The 2008-2009 Speaker Series was hosted by the Department of Special Education. Dr. Sally Burton-Hoyle was Chair of the Porter Chair Speaker Series Steering Committee. The guest speaker was Dr. Beth Harry, a professor in the Special Education Department of Teaching and Learning at the University of Miami (Florida). She shared her scholarship on the following topics:

• Culturally and linguistically diverse students with disabilities.
• Disproportionate representation of minority students with disabilities.
• Collaboration with families and communities.