University of Maine at Farmington

Brian Cavanaugh, who graduated from UMF with a degree in special education, chuckles a bit when he’s asked how difficult it was to earn a master’s degree at Harvard.

“The special education program at UMF gives students so much skill with kids in the classroom,” he said. “People in my classes at Harvard asked me questions about special education law and policy. Whenever discussion was about those topics, I was able to step in and say, ‘It’s this exactly.’ There was a higher volume of work, but it was as easy as it could be because of what I learned at UMF.”

Cavanaugh supplemented his master’s degree coursework by completing Harvard’s Risk and Prevention program, designed to help researchers and practitioners understand strategies for promoting positive outcomes and preventing negative outcomes for children and youth. The year-long program comprised research in universal design -- the study of neuroscience and its link to the learning process -- as well as childhood trauma and special education policy.

Cavanaugh plans to earn a doctoral degree, but is now working as deputy director of Middlesex Partnerships for Youth (MPY), a non-profit partner of the Middlesex (Mass.) District Attorney’s Office first established in 1989 as Project Alliance -- a school-based intervention and prevention program. Under Cavanaugh's leadership, MPY's mission is to provide in-service workshops and training seminars for educators, students, parents, law enforcement and social service providers to help foster an atmosphere of respect and safety for Middlesex youth. MPY has provided hundreds of trainings to help prevent youth violence, substance abuse, child abuse, hate crimes and bullying in more than 60 school districts in Middlesex County. Prior to serving as deputy director for MPY, Cavanaugh worked directly with what he described as “disregulated” students in the Newton, Mass., public school system. Through the district's Middle School Stabilization Program, Cavanaugh served students with emotional and behavioral issues related to what Cavanaugh described as a “short-term crisis or major life change,” ranging from divorce to a struggle with depression.

When asked why he chose to teach special needs students, Cavanaugh's convictions were clear: “Prevention is huge for me. There’s always room for prevention in schools at all levels. When you look at the research, you see students with disabilities have failed so much because they haven’t been given the opportunity to succeed in school,” he said. “If you’re doing your job right, you can set them up to succeed. I just want to see kids improve and do better in life.”

-- By Marc Glass, managing editor of the UMF alumni magazine

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