Dr. Dinora named executive director of the Partnership
Parthenia “Parthy” Dinora, Ph.D., has been named the new executive director of the Partnership for People with Disabilities (the Partnership) at Virginia Commonwealth University.
Dinora has been with the Partnership for the past 19 years and has spent her entire career in the disability field. She has been the principal investigator on many federal training, research and model development projects promoting community living for people with intellectual and developmental disabilities (IDD). She directed research and evaluation, and later program develoopment, ultimately becoming the associate director for the Partnership. Over the past five years, she has taken a leadership role in securing over $11 million in funded work at the Partnership.
Dinora's earlier years were spent administering direct service projects focused on community participation for people with IDD. For the last 20 years, she has conducted research and evaluation studies focused on disability services and supporting families; and over the past five years, she has taken a leadership role in securing over $11 million in funded work at the Partnership. Her most recent awards include a 2021 Field Initiated grant from the National Institute on Disability, Independent Living, and Rehabilitation Research; a 2021 Community Based Transition Partnership Planning Grants grant from the Administration on Community Living; and in 2021, leading the designation of the Partnership as VCU's federally designated University Center for Excellence in Intellectual and Developmental Disabilities (UCEDD). This prestigious designation recognizes the interdisciplinary work of the center across multiple departments and colleges/schools on both the VCU and VCU Health campuses.
She earned her master's and doctoral degrees from VCU’s L. Douglas Wilder School of Government and Public Affairs in Public Policy and Administration with a focus on disability policy. As the parent of a child with a developmental disability, she is especially committed to demonstrating how the work of the Partnership can support choice and self-determination for people with disabilities and their families.