Cynthia Vail
Communication Sciences and Special Education (Faculty)
Associate Professor
552 Aderhold Hall
Phone: 706.542.4578
Email: cvail@uga.edu
Dr. Cynthia Vail received her Ph.D. from Florida State University and has been on the faculty of the University of Georgia in the Department of Communication Sciences and Special Education since 1989, where she is currently Associate Department Head and Associate Professor. She also directs the Early Childhood Special Education graduate program at UGA. In this role, she prepares masters, specialists, and doctoral level graduate students who work in the field of early intervention and ECSE. Dr. Vail currently directs a federally funded personnel preparation grant Responsive Early Education for Diversity (REED) http://www.uga.edu/0-5/REED/REED.html which supports students in the Birth through 5 emphasis programs at both the Graduate and Undergraduate levels. Her research interests include teacher collaboration, partnering with families, and fostering play in young children with challenging behaviors. She has published in The Journal of Early Intervention, Teacher Education and Special Education, Teaching Exceptional Children and other scholarly journals. Dr. Vail collaborates with other leaders in early intervention through a multi-faceted personnel training project (Project SCEI’s - www.education.gsu.edu/sceis/index.html) funded through Georgia’s Babies Can't Wait. Her contributions include coordinating an annual Research Institute and a Higher Education Consortium. In 1998, Dr. Vail received a Governor’s appointment to Georgia’s State Interagency Coordinating Council for Early Intervention Programs (SICC). She was reappointed and voted to Chair the SICC in 2002-2010. She currently serves as personnel preparation representative.