Fabricio E Balcazar
Professor, Disability and Human Development
Director, Center on Capacity Building for Minorities with Disabilities Research , Disability and Human Development
Focus Areas
Office Phone
TTY
Office
, 442
Mail Code
626
Office Hours
By appointment
About
Dr. Fabricio E. Balcazar is interested in developing methods for enhancing and facilitating consumer empowerment and personal effectiveness among individuals with disabilities. Dr. Balcazar has conducted research over the past 25 years and has directed several federally-funded projects to develop and evaluate intervention models to increase consumer empowerment in vocational rehabilitation service delivery; to prevent dropout and promote successful transitions among minority youth with disabilities; and to promote entrepreneurship and economic self-sufficiency among youth and other individuals with disabilities, among many others. Dr. Balcazar is the director of the Center on Capacity Building for Minorities with Disabilities Research and in this capacity he has led efforts to promote cultural competence in service delivery. Dr. Balcazar has published over 80 peer-reviewed journal articles and is a Fellow of the American Psychological Association (APA) and former president of Division 27 of the APA, Society for Community Research and Action.
Selected Grants
Office of Disability Employment Policy, U.S. Department of Labor, Jobs for youth: a partnership to promote employment of inner-city youth with disabilities., Principal Investigator
Illinois Department of Human Services, Division of Rehabilitation Services, VR Quality Assurance Improvement Project, Principal Investigator
Illinois Department of Human Services, Division of Rehabilitation Services, Transition Model Implementation, Principal Investigator
National Institute on Disability & Rehabilitation Research, U.S Department of Education, Center on Capacity Building for Minority with Disabilities Research., Principal Investigator
Selected Publications
“On becoming scholars and activist for disability rights”, American Journal of Community Psychology
Publication Aggregators
Service to the Community
Appointed Member of the Board for the Youth Connections Charter School in Chicago, by the Illinois legislature enacting the creation of this school for minority dropouts, since 1997. I have been a Board member ever since. In this role, I have been able to advocate for services for minority youth with disabilities and helped start transition services with support from the IL Division of Rehab
Leadership in the Profession
Society for Community Research and Action, Division 27 of the American Psychological Association, Former President
Society for Community Research and Action, Division 27 of the American Psychological Association, Former Treasurer
Institute of Medicine, Committee on the use of assisted technology in eliminating or reducing the effects of impairments
College of Applied Health Sciences, Metoring Services Coordinator
Notable Honors
2015, June 27th - Outstanding Service and Leadership Award, Presented by the Society for Community Research and Action, Division 27 of the American Psychological Association
2015 - Excalibur Award, College of Applied Health Sciences Student Council for Teaching Excellence, University of Illinois at Chicago
2014 - Jaliscience de Corazon, Federacion de Jaliciences del Medio Oeste de los Estados Unidos” (FEDEJAL)
2012 - Professor of the Year Award, College of Applied Health Sciences, University of Illinois at Chicago
Education
Ph.D., Developmental and Child Psychology, Department of Human Development and Family Life, University of Kansas, 1987