On Wednesday, April 17, 2019, Dr. Tobey Partch-Davies received the 2019 Advocacy and Action Faculty Award from the University of New Hampshire’s Commission on Community, Equity, and Diversity. The award is given to people who foster “understanding of the issues, building a community of inclusion, raising awareness through your insight and action, and increasing opportunity and access for people with disabilities.”
In giving Dr. Partch-Davies the award, the commission commended her for her work to launch the Comprehensive Transition Program, which will bring students with intellectual disabilities to the University of New Hampshire for a true campus experience. Students will further their academic, social and career related skills in inclusive settings in order to access competitive integrated employment in their chosen profession.
“Tobey has designed a program for these students to thrive and advance employment status, - students who may otherwise have become lost in the system,” shares Sylvia Foster from UNH’s Community, Equity, and Diversity Office.
Dr. Partch-Davies received the Award along with Darnelle Bosquet-Fleurival, Assistant Director of Residential Life, Sam Pazicni and Meg Greenslade, associate professors of Chemistry, and Emma Chinman, a UNH undergraduate.
Dr. Partch-Davies, Ph.D., is a Project Director with a focus on the social determinants of health. She is committed to advancing and sustaining the meaningful inclusion of individuals with intellectual and developmental disabilities in every aspect of family, school, and community life. She currently leads several sub-studies for the Strengthening Families through Community Collaboration prevention grant; serves as a co-investigator on the national Financial Engagement as a Gateway to Community Participation: A Multi-Level Intervention Study researching the impact of ABLE accounts; conducts data analysis of the employment outcomes for adults served by the Area Agency system; and is spearheading the effort on campus to provide higher education to students with intellectual disabilities. She recently served as the Principal Investigator for the Maternal Infant and Early Childhood Home Visiting (MIECHV) Program Evaluation which sought to improve maternal and child outcomes in partnership with the Carsey School of Social Policy. In addition, Partch-Davies teaches The Right to Be Disabled Honors course as part of the UNH Discovery Program.
