Assistant Professor, Childhood Education

Office phone: (716) 375-2374
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Plassmann Hall B38

• CE-500. Research Methods in the Education Professions
• SPED-430. Assessment Children with Exceptionalities
• EDUC-401. Diagnostic Prescriptive Reading
• EDUC-425. Organizational Assessment Elem Classroom
• EDUC-430. Methods and Models of Teaching Elementary STEAM

• Ed.D. Executive Leadership, St. John Fisher College, 2017
• M.S. Ed. Educational Administration, St. John Fisher College, 2003
• M.S. Elementary and Special Education, Nazareth College, 1995
• B.A. Individual and Family Studies, Kent State University, 1991

• NYS Permanent Certification: Elementary Education (N-6)
• NYS Permanent Certification: Special Education (K-12)
• NYS Permanent Certification: School District Administrator

• Letchworth Central School District
  • K,2,4,8,11,12 Special Education Teacher
• Churchville-Chili Senior High School
  • 10th Grade Co-teaching English Special Education Teacher
  • 10th-12th Grade Co-teaching Health Special Education Teacher
  • 10th-12th Grade Resource Room Special Education Teacher
• Pittsford Central School District
  • Pittsford Middle School
    • Special Education Teacher- Special Class English/Reading, Special Class Social Studies, Resource Room, Pupil Services Team Chairperson
  • Thornell Road Elementary School
    • Special Education Teacher- Resource Room, Consultant Teacher (Push-in, Pull-out), Special Class Reading, Special Class Math
  • Pittsford Sutherland High School
    • Co-teaching Global Studies II, Resource Room
  • Pittsford Mendon High School
    • Special Education Teacher- Co-teacher in Algebra II/Trigonometry
    • Co-teacher in Earth Science
    • Grades 9-12 Resource Room
• Harrison Central School District
  • Assistant Coordinator of Secondary Special Education
• Eastern Suffolk BOCES
  • Assistant Administrative Coordinator for Transition Services with Regional Special Education Technical Assistance Support Center
• Sayville Central School District
  • Assistant Coordinator of Special Education
• St. John Fisher College
  • Adjunct Faculty (2004-2007 and 2013-2017)
  • Graduate Assistant for the Ed.D. Program in Executive Leadership (2015-2017)
• Buena Vista University (2017-2020)
  • Assistant Professor of Special Education

Publications

• Abkowitz, P.  A. & Schultz, S. M.  Designing a support system for college students with ADD/ADHD/Executive Function Disorder.  Proceedings of the American Council of Rural Special Education (ACRES), USA; April 2016.
• Abkowitz, P.A.  We Are Family: Exploring Sense of Community of Students With and Without Hidden Disabilities. (2017). Educational Doctoral. Paper 309; August 2017.

Presentations

• Schultz, S. M. & Abkowitz, P. A.  Poverty and children with special needs:  Implications and strategies for the classroom.  Presented at the 35th annual American Council of Rural Special Education (ACRES) Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada; March 2016.
• Schultz, S. M. & Abkowitz, P. A.  Designing a support system for college students with ADD/ADHD/Executive Function Disorder.  Presented at the 35th annual American Council of Rural Special Education (ACRES) Conference, Las Vegas, Nevada; March 2016.
• Collaborated on and presented training titled Transition in the IEP: Process to Practice; August 2012.
• Abkowitz, P.A. & Schultz, S.M. We Are Family: Exploring the Facilitation of Sense of Community and Persistence of Students With and Without Hidden Disabilities through the Use of a Freshman Seminar Program. (March 2017). Poster session presented at the 36th annual American Council of Rural Special Education (ACRES) Conference, Asheville, North Carolina; March 2017.
• Abkowitz, P.A., Ludy, R., & Strohmeyer, K.A. Best Practices for Fostering Retention of Junior/New Faculty at Rural Colleges.  Presented at the 36th annual American Council of Rural Special Education (ACRES) Conference, Salt Lake City, Utah; March 2018.
• Abkowitz, P.A., Ludy, R. Fields of Opportunity: Innovative Programming for Developing Multicultural Communities at a Rural,Midwestern University. Presented at the 37th annual American Council of Rural Special Education (ACRES) Conference, Alexandria, Virginia; March 2019.
• Abkowitz, P.A. When All Means All: How To Differentiate Instruction In a Mixed Ability Classroom. Presented at Inclusion Conference, Buena Vista University, Storm Lake, Iowa; April 2019.
• Abkowitz, P.A. When All Means All: How To Differentiate Instruction In a Mixed Ability Classroom. Presented at Opening Faculty Workshops, Buena Vista University, Storm Lake, Iowa; August 2019.

Professional Memberships

• Kappa Delta Pi, 5/2016-present
• American Council on Rural Special Education, 1/2016-present
  • Board member at large, 9/2017-present
  • Membership chair, 8/2019-3/2020
  • Apprentice historian/historian/past historian, 3/2020-present
• Council for Exceptional Children, 11/2016-present
• Iowa Association for the Education of Young Children, 11/2017-present:
  • Workforce Advisory Committee
• National Association for the Education of Young Children, 10/2018-present

I am a firm believer that all students can learn.  Some learn at different rates, depth of understanding and level of expertise.  A teacher’s job is to foster growth for the entire classroom community. I have always had a focus in my classroom on developing skills regarding reading, writing, task completion and organization and I used the content I was teaching to foster growth in those skills to my students.

• Issues in Rural Education
• Best Practices in Teaching

• I collect earrings
• Zumba, jazzercise, aerobics, urban hiking!
• My cat, Ziggy
• Travel
• Music
• Family and friends are very important to me!