Michelle L. Lestrud Named Director of the Gengras Center at the University of Saint Joseph

WEST HARTFORD, CT (October 23, 2013) – The University of Saint Joseph announces the appointment of Michelle L. Lestrud, as director of the Gengras Center, a special education program for elementary, middle and high school students with intellectual and developmental disabilities, autism, and related behavioral challenges.  The Gengras Center is a state approved, private special education lab school located on the campus of the University of Saint Joseph at 1678 Asylum Avenue, West Hartford, Connecticut.

Lestrud, who has served as assistant director of the Gengras Center since 2005, first joined the special education program in 1998 as a teaching assistant and then as a special education teacher.  In her new role as director, Lestrud will lead a highly individualized, trans-disciplinary approach to learning and personal development that encompasses the total child through social, academic, emotional, and vocational elements. 

“Ms. Lestrud brings the best of two worlds to her new role as director of the Gengras Center,” USJ Provost Michelle M. Kalis, Ph.D., said.  “She has the experience and insight of an administrator of a special education school as well as the dedication and commitment that every teacher has for her students. We are also fortunate to have her as one of the University’s adjunct faculty in the School of Education.”

A Torrington resident, Lestrud earned both a sixth year certificate of Advanced Graduate Studies in Educational Leadership and a master of education in special education from the University of Hartford.  After receiving her bachelor’s degree at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio, she specialized in vocational programs for people with disabilities, first as a vocational coordinator at Touchstone Café, Inc., in Columbus, Ohio, then at Pilot Industries, UARC, in Ellenville, New York.  As a vocational rehabilitation specialist with the Vision Center in Columbus, Lestrud conducted evaluations and developed programs for people with disabilities while facilitating relationships with area businesses to employ the program’s graduates.

Lestrud was named Connecticut Association of Private Special Education Facilities (CAPSEF) Teacher of the Year in 2003.  A member of the National Association of Special Education Teachers, Lestrud also was a contributing author to the Encyclopedia of Autism Spectrum Disorders (2013).

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