Dear IOD community and START network,
As you know, tomorrow will be my last day in the role of director for NCSS. As the CSS founding director, the IOD gave me the remarkable opportunity to implement a center around the START model. The IOD has supported us along the way and there is no way that any of this could not have been accomplished without the IOD. The START model will be 35 years old in 2023, an extraordinary life's journey for me.
Although the START philosophy is at the heart of the center, NCSS has grown because of the joint contributions of the entire NCSS team and offers far beyond development of the START program today. While I am not leaving NCSS I am stepping down as director so that this can continue, while I pursue other ways to contribute to this effort as I head toward retirement in the years to come.
I want to thank the NCSS team, especially our leadership team, for the great run and surprising, mostly joyful journey. This is challenging work in an everchanging landscape but together we have made a significant and lasting contribution to many. Karen Weigle, Bob Scholz, Jill Hinton, Andrea Caoili, Beth Grosso, Ann Klein, Luke Reynard, Jen McLaren, Jarrett Barnhill and Lauren Quann, thank you. Thank you to our entire national team and "road warriors" old and new who make this work possible.
Thank you to Kelly Nye-Lengerman for stepping in as interim Director and to Karen Weigle who has served as Associate Director for many years in her now newly expanded role, and I look forward to welcoming our new Executive Director.
I especially want to thank Linda Bimbo and Kelly Nye-Lengerman for all their support and encouragement as my mentors and supervisors, and to Andrew Houtenville who has encouraged my efforts as a researcher.
I am certain that under Kelly's leadership, with the help of the NCSS leadership team, our center which has grown tremendously in recent years, will flourish.
Finally, I want to thank our network partners and teams across the country for all that you do and for the notes, texts, cards, and emails with words of encouragement and gratitude that I have received in the last week. I know for certain that we are all on this journey together and the gratitude is mutual. I look forward to celebrating our community in Austin, Texas at the 2023 SNTI.
While I remain an active member of the NCSS team, my primary goal will be to help grow our research efforts and the NRC in the coming months and years. The people we support can greatly benefit from what we learn from inclusive research, and I am grateful for this wonderful opportunity.
On we go!
Best wishes,
Joni
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Have a healthy and happy week,
National Center for START Services
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