Eduardo Ortiz

Eduardo A. Ortiz, Ph.D., J.D.

Eduardo received his Ph.D. in Sociology (2009) from Utah State University. His dissertation focused on the influence of family structures and the role of siblings on early language development of preschool Latino children. Eduardo also holds a Law Degree (J.D.) from the Catholic University of Ecuador, his native country.  He recently received additional training from the National Leadership Consortium on Developmental Disabilities at the University of Delaware.

Currently, Eduardo is a Senior Researcher at the Research & Evaluation (R&E) and Interdisciplinary Training (IDT) Divisions of the Institute for Disability Research, Policy & Practice at Utah State University. He is working on different projects such as Evaluation of the Voices for Utah's Children Public-Private Preschool Partnership, High Quality School Readiness Evaluation, and Training Military Staff to Promote Service member Well-being through Infant Massage. Eduardo was also a trainee with the Utah Regional Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities (URLEND) and now coordinates the URLEND South Main Clinic project activities as Faculty member of the program. Also, he is involved in writing, translating, interpreting, and facilitating the IDRPP's international efforts for grant proposals.

Eduardo has been part of many other IDRPP research projects focused on early education and minority health issues including: the Development of Language Environment and Proficiency Measures for the National Children’s Study; Promoting Effective Engagement, Communication, and Self-regulation with English language learners (PEECSE); Using Technology for Emergent Literacy and Language (UTELL) project; Storytelling for Home Enrichment of Language and Literacy Skills (SHELLS) project; Early Reading First (ERF-Utah) project; the Bilingual Early Language and Literacy Support project (BELLS); Finding Utah's Most In Need Children project; and the New Mexico Extended School Year project. In addition he has been principal and co-principal investigator, respectively, of Building Human Capital in Ecuador through Program Evaluation and Validation of Hearing Screening Procedures in Ecuadorian School projects. Eduardo is Adjunct Assistant Professor in the Department of Sociology, Social Work and Anthropology at USU, and teaches several classes such as Introduction to Sociology (Soc. 1010), Social Problems (Soc. 1020), Social Research Methods (Soc. 3110), and Population and Society (Soc. 3200).

Eduardo has been highly involved in community work at different levels, and was the recipient of the 2008 USU Diversity award. Currently, he is the Vice Chair of the Multicultural Council (MCC) of the Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD), Advisory Board member of the City of Logan (UT) Park and Recreation, and participant of the National Diversity Advisory Committee at the Administration on Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (AIDD).