The 2023 Thomas G. Haring Memorial Fellows: Talitha Buschor, Sarely Licona, and Rachel Schuck

The 2023 Thomas G. Haring Memorial Fellows: Talitha Buschor, Sarely Licona, and Rachel Schuck

Talitha Buschor, Sarely Licona, and Rachel Schuck have received 2023 Thomas G. Haring Memorial Fellowships. These fellowships were established in memory of Thomas G. Haring, a member of the Graduate School of Education faculty and renowned researcher and teacher. His research and teaching focused on individuals with severe disabilities. Dr. Haring was committed to improving the lot of individuals with special needs in education and the community. The fellowship supports students with a focus on the education of individuals with special needs, with attention to social and applied cognitive behavior analysis in integrated education and community settings.

Talitha Buschor is a doctoral student in the Department of Education. Under Dr. George Singer, she conducts research involving early intervention for mothers with infants in the Neonatal Intensive Care Unit at risk for PTSDj as well as coding simulation training for the nurses that work with them. She has worked as a Teaching Assistant and Teaching Associate for the Teacher Education Program at UCSB from 2021 until the present. In the summer of 2021, she was a Communications Teaching Assistant for the Summer Research Academy at UC Santa Barbara. As of the Fall 2022, she has been working as a Teacher Candidate Supervisor for the UCSB Teacher Credential Program where she advises on professional development, curricular inclusion, and teacher preparedness.

Sarely Licona is a doctoral student in Clinical Psychology. After earning a B.S. in Brain and Cognitive Sciences from the University of Rochester in 2019, Licona worked as a research assistant at the Autism Assessment, Research, Treatment, and Services (AARTS) Center at Rush University Medical Center in Chicago, IL. Licona enjoys researching barriers in resource access for under-served young children with autism spectrum disorder (ASD), as well as cultural adaptations of existing parent-mediated interventions. She also studies bilingual assessment and intervention.

Rachel Schuck is a doctoral student in the Education Department with an emphasis in Special Education, Disability, and Risk Studies. Her research interests center around exploring the social validity of intervention and education programs for those on the autism spectrum, particularly from the autistic perspective. She is also interested in parent involvement in educational activities for children with disabilities and works as a clinician at the Koegel Autism Center. Prior to starting at UCSB in 2019, she earned a BA in Psychology from UC Berkeley in 2011 and an MA in Special Education from San Jose State in 2017 and worked for over five years in the Autism & Developmental Disorders Research Program at Stanford.