Current Status: Alumni
Graduation Year: 2006
“I feel called to teach special education because I want to provide great educational experiences for students with disabilities,” says HIU alumna Dr. Aja McKee (BS ’06). “I believe it is their right to access quality education alongside their nondisabled peers.”
Dr. McKee studied human development at HIU, laying a solid foundation for her career in special education and advocacy. “In order to teach educators how to understand disability and proper intervention, there must be an understanding of how human beings ‘typically’ develop. I have come to understand that human variance is beautiful and under-rated. All diversity should be celebrated; it makes the world go around.”
Aja’s journey into special education was inspired by her grandmother who contracted polio at age 2 and had significant impairments her entire life. Her grandmother encountered accessibility challenges in society, as well as in her educational career, but because of how disability was viewed and misunderstood during that time, she was grateful that she had any access to school at all.
Of particular interest to Aja are those with autism. She worked as an autism specialist and conducted focused research on educational access to those who are nonspeaking, the public perception of disability, and the impact it plays on this marginalized population of individuals.
After teaching special education in Orange County elementary schools and working as an autism specialist, Aja is now an assistant professor of special education at Cal State University Fullerton.
“Teaching has been an amazing choice of careers for me, whether that be teaching young children, or adults. I feel fortunate to work with students in higher education and support them as they go out into this world to make a difference in the lives of children and their families.”
“I am working to support our local schools in the areas of access and inclusion,” Aja adds. “Part of the work that needs to be done surrounding inclusion involves a framework that will encompass both the theoretical and practical pieces. This will look different for each school district because of the unique factors each district brings to the table. However, it can be done, and the time is now.”
Aja earned her doctorate in education, with an emphasis in disability studies, from Chapman University. She holds a master’s in education with a concentration in special education, and completed the program for the early childhood special education credential at California State University Fullerton (CSUF).
