Think College News

We are happy to announce a new type of publication, created with our partners at AUCD, or Association of University Centers on Disability. The Plain Language Series will feature new publications based on existing Think College documents. Each one will be written in plain language...

Kenneth Kelty is an award-winning motivational speaker and activist on his life with disabilities and exceeding beyond expectations. Kenneth is a proud alumni of The University Participants UP Program class of 2014 and after graduation he was recruited to represent Disability Advocacy in The Leadership Education in Neurodevelopmental Disabilities and Related Disorders. 

Here is a great opportunity for current, former and future college students with and without disabilities.  Syracuse University and George Mason University are excited to announce that the Student Leadership Conference, originally scheduled to be in-person at Syracuse University, is still happening and is being moved to an online format. This two day event will be held online on Thursday October 8 and Friday October 9, 2020.  

Do you want to share about what college is like for you? Professors Beth Myers and Mike Gill from Syracuse University are writing a book about the experiences of students in inclusive college programs. They are looking for college students to share about their lives. All of the chapters of the book will be written by college students in inclusive programs.  

My name is Nicole Villemaire, and I was one of the first graduates of Think College Vermont. It has been seven years since I completed the program and I published my first article on my experience. Think College helped me realize my goals and achieve a lot, but I have had to work hard to learn and grow since graduation.

In July 2019, the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES) announced the release of the 2020 Classification of Instructional Programs (CIP)*. CIP codes are used to classify programs of study offered at postsecondary institutions in federal data collection and reporting. For the first time, a CIP code is provided for Comprehensive Transition and Postsecondary (CTP) Program.

Every year the Think College National Coordinating Center (NCC) invites the project directors and key staff from TPSID model demonstration sites to network and share ideas, present on key features of postsecondary education programs for students with intellectual disability, and to gain new insights from their data. This year was no different, except it was. We held the entire meeting virtually - and due to that new structure, we have recordings of all the Project Director meeting sessions presented by TPSID and Coordinating Center staff, and we want to share them with others who may benefit.

Are you an approved Comprehensive Transition and Postsecondary (CPT) programs or a student attending an approved CTP?  If you are, then you will be interested in reading this recent guidance issued by Federal Student Aid at the US Department of Education related to interruptions of study related to Coronavirus (COVID-19) (Updated June 16, 2020).  For CTP programs and their students, the most important guidance addresses the use of distance education, since CTP programs are, under normal circumstances, prohibited from operating as an exclusively on-line program.

In its just released Summer 2020 edition, Lumina Foundation’s Focus magazine features three college programs for students with intellectual and developmental disabilities: Aggies Elevated at Utah State University, Integrated Studies at Millersville University, and Western Kentucky University’s Circle of Support. 

In March 2020, COVID-19 quickly shut down much of the United States, forcing schools to send staff and students home and begin a new task for most: distance learning. For college students with intellectual disability, this sudden shift posed unique challenges—and for the staff who support them, as well. Staff at Think College quickly realized it could be helpful to give the college program staff a forum to share information, discuss critical topics, and just support one another, so we started hosting weekly meetings.