership Institute for Change
Knowledge). Other major projects include the 2008 National State
Coordinators for the Deaf Conference, BridgeWorks Learning Series,
coordination of events for the IRI (Institute on Rehabilitation Issues),
Transition Learning Collaborative, ReVRB (Regional VR Business Partners) and
more. Judy has worked in the field of rehabilitation since 1994. She earned
a Bachelor of Science degree from the University of Arkansas at Monticello.
jgarrett@uacurrents.org tel:
501.623.7700
Mary Knight, MBA - Event Coordinator
Mary Knight is an Event Coordinator for U A, CURRENTS. She supports Event Planning, contract negotiations with hotels, meetings sites, vendors, and service providers. She also supports travel coordination and expense reimbursements.
Mary has a strong background in Project Management and Transition Change Management, primarily in industrial business environments. She has over 20 years experience in the Semiconductor and Aerospace Industries, including Production Management, Industrial Engineering, Contract Management, and Personnel Management. She earned her Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration & Production Management, from Utah State University, Logan, Utah. She completed her Masters degree in Business Administration from Golden Gate University, San Francisco, California.
Inspired by the objectives of improving efficiency and productivity in business operations, Mary’s interests lie in successfully transitioning organizations through positive change. Now, instead of managing industrial operations, she’s pulling from her experiences to effectively plan and coordinate events for U A CURRENTS. She’s enjoying her interesting work in this field.
Email or call Mary: mknight@uacurrents.org tel: 501.623.7700
Winit Red - DP Network Tech II
Winit designs and develops CURRENTS website and websites for other
organizations also. She has been designing websites for over 8 years in
addition to managing networks, designing surveys and providing support for
Microsoft Office applications. She has an Associate Degree in Computer
Science and a Technical Certification and is a Microsoft Certified
Professional. She has two sons, loves flower gardening, bakes the world’s
best chocolate pies and makes excellent egg rolls.
wred@uacurrents.org tel:
501.623.7700
Peaches - Office Manager Specialist
An important
member of the CURRENTS team, Peaches provides stress-reduction therapy upon
request to all staff members and guests. She is a de facto participant on
all conference calls and is responsible for keeping the office free of
pests. Her skills include purring, napping, snacking, napping, grooming,
napping. Did we mention napping?
Email or call Peaches: peaches@uacurrents.org tel: 501.623.7700
Call us with your training needs 501.623.7700
