Fall 2022: News and Updates

Welcome to the sixth issue of the Think College Inclusive Higher Education Network's newsletter, Network News. This now quarterly newsletter will feature updates from the Think College Inclusive Higher Education Network (Think College Network) as well as news from the field, including upcoming events and opportunities related to inclusive higher education across the US.

News from the Network

Think College Network hosts State and Regional Alliance Capacity Building Institute at State of the Art

Susanna Miller-Raines at the CBI at SOTA.

Susanna Miller-Raines at the Capacity Building Institute at State of the Art Conference.

The Think College Network partnered with the 2022 State of the Art Conference on Inclusive Postsecondary Education and Individuals with Intellectual Disability (SOTA) to host a pre-conference capacity building institute (CBI) on Tuesday, October 18th aimed at developing and expanding state and regional alliances. Those interested in building or strengthening their state alliances, as well as those interested in being involved in future regional alliances were invited to join us. Over 50 people from 20 states attended!

We’re excited that at least four new groups are moving forward with regional alliance planning. Our team will be working closely with the groups and others that emerge to go through the planning process to form a regional alliance. If you are interested in supporting the creation of a regional alliance, please reach out to Susanna Miller-Raines at: susanna.millerraines@umb.edu

New Think College Network Technical Assistance & Training Team

We are happy to announce several new team members joining the training and technical assistance team!

Chelsea Stinnett (she/her) is the Think College Network team as Training Development and Technical Assistance Coordinator. She is the former Executive Director of CarolinaLIFE at the University of South Carolina. She completed her PhD at University of South Carolina, and maintains several research lines within the field of inclusive postsecondary education.

Shelby Bates has been promoted to Technical Assistance Specialist. She will work with both the Think College Network and the National Coordinating Center projects providing technical assistance on building state and regional alliances as well as student advocacy. Shelby previously worked as the outreach coordinator for Colorado’s consortium for inclusive higher education, IN!

Mindy Lingo is joining the Think College Network as a Training Developer. Mindy will be heading up training development for the Think College Network. Mindy is the former Director of the Sooner Works Program and Assistant Director of Postsecondary Education at the University of Oklahoma/Zarrow Institute on Transition and Self-Determination. She completed her PhD at University of Oklahoma.

Check out our website for a complete list of our team members!

New Affinity Group on Employment Partnerships

The Employment Partnerships Affinity Group is an open-access group for individuals who want to learn about successful systems-level employment partnership collaborations between institutions of higher education (IHEs), Vocational Rehabilitation (VR) agencies, developmental disability (DD) agencies and employers that support students with intellectual disability to go to college.

The first meeting will be a “kick off” meeting to share the purpose of the affinity group and will include background information on the focus of employment partnerships through the Think College Network and the Employment Partnerships collaborative workgroup. There will also be time for discussion to gather participant feedback which will be used to inform future meetings.

The first meeting is November 29, 2022 at 2pm ET. Sign up for the Employment Partnerships Affinity Group and more using the Affinity Group sign up form.

For more information about this and other Affinity Groups, please visit the Think College Affinity Groups webpage.

Community College and Career & Technical Education Affinity Groups launched this Fall

The Think College Network hosted kick off meetings for two other new Affinity Groups this Fall: the Community College Affinity Group and the Career and Technical Education (CTE) Affinity Group.

The CTE Affinity Group is led by Drew Andrews, Florida Center for Students with Unique Abilities, and Danie Roberts-Dahm, Think College Network. The CTE Affinity Group brings together those who are currently involved in inclusive postsecondary education programs (IPSE) at CTE institutions or those who would like to become more involved in expanding CTE opportunities for students with intellectual disability. They had their kickoff meeting on September 20 and over 20 people joined. Join the CTE Affinity Group’s next meeting on November 15th at 3pm ET. Check out the CTE Affinity Group webpage for details and upcoming meeting information.

The Community College Affinity Group, led by Susanna Miller-Raines, Think College, and Jennifer Woegens, Elevate at Arapahoe Community College, had their kick off meeting on October 12th. The Community College Affinity Group aims to give an opportunity to existing and potential IPSE programs and partners to provide peer to peer learning and support around IPSE programs at community colleges. Check out the Community College Affinity Group webpage for details and upcoming meeting information.

CTE and community college affinity group logos

News From Institute for Community Inclusion

Future Quest Island Explorations seeking input from educators

You can help elementary students “Think College” by participating in a federally funded study using Future Quest Island Explorations, a universally designed and accessible game-based college and career awareness curriculum.

Student users design a personal avatar, then board a hovercraft to progress through a series of lessons on different islands, focusing on various aspects of their ‘Possible Selves.’

Students will develop an online portfolio that is all about them and discover over 50 different careers in STEAMS fields (Science, Engineering, Arts, Mathematics, Service & Trade).

Please visit the Future Quest Island Explorations homepage to learn more about our curriculum and study, or email Lori Cooney at lori.cooney@umb.edu for more details.

Support Center on Youth Voice, Youth Choice with their social media outreach

The Center on Youth Voice, Youth Choice (CYVYC) wants to learn more about how youth with intellectual and/or developmental disabilities use social media. The purpose of collecting this information is so that CYVYC can share useful information with you and other youth. Please take 5 minutes to fill out this survey. It is confidential. This means we will not share your answers with anyone else.

CYVYC is a national youth resource center on alternatives to guardianship. CYVYC shares stories and information from many different people with disabilities and people who work with youth seeking alternatives to guardianship. The Center on Youth Voice, Youth Choice is a project of the Institute for Community Inclusion at UMass Boston (ICI) in partnership with the Center for Public Representation (CPR), Self Advocates Becoming Empowered (SABE), and the Human Services Research Institute (HSRI), in consultation with experts from Harvard Law School Project on Disability and the Georgia Advocacy Office.

You can learn more about alternatives to guardianship (A2G) by reading and watching stories and looking through CYVYC resources here on their website.

News From the Field

Project FUTURE is looking for future doctoral students in Counselor Education!

Project FUTURE (Focus on the Underserved in Transition Using Rehabilitation and Education) is a collaboration between Michigan State University's Special Education and Rehabilitation Counselor Education programs and Penn State University's Special Education and Counselor Education and Supervision programs to provide 4 years of funding (i.e., tuition, stipend, health insurance, research support) for 8 doctoral scholars.

Scholars participate in a core curriculum focused on transition, learning to collaborate and work across service delivery systems to prepare students with Intellectual and Developmental Disability (IDD) for successful transition. Scholars will be prepared to become faculty leaders who can prepare highly qualified special educators and rehabilitation counselors to collaborate across their respective disciplines to successfully prepare students with IDD to achieve their post-secondary goals (e.g., competitive integrated employment, community and independent living, post-secondary education).

Do you know someone who would be a great scholar? Send them to Dr. Allison Fleming at apf5208@psu.edu Penn State Counselor Education and Supervision program.

To learn more about Project FUTURE and admission requirements visit the Project FUTURE homepage.

Application Deadline: December 1, 2022

NTACT:C Career and Technical Education & Secondary Students with Disabilities Quick Guide

The National Technical Assistance Center on Transition: The Collaborative (NTACT:C) is a Technical Assistance Center co-funded by the U.S. Department of Education’s Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) and the Rehabilitation Services Administration (RSA).

NTACT:C has developed a useful guide: The Career and Technical Education and Secondary Students with Disabilities Quick Guide. This guide is designed to provide a brief overview of career and technical education (CTE) as well as strategies to improve access to and participation of students with disabilities in CTE classes and programs.

This guide outlines key information about career and technical education, its benefits, interagency collaboration related to it, and examples and links to websites with more detailed and specific information.

To learn more about NTACT:C and access more resources visit their homepage.

What are we reading?

The latest information brief titled, State-level Strategies That Promote Alternatives to Guardianship for Youth with Intellectual and/or Developmental Disabilities: Lessons Learned from Georgia, Vermont, and Wisconsin, from The Center on Youth Voice, Youth Choice (CYVYC). As mentioned earlier in this newsletter, CYVYC is a national youth resource center on alternatives to guardianship.

An article, ED all in on dual enrollment, by Matthew Dembicki featured in the Community College Daily from the American Association of Community Colleges .

This Inside IES Research blog post in honor of National Disability Employment Awareness Month by Meg Grigal and Clare Papay that shares some of their work on the Moving Transition Forward project.

Clipart of a new message being receiving on email and text.

Research

October 2022 issue of the Brady Bulletin

The Brady Bulletin is produced by the professionals at the Academy for Community Inclusion (ACI) at Florida Atlantic University (FAU), a Florida Postsecondary Comprehensive Transition Program (FPCTP).

The bulletin disseminates reports of research related to postsecondary comprehensive transition programs to professionals who deliver these postsecondary programs, and individuals and their families who participate in these programs.

Find the October issue and past issues on the FAU College of Education Research webpage.

Research Study for IPSE Directors - Utah State University

Are you an IPSE Director?

If yes, you are invited to participate in a research study looking to identify areas of improvement for increasing equity within IPSE programs for students who face barriers in addition to intellectual disability when looking toward postsecondary experiences (IRB Protocol #13014).

All responses will be obtained anonymously and participation entails answering optional multiple choice, fill-in-the-blank, and open-ended questions; the survey should only take approximately 15-20 minutes. Access the survey.

If you have any questions, please contact:

Madison Heider at madison.heider@usu.edu

Employment Opportunities

Visit the Think College employment opportunities webpage for current IPSE-related job openings across the country.

Have a position opening? Email us the job title and a link to the job description and application and we will post it.

Student Opportunities

Have questions about the Emerging Advocates Student Group or want to get involved with the group?

Contact: Liz Weintraub, Senior Advocacy Specialist at Association of University Centers on Disabilities (AUCD) at:

lweintraub@AUCD.org

Emerging Advocates Student Group Meeting - December 2022

This Emerging Advocates group was created for students with disabilities to talk with others so they could share ideas and learn tips together about advocacy. This group has grown to include dozens of emerging leaders who get together on quarterly calls, and we welcome new members. This group is led by and for people with disabilities. Of course, supporters are welcome.

The next Emerging Advocates Student Group meeting will take place on Zoom, on December 1, 2022 from 3:00 PM to 4:00 PM ET. To learn more about the Emerging Advocates group register on this form.