(NAME-MCE) Request for support for continuing program at Vanderbilt to train teachers of children with visual impairments

Sat Dec 22 12:46:29 EST 2007

I am forwarding this request for support from a friend who teaches children with visual impairments. The deadline is January 9 as they are considering the future of this program of George Peabody College for Teachers at Vanderbilt University the following day.

  Sandy Nesbit Tracy, Ph.D.
  University of Wyoming

  My Dear Colleagues:

  I have appreciated your tremendous support as we have worked together to serve visually impaired students’ needs. 

  I now have an urgent request for your help. My alma mater, George Peabody College for Teachers of Vanderbilt University, may close its program to train teachers of the visually impaired within a few weeks. 
  We  know that the number of very young and school-aged children diagnosed as visually impaired (VI) is steadily rising. (Check the links to  www.afb.org and www.aph.org in order to confirm this .) In the meantime, a number of university VI teacher training and outreach programs are at risk of closing their doors.

  A rising population of children with VI paired with a shrinking pool of VI teachers bodes ill. It is very difficult now to fill a vision-certified teaching position. What happens once university vision training program(s) close is anyone’s guess.

  In addition, Peabody ’s Program for Visual Disabilities has a unique history of contributions to the field. Founded in 1925, it is one of the nation’s oldest teacher training programs for the visually impaired. Peabody College merged with Vanderbilt University in 1979. Peabody faculty and graduates have produced a large body of both research studies and practical applications. 

  Peabody has made innovations in the areas of programmed braille instruction, education of blind children with multiple disabilities, research and programming in orientation and mobility (white cane and travel training), and advanced technology for the blind. Peabody vision faculty members wrote many of the textbooks on visual impairments used today.

  In a small field such as education of the visually impaired, closing one major institution could have a ripple effect on other institutions.  The fewer highly trained vision professionals there are, the less vision teacher education and vision research there can be, causing numbers of VI programs and providers to dwindle. 

  I appeal to you to join me in advocating for the future of Peabody ’s Program for Visual Disabilities. There is a contact person on campus who can take your messages.  Please strongly recommend that the Program for Visual Disabilities offer a tenure line staff position in order to insure the program’s future, and that they keep the Program for Visual Disabilities open by any means necessary!

  The contact is:
  kelly.lusk at Vanderbilt.Edu

  Thanks for all your support.

  I wish you and yours joyous holidays.

  Sincerely,
  Janice Stallings, M.Ed.
  Teacher of the Visually Impaired
  Peabody , 1981

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Today's Topics:

1. Citation maker (Bill Howe)
2. Germany Seminar Opportunity (Anselmo Villanueva)

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Message: 1
Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2007 21:18:47 -0500
From: "Bill Howe" 
Subject: (NAME-MCE) Citation maker
To: ***NAME-MCE 
Message-ID:

Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8

This is too cool. I wish I had it when I was in school.
If you have the ISBN of a number of a book, it will give you a citation in
several different formats. Here is the link.
http://ottobib.com/

Does anyone know of a tool that will do this with just the title of the book
and authors?

-- 
Bill Howe

Travel to China - June 1-14, 2008 - Teachers & Health Care Professionals -
http://www.billhowe.org/China2008.htm

Web - http://www.billhowe.org
Blog - Travel - http://billhowe.org/BillBlog/
Blog - Multicultural Education - http://billhowe.org/MCE/

Everything now, we must assume, is in our hands;
we have no right to assume otherwise.
If we do not falter in our duty now,
we may be able, handful that we are,
to end the racial nightmare,
and achieve our country,
and change the history of the world.

James Baldwin, "The Fire Next Time"

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Message: 2
Date: Thu, 20 Dec 2007 20:10:33 -0800
From: "Anselmo Villanueva" 
Subject: (NAME-MCE) Germany Seminar Opportunity
To: name-mce at nameorg.org
Message-ID:
<88024d6b0712202010y4613e5f0j3d083ca56b8ea176 at mail.gmail.com>
Content-Type: text/plain; charset=WINDOWS-1252

The following opportunity is not part of the Fulbright Teacher
Exchange Program, but may be of interest to potential Fulbright
applicants, grantees, alumni and the education community. Please
contact the The Fulbright Commission in Germany directly if you are
interested.

The German-American Fulbright Commission (Berlin) is looking for U.S.
teachers of all subjects, including the sciences, arts, and
humanities, and from all types and levels of schools to participate in
a spring seminar in Germany, May 31 ? June 21, 2008

The seminar will provide the participants with professional
development to enrich their own teaching and further their motivation
to engage in transatlantic dialogues and exchanges. The visit in
Germany offers new perspectives and cultural understanding through a
comparison of educational systems.

The seminar features the changing structures in Germany and the
resulting responses and opportunities for German schools, teachers and
students. The participants will get an overview of the German school
and education systems that will allow them to apply this new knowledge
in their own work. In addition, the seminar allows for time and
opportunities to establish new school linkages or other long-term
relationships.

Application Deadline: Application Deadline: January 15, 2008

For more information, please visit the OTHER OPPORTUNITIES page of the
Fulbright Teacher Exchange website
http://www.fulbrightexchanges.org/View/ViewOtherOpps.asp and/or
contact the German-American Fulbright Commssion directly:

Reiner Rohr, Chief American Program Unit
German-American Fulbright Commission
Berlin, Germany
Email: apu at fulbright.de
Phone: +49- 30 ? 28 44 43 - 773
Fax: +49- 30 ? 28 44 43 ? 42
www.fulbright.de

Fulbright Teacher Exchange Program
600 Maryland Ave., SW Suite 320
Washington DC 20024
202.314.3527 phone
202.479.6806 fax
fulbright at grad.usda.gov
www.fulbrightexchanges.org

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End of Name-mce Digest, Vol 691, Issue 1
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