Dr. Ritu Chopra, Ph. D. is the Executive Director of The Paraprofessional Resource and Research Center (The PAR²A Center) at the School of Education and Human Development (SEHD) of the University of Colorado Denver. Since 1996, Chopra has been responsible for grant administration, training, research, and fiscal management of grant projects (over $38 million) at the PAR2A Center. She has served as the Principal Investigator/Project Director on grant projects funded by the U.S. Department of Education (Offices of Special Education Programs, Elementary and Secondary Education, English Language Acquisition) and state agencies (Colorado Department of Education - CDE, Colorado Department of Higher Education - CDHE, Colorado Department of Human Services – CDHS). Under Dr. Chopra’s leadership the PAR²A Center is recognized locally, nationally and internationally as a premier source of information on paraprofessionals/paraeducators. She is the lead author of the Paraeducator Competencies and the e-learning series on Effective and High-Leverage Practices (HLPs) for Paraeducators recently published by Council for Exceptional Children. Prior to moving to the US in 1990, Dr. Chopra had worked for over 10 years in the capacity of a teacher, trainer, researcher and administrator in various educational institutions in her native country, India.