Deborah Hatton Hired to Lead Visual Impairments Program

topics: Special Education

Jennie Edwards

Peabody’s nationally recognized Visual Impairments Program is gaining the leadership of Deborah D. Hatton. Hatton begins work at Peabody during the fall 2009 semester.

“Deborah Hatton will reinvigorate the program at the teacher level as well as increase the crucial research being conducted to elevate the program and Peabody College,” Camilla Benbow, Patricia and Rodes Hart Dean of Education and Human Development, said. “The program will continue to set the bar for visual impairment programs both nationally and internationally.”

Hatton comes to Vanderbilt from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill where she has completed more than 15 years of vital research in the field. Most recently, Hatton has been a senior scientist at the FPG Child Development Institute and a research associate professor in the School of Education at UNC Chapel Hill. She has served on multiple boards and currently co-chairs the advisory board for the Visually Impaired Training Program at NC Central University.

Hatton’s area of expertise is visual impairment and blindness, with additional experience in Fragile X syndrome, autism, child development, longitudinal research, temperament and challenging behavior.

Peabody College started offering courses for teachers of visually impaired students in the summer of 1921. In 1953, Samuel Ashcroft created the first teacher education program for students with visual impairments. Since its inception the Visual Impairments Program at Peabody College has been a leader in the field. It was the first doctoral degree-granting program in the area and has awarded doctorial degrees to a significant proportion of the nation’s faculty.