Long Time TIEE Board Member,
Dr. Pat Cegelka, succumbs to cancer

It is with great respect and sadness that we announce that TIEE Board member, Dr. Patricia (Pat) Cegelka, passed away on Tuesday, January 26, 2010, following a five-year long battle with cancer. Active on behalf of TIEE until the very end of her life, Dr. Cegelka was a member of TIEE’s Board of Directors since 1990 and was its Secretary/Treasurer since 2000.

Dr. Cegelka was tireless in her support of the use of evidence-based educational methods and the emphasis in TIEE’s schools on the use of such methods garnered her support of the organization. She was instrumental in obtaining Federal grant funding for the four-year SED Internship Program that was a joint project of TIEE, San Diego State University’s Department of Special Education, and San Diego City Schools. The project involved the mentoring by TIEE teachers of teachers in training for classrooms in the school district that served students with severe behavior problems.

Dr. Cegelka also recognized the teacher training skills of several TIEE staff members, including Dr. Suzanne Fitch, TIEE’s Executive Director of Programs and Personnel, and orchestrated their service in the teacher training program of San Diego State’s Department of Special Education. She was staunchly supportive of TIEE’s acquisition of the Coleman Preparatory School and its subsequent development into the exceptional Mt. Helix Academy, in order for TIEE to bring its teaching methods to a typically developing population of children. Her own grandchildren are now students at the school.

Dr. Cegelka’s contribution to TIEE will be greatly missed and fondly remembered.