Class of 2018

Mentoring is a multi-dimensional practice that has the potential to foster confidence in the skills, knowledge, and insights that mentees already possess. This is especially important when the mentee belongs to a group that has been consistently marginalized by a particular society. In my life I have benefitted from interaction with a wide array of mentors and am grateful to many of them who continue to play a fundamental role in my growth as a person and as a professional. I know firsthand the importance and impact of mentoring and want to pay it forward.

We are proud to induct Maegan Shanks into the Susan Daniels Disability Mentoring Hall of Fame.

Maegan Shanks is a Program Assistant and an Adjunct Faculty member in Master of Arts Program in International Development (IDMA) at Gallaudet University, a bilingual university that uses American Sign Language and English. Maegan is also an alum of the IDMA program and has been involved in International Development since 2008 when she initiated an exchange program with Mobility International USA (MIUSA) to Costa Rica.

During her graduate studies, Maegan completed multiple internships including the Youth in International Development and Foreign Affairs program hosted by the United States International Council on Disabilities (USICD) where, through a post  at World Learning in Washington, DC, she was chiefly responsible for structuring their disability information and resources database   Maegan also worked as a researcher with the U.S. State Department under the Special Advisor of International Disability Rights, Judith Heumann. Maegan then conducted her final internship with CBM International (CBM) in the Knowledge, Learning and Training Department in Bensheim, Germany.

Building on the work she conducted as a graduate intern, Maegan secured a position with CBM International as the Disability Inclusive Development (DID) Learning Coordinator for CBM International. She supported the DID team in fostering and maintaining learning and knowledge management that increased capacity development in the DID Community of Practice. In addition to her current position at Gallaudet, Maegan also consults, trains and presents to various organizations about the importance of inclusion, fostering thinking processes and practices that promote inclusion of intersectional identities.