School of Education

Education

• Ph.D. in behavioral disabilities/rehabilitation psychology, University of Wisconsin
• M.S. in general/experimental psychology, Illinois State University
• B.B.A. in business administration, Western Illinois University

Research interests

Transition from school to adulthood, brain injury, autism, supported employment, educational policy in special education, disability policy, assistive technology, Internet applications for people with disabilities, employment and public policy for people with traumatic brain injury, physical handicaps and developmental disabilities

Career highlights

• 2025 National Distinguished Career Award from the Association for Rehabilitation Research, Policy, and Education in Savannah, Georgia
• Received the 2014 Princeton Lecture Series Fellowship from Eden Autism Services
• Received the Joseph P. Kennedy Jr. Foundation International Award in Mental Retardation
• Selected as a Mary Switzer Fellow by the National Rehabilitation Association in 1985
• Earned the Distinguished Service Award from the President’s Committee on Employment for Persons with Disabilities in 1992, and the VCU Distinguished Service Award in 2001

Recent publications/projects

• Koegal, L., Wehman, P., et al. (2025). Using Artificial Intelligence to Improve Verbal Empathetic Responses of Autistic Workers in a Work Internship Setting. Journal of Autism and Developmental Disabilities
• Reid, C., Avellone, L., Iwanaga, K., Wehman, P., Torky, J., & Singh, S. (2025). Pathways to Positive Employment Outcomes for Individuals With Disabilities: Considerations for Life Care Planning. Journal of Life Care Planning, 23(1), 6–31. https://doi.org/10.70385/001c.128041

Bio

Paul Wehman, Ph.D., has been a tenured faculty member at Virginia Commonwealth University since 1976. He is Director of the Rehabilitation Research and Training Center (Director 1983-2023;  Director 2024-present). Dr. Wehman's career at VCU spans over five decades, making him one of the longest-tenured and most cited faculty members in the university's history regarding disability policy and vocational rehabilitation.

Originally affiliated with the VCU School of Education, he later held a joint appointment with the School of Education and the School of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, where he served as Vice-Chairman for Research. His work has focused on supported employment and services for individuals with neurodevelopmental disabilities, autism, intellectual disabilities, brain injury, spinal cord injury, and other neurodevelopmental disabilities.

He has written extensively on issues related to the transition from school to adulthood and special education as they relate to young adulthood and employment, and is the founding Editor-in-Chief of the Journal of Vocational Rehabilitation. Dr. Wehman has received numerous awards and served as Principal Investigator on more than $100 million in federal and state grants since joining VCU.

His areas of interest include employment of people with disabilities, autism, special education, and educational policy for at-risk youth, disability policy, assistive technology, supported employment, and related fields.

Curriculum Vitae