The University of Kansas (KU) Department of Special Education has multiple VISITING ASSISTANT PROFESSOR (VAP) positions available during the 2010-2011 academic year for early-career individuals (i.e., doctoral program completion within the past three years) in early childhood special education, Autism Spectrum Disorders (ASD), and low- and high-incidence disabilities.

These early-career visiting faculty positions are designed to provide recent doctoral program graduates with a “post-doctoral” experience with an emphasis on teacher education knowledge and skills development and related research and writing with KU faculty, staff, and students. Positions may be renewed for a second year based on Department need and VAP performance.

Contact: chrisswt_at_ku_dot_edu

Chriss Walther-Thomas, Ph.D.
Professor and Chair
Department of Special Education
University of Kansas

Shining Stars brochure

A coalition of groups concerned with early childhood education will hold its seventh annual conference in mid-July of 2010. Shining Stars: Charting the Future for Today’s Children will be held at the Cavalier Inn in Virginia Beach (VA, US). Click on the upcoming image to download a brochure or go to the Shining Stars conference website for more information.

Reading is Fundamental, the US nonprofit organization devoted to promoting reading and literacy, is soliciting proposals from university graduate students who would be willing to help conduct some research. The student who receives the award must analyze data and write a report of a study being conducted at Brooklyn (NY, US) Public Library. The study is to investigate the feasibility and impact of providing audio books to children with reading and developmental disabilities.

Upon completion of the project, the grantee will receive $3,000 in compensation. Digital media and special education majors are encouraged to apply. Proposals are due March 26. Direct questions to Patricia Oholeguy at 202.536.3476 or poholeguy [at] rif [dot] org. Learn more about RIF. Download a copy of the RFP.

The Council of Graduate Schools posted a resolution, “Resolution Regarding Graduate Scholars, Fellows, Trainees and Assistants,” regarding offers and acceptances of financial assistance for graduate students. Financial support—scholarships, fellowships, and assistantships—is commonly offered at the same time as an offer of admission for advanced graduate studies, and such offers need to be tendered and accepted within publicly known terms. The resolution affirms that students may entertain more than one offer and, if done appropriately, may renege on an agreement to accept an offer.

Students are under no obligation to respond to offers of financial support prior to April 15; earlier deadlines for acceptance of such offers violate the intent of this Resolution. In those instances in which a student accepts an offer before April 15, and subsequently desires to withdraw that acceptance, the student may submit in writing a resignation of the appointment at any time through April 15. However, an acceptance given or left in force after April 15 commits the student not to accept another offer without first obtaining a written release from the institution to which a commitment has been made. Similarly, an offer by an institution after April 15 is conditional on presentation by the student of the written release from any previously accepted offer

For more, including a complete copy of the statement and a list of the signatories, see “Resolution Regarding Graduate Scholars, Fellows, Trainees, and Assistants.”

Special Education Postdoctoral Scholar

Applications are being accepted for an Institute of Education Sciences (IES) sponsored 2-year special education postdoctoral scholar in the Department of Teaching and Learning at the University of Iowa.

The overall goal of the postdoctoral scholar is to provide the scholar with the knowledge and hands-on experiences needed to conduct rigorous educational research and develop competitive IES grant proposals.

The scholar will work with faculty from a variety of disciplines on a large scale, grant-funded, random control trial (RCT) of the Science Writing Heuristic. The RCT is being conducted in 48 schools and with over 6,000 students throughout the state of Iowa.

Annual salary of $50,000 plus benefits and a large travel and research budget are offered.
U.S. citizenship or permanent resident status required. Applicants from under-represented groups and from all ethnic backgrounds are encouraged to apply.

Potential candidates should have completed a PhD within the last 5 years in special education or a related field.

Required for application: letter of interest, CV, 3 letters of reference, and a writing sample. To apply for this position, visit our website at http://jobs.uiowa.edu/postdoc and choose requisition number 1378.

For more information please contact Dr. Bill Therrien at bill-therrien [at] uiowa [dot] edu or 319-3355606.

The University of Iowa is an Equal Opportunity/Affirmative Action Employer. Applications from women and minorities are strongly encouraged.

The faculty in special education at the Curry School of Education at the University of Virginia is soliciting applications for doctoral study. Click on the accompanying image to download a copy of the flyer describing the program.

The Learning Disabilities Association International (LDA) encourages young professionals committed to quality teaching in the Learning Disabilities field to apply for stipends to attend the LDA conference.

Four TEACHER EDUCATOR STIPENDS will be available for the 2010 International Learning Disabilities Association Conference, February 17-20, 2010, at Baltimore’s (MD, US) Marriott Waterfront Hotel.

Two-person teams must come from the same institution and include one faculty member who trains teachers to work with children with LD and one who teaches general education courses taken by those teachers. The selected teams must attend all four days of the Conference and can be reimbursed for airfare, lodging, meal, and parking expenses up to $1,000 per team. Registration and Banquet fees are waived.

The Conference includes a Wednesday afternoon Professional Preparation Workshop on the difficulties of high-school-to-post-secondary transition from a variety of perspectives. General session speakers will be Martha Denckla, Lisa Dieker, and Michelle Rhee (Chancellor of the Washington, DC, Public Schools). Over 200 other sessions will fill the four-day conference with information, networking opportunities, and greater understanding of the challenges student with learning disabilities and their teachers, face.

Faculty teams desiring to participate must submit the required Application and related materials to:
LDA Teacher Educator Stipends

4156 Library Road
Pittsburgh, PA 15234

All materials must be received by November 16, 2009. The application and an Information Sheet are available at LDAamerica.org. You may also contact LDA by phone at (412) 341-1515 or e-mail at info [at] LDAamerica [dot] org. Selected teams will be notified via e-mail by January 5, 2010

Now in its 14th year, special thanks to the Learning Disabilities Foundation for making stipend funding available for 2010.

The Division for Learning Disabilities of the Council for Exceptional Children will hold its annual conference in October of 2009 in Coronado (CA, US) near San Diego. There’s an all-star lineup of presenters who don’t just spray and pray; they conduct 3-hour workshops so that participants know how to implement practices in clinical and school settings.

Learn more: Click here.

Siegfried Engelmann, the developer of Direct Instruction, has revised his Web site. If you’re a teacher educator concerned about preparing people to help students with disabilities, you almost certainly know about Zig’s DI programs and you’ve probably read some of his writings. His revised site has videos as well as previously un-published papers that are worth reviewing. The site is available a Zig Site.

Fans of the IRIS Center will want to know about new introductions to the excellent resources available at the IRIS center. These self-guided tours are good ways to introduce people who are new to the IRIS world.

These short, informative movies offer a detailed look at The IRIS Home Page and The IRIS Resource Locator, as well as a helpful how-to on Navigating an IRIS Module. To get started, simply go to the IRIS Home Page at http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/ and click on the orange Web Tours button. You can also access the tours directly by going to http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/index_signup_tour.php.

These self-guided tours were developed in part by Tim Braun of Loyola Marymount University. Tim also leads guided tours of the IRIS Web site for those interested in a more interactive and in-depth experience. You can sign up for one of these guided tours at http://iris.peabody.vanderbilt.edu/index_signup_tour.php. Just let us know your name, email address, and institutional, departmental, or organizational affiliation. We will get back to you as soon as possible with confirmation and further details.