Joyce Chang

Joyce Chang has completed her first year at Loyola Law School, where she is one of the 2013 PILF auction co-chairs.  She graduated from UC San Diego with a B.S. in Economics – Management Sciences and a B.A in Political Science, with honors. Her honors thesis analyzed the impact of microfinance loan penetration and female political participation in India. She was also the 2009 V-Day Director and Producer and helped raise $40,000 for License to Freedom, a San Diego non-profit that assists refugee and immigrant survivors of domestic violence.

Ms. Chang also has a Masters of Education from George Mason University. She was a special education teacher at a charter high school in Washington D.C.. As a Teach for America corp member, she helped draft the charter amendment for a language immersion International Baccalaureate secondary school.

Ms. Chang’s interest in special education rights and student empowerment in individualized education plans (IEP) comes from her teaching and case managing experiences.

Ms. Chang’s public interest project is to create a student focused website for high school students to better understand the IEP process, their educational rights, and how they can become self-advocates. She will be working on this project with the sponsorship of The Alliance for Children’s Rights. While the website is beneficial for all high school special education students, the website will have a specific focus on the rights of foster care children who also receive special education services.