Distinguished Alumni Service Award

Robert Littleton Jr. ’71 is the founder and chief executive officer of numerous human service agencies including the Evergreen Center and Criterion Child Enrichment. He has dedicated his career to providing children with developmental delays and their families with assessment, early intervention, and education services.

Dr. Littleton received his bachelor’s degree in history from UMass Amherst. He went on to complete his master’s degree in education in severe special needs from Lesley University and his doctoral research in special education and the treatment of toddlers with expressive language delay at Boston University.

With certifications as an administrator of special education and early intervention program director, Dr. Littleton taught elementary and special education in the Barnstable Public Schools. He is a past president of the Massachusetts Association for Approved Private Schools and a former chair of the Council of Affiliated State Associations, a subcommittee of the National Association of Private Special Education Centers. He is also a founding incorporator of the Massachusetts Association for Applied Behavior Analysis.

Dr. Littleton was the catalyst and key contributor to the development of several graduate training programs for behavior analysts including the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and Cambridge College. He has served as a committee chair for the Massachusetts Early Intervention Consortium and as a trustee the Cambridge Center for Behavioral Studies.

In addition to the Evergreen Center and Criterion Child Enrichment, Littleton founded BEACON ABA Services of Massachusetts and Connecticut and Human Services Management Corporation.

In 2012, Dr. Littleton was an inaugural recipient of the UMass Amherst Salute to Service Award. He has served as a trustee of the University of Massachusetts Amherst Foundation and the Milford Regional Medical Center.