For eight years, students with intellectual and developmental disabilities have been fully included at the UA, thanks to Project FOCUS, a two-year innovative transition program out of the College of Education. Since the program's inception, Project FOCUS has provided 65 students with intellectual and developmental disabilities with access to inclusive college classes, internship opportunities throughout the Tucson community, and a large, supportive network both off- and on-campus.

Project FOCUS is dedicated to closing the gap between individuals with and without intellectual disabilities by graduating students who are self-determined and better prepared to live their own lives.  To continue to support these students, Project FOCUS is holding a crowdfunding campaign through March 29. Please consider donating to help reach the project's $20,000 goal. Your contribution goes toward scholarships, salaries for lead peer mentors and job coaches, city bus passes so peer mentors can support students in independent travel, and costs related to on-campus social activities so peer mentors can support the students in having the full UA experience.

Donate to the Project FOCUS crowdfunding campaign here.

Learn more about the program here.

And be on the lookout for two other crowdfunding campaigns: The Indigenous Teacher Education Program starts today, March 18. Cooper Center for Environmental Learning begins April 1.

Calling Future Native American Teachers: We Need You!

Our Indigenous Teacher Education Project is looking for future Native American teachers committed to Indigenous education in exchange for some terrific benefits. The application for this great program is officially open!

What do participants receive?

• Loan-for-services aid to cover tuition, books, stipends, and technology. 
• A focus on Indigenizing pedagogies, Indigenous language education, and STEM.
• Work in schools serving Indigenous students.

The application deadline is Friday, April 19. Learn more at  itep.coe.arizona.edu.

 

CPR Training for Deaf and Hard-of-Hearing Community

The UA Sarver Heart Center and Arizona State Schools for the Deaf and the Blind created a chest-compression-only CPR video for people in the Arizona deaf and hard-of-hearing community. The six-minute video, featuring Disability & Psychoeducational Studies Instructor Jason Gervase, provides accessible information on vital skills using American Sign Language (ASL), voice-over, and captions. Check out the video below for a quick refresher on CPR, and don't forget the three Cs: Check, Call, and Compress! 

Glendale Daily Planet interviewed Gervase and DPS Associate Professor of Practice Cindy Volk for this story. 

Watch the training video here.

Now, You Can Do Your Student Teaching in a Local School or, Say, Norway, Mexico, or China!

 

The International Student Teaching Program, a new program at the UA operated by our college and Study Abroad, was established last year for students studying elementary education and mild to moderate special education at the university. The program, which is coordinated by the college's Maggie Shafer and Sylvia Munsen, provides UA students with an opportunity to gain student teaching experience in China, Norway, or Mexico. ISTP participants teach internationally for nearly eight weeks after teaching in a local Tucson school for seven and a half weeks. This spring semester, four students are teaching in China, four are teaching in Mexico, and five are teaching in Norway.

The student teachers gain an appreciation, understanding, and respect for another culture, while sharing part of their American culture; compare and contrast the American system of education with that of another country and bring back new ideas and strategies to their future teaching; and grow both professionally and personally while serving as an "American Ambassador."

Shafer, director of the college's field experience, adds, "An additional goal for students traveling to China and Norway is to gain first-hand experience as an English-language learner while they teach in English to ELL students. This experience vastly increases their capacity to teach English learners after graduation."

Environmental Costs of Fashion

How much water was used to make the last T-shirt you bought? What about the dye on that shirt -- what kind of chemicals are on your skin? And where was your shirt made? Is the manufacturing currently sustainable?

On Thursday, March 28, the Cooper Center for Environmental Learning, through a partnership with local sustainable clothing company Fed By Threads, will host a screening of the video, The True Cost, at 6:30 p.m., in ENR2, room N120. 

The documentary offers an inside look at the environmental costs of the fashion industry. Following the screening will be a special panel discussion on the topics and information shared through the film, including globalization, environmental justice and health, the supply chain, human rights, and more.

The Daily Wildcat wrote this story about the partnership between the Cooper Center, Fed By Threads, and the UA Office of Sustainability.

Go see the film because there's another bonus: 100 percent of the proceeds from ticket sales go toward the Community Food Bank of Southern Arizona!

Learn more about the event and purchase tickets here.