LINDA BAMBARA

Women in academia

Strategies for balancing work and home life (still working on this myself)

Writing for publication; setting up timelines for scholarship

Classroom teaching strategies

Document preparation for tenure and promotion

Linda has been with Lehigh since 1988 where she serves as faculty in special education. Her specialization is in developmental disabilities, with a particular interest in children and adults with disabilities who engage in difficult problem behaviors. As a long-time advocate for positive behavior interventions, Linda has served on several national advisory committees for positive interventions and on Pennsylvania’s MH/MR positive approaches committee which was instrumental in changing state regulations on the use of restrictive interventions in community agencies. In addition to behavioral interventions, Linda’s research has focused on choice and self-determination strategies for helping adults with severe disabilities speak out and do more for themselves. More recently, her interests have focused on understanding systemic issues that affect the long-term adoption of positive interventions in school settings and supports needed by team members to sustain their commitment to students who engage in challenging behaviors. Linda serves on five editorial boards of professional journals, is the past Editor-in-chief of Research and Practice in Severe Disabilities (formerly JASH), has co-authored or co-edited several books on interventions for individuals with severe disabilities, as well as numerous articles and book chapters on the topic. At Lehigh, Linda also directs Lehigh Support for Community Living, a program funded by Lehigh County MH/MR which supports adults with developmental disabilities to live and be involved in their communities.

Linda lives in Emmaus with her husband Larry McCabe who is a senior project manager for Alvin H. Butz, Inc. and has two college-aged children Julia 19 (University of South Carolina) and Eleni 18 (University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill).