Current Projects for the Virginia Murray Sowell Center

Sowell Center Receives $1.5 million Grant

Texas Council for Developmental Disabilities (TCDD) has funded a new project, Project TEDD: Training Educators in Dual Diagnosis, at $1.5 million. Over 5 years, K-12 teachers will be provided with the skills needed to work with students with a dual diagnosis (DD) of intellectual and developmental disability (I/DD) and mental health needs. A train-the-trainer model will be used to train 400 teachers in Texas who will in turn train 5 more additional teachers. The co-investigators are Drs. Devender Banda, Stacy Carter and Nora Griffin-Shirley.

The mission of TCDD is to create change so that all people with disabilities are fully included in their communities and exercise control over their own lives.

Learn more about Project TEDD

Project MAPVI: Multiculturally Adept Professionals in Visual Impairment Program

Project MAPVI is the Sowell Center's U.S. Department of Education Office of Special Education Programs grant (funded in 2024). The first cohort of students will start in summer of 2025, and the second cohort will begin in summer of 2027. The grant will be directed by Dr. Rona Pogrund, assisted by Dr. Nora Griffin-Shirley (co-principal investigator). The Project MAPVI grant was created to recruit and train scholars from Texas and Mississippi to become certified teachers of students with visual impairments (TSVIs) or orientation and mobility (O&M) specialists with backgrounds and specialized expertise in multicultural and multilingual education.

Learn more about Project MAPVI

The Reach Across Texas Program

RATP is a competitive scholarship program that assists with tuition and fees for students who are accepted into the Teacher of Students with Visual Impairments (TVI) or Orientation and Mobility (O&M) Certification Programs at TTU. The funds are provided from the state of Texas to the Texas School for the Blind and Visually Impaired to increase the capacity of visual impairment personnel working as TVIs or O&M specialists with school-aged students (birth-21) in Texas. To be eligible for a Reach Across Texas scholarship award, one has to be a resident of Texas, have a Bachelor's Degree and an initial Texas teaching certification in special ed or any area of general ed for the TVI program and just a Bachelor's Degree for the O&M program, and seek employment in an educational setting in Texas after completion of the program. The deadlines for consideration of an award are: June 1 for fall admission, November 1 for spring admission, and April 15 for summer admission. For the Reach Across Texas application, visit the Application Information page.