Sarup Mathur

Sarup R. Mathur is the Ryan C. Harris Professor of special education in the Division of Educational Leadership and Innovation. She is nationally recognized for her work in the field of emotional and behavioral disorders.

Professor Mathur has been the coeditor of the special issue of Education and Treatment of Children on Severe Behavior Disorders of Children and Youth for more than 20 years. She has authored/co-authored numerous articles on the topics related to professional development of teachers, effective strategies for children with emotional and behavioral disorders, and transition and re-entry of juvenile offenders.

Professor Mathur is a former secretary and president of the Council for Children with Behavioral Disorders and the past president of Teacher Educators for Children with Behavioral Disorders. She has also been an associate director of the National Center of Education, Disability, and Juvenile Justice. She was a co-PI for the In-STEP program funded by USAID that focused on providing professional learning experiences to visiting scholars from India who were enrolled in a 3-month residency program in the Teachers College. 

Professor Mathur has served as a PI of Project RISE funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and Project RISE-IT funded by the Department of Justice which focus upon re-entry success of youth released from secure care. Engagement was  measured in Project RISE by reenrollment and attendance in school, employment, and/or positive community activities at 30, 60, 90, and 120 days post-release. Recidivism was measured by new charges, parole violations, and re-detainment at 30, 60, 90, and 120 days post-release. The re-entry practices included 1) intensive educational programming that follows Individualized Education Plan (IEP) and Individualized Transition Plan (ITP) goals; 2) vocational preparation, 3) development of a Transition Portfolio for all youth with disabilities, and 4) community supports after release. Project RISE-IT focuses on increasing employability of youth who are released from a secure care facility. The goal of RISE-IT is to create an educational environment within the state-run correctional facility that is more technologically driven and allows youth to acquire specialized training to increasing their post-release employability in technology-based jobs. RISE-IT has added technology-related job training certificate programs in various occupational fields in addition to technology-based educational programs in the classrooms.