The University of Memphis Institute on Disability.

The University of Memphis has created a new center on campus under the leadership of the Vice Provost of Academic Affairs, Dr. Chrisann Schiro-Geist. The University of Memphis Institute on Disability will focus on three different aspects.

"The institute on disability is a way to bring people together from across the university to focus on the classic tri-mission of universities which, first of all, is teaching," says Dr. Schiro-Geist. "To that extent we are creating academic programs on disability beyond what we already have. Secondly, the institute will promote competitive research and applications for external funding, contracts and grants. Thirdly, the institute will be sensitive to the ways the university can serve the people of the community with disabilities."

One of the major reasons that this institute has been created is because there is nothing else that is quite like it. Dr. Schiro-Geist adds, "We're trying to pull together across disciplines rather than everyone going separate ways. One of the problems with the rehabilitation and disability disciplines is that it's too fragmented. This is an attempt to unfragment. This is not an attempt to control research. It's an attempt to show people paradigms that they've never seen before, to see models they've never seen before."

The Institute on Disability has already created a program, through the University College, where undergraduate students can get a bachelor's degree with a concentration in disability studies. Dr. Schiro-Geist is also working to get a graduate certificate for those who are interested but might already have a bachelor's degree, or are already a part of another program.

"It could be that the student would take disability courses while they are a part of another graduate degree program here. For instance, a law student would take these graduate courses in addition to his or her law courses so that they would know about law and also about disability. We would also be offering the graduate certificate to the people of the community or maybe even a professor who wants to know more about helping students with disabilities. People who are already in the field might come back and do the graduate certificate," Dr. Schiro-Geist explains.

While the graduate certificate is not official yet, Dr. Schiro-Geist and her staff are working diligently to have it available in the near future. The graduate and undergraduate program is open to anyone with an interest in disability. Dr. Schiro-Geist adds that there is a particular interest for adults.

"We're especially focused on adult learners who have often had a series of courses in disability, perhaps on the community college level, who are working in the field, and really want to pull that all together and get their bachelor's. We've just let it be known that we put this together and as soon as we did that we've gotten a lot of potential students. We could be starting with 100-150 students in the near future. We haven't done any formal recruiting yet."

Dr. Schiro-Geist could be considered an expert in this field. Before arriving at the University of Memphis, she was in charge of a similar institute at the University of Illinois.

Dr. Schiro-Geist explains the similarities and differences between the institute she left in Illinois and the one she is starting at the University of Memphis, stating, "The one in Illinois, when I left, was getting over $18 million in external funding. I hope we are as successful with this one. We are going to make several attempts in the next year to get some level of funding going. The center in Illinois was very successful in getting research grants. This one in Memphis is different because we are starting with a more balanced approach. We need an educational piece, we need research money, and we want a service piece where we work with the people of this community to see what their service needs are. The Institute follows the Boulder model where research is informed by practice. That will tell us what to research. When we find out what we need to research, we look for sources. When we get the answers to those problems, we give them back to the community. I think this is going to be interactive. The one in Illinois was mega-research and very tiny educational. We only had one or two online programs and no service. This one will be more balanced. We might not get as many research dollars but we are also more consistent with the mission of this university, which is to serve its urban community and west Tennessee."

The Institute for Disability is supported by the Office of the Vice-Provost because it crosses disciplines. Dr. Schiro-Geist hopes that the Institute will be independent within five years. She says, "I think that's a long enough time to let it incubate. It's like a small business, and if it hasn't made it in three to five years, it probably won't be independent. I think we make a financial business plan and we see if that plan is going to work. In three years we know if it's growing. In five years we really know if it's accomplished that plan."

by Christopher Avis, Sparks Bureau of Business and Economic Research, The University of Memphis

About the Institute on Disability

The University of Memphis Institute on Disability (UMID) is an interdisciplinary entity currently being established at the University of Memphis. UMID will serve as a focal point for campus, local, state, national, and international educational, service, and research initiatives exploring the phenomena related to having disabling conditions. Among its central goals are the expansion of the knowledge and experience bases of students and faculty at the University of Memphis. The Institute will reach out to peer educational institutions, as well as to the wealth of metropolitan Memphis-based community organizations, to acquire input and cooperation in advancing its initiatives. In order to benefit from existing knowledge and skill bases, the Institute will actively seek national mentoring support from university- and agency-based centers that have already developed expertise in relevant topic areas.

UMID will foster cross-disciplinary educational and training opportunities. In addition, the Institute will promote the development of a graduate certificate in disability studies and an undergraduate minor in the area. Over the long term, these could develop into undergraduate and graduate degree programs, and could evolve into a doctoral level interdisciplinary degree in disability studies.

In the short term, it will also encourage interdisciplinary research projects with the offer of small competitive grants, especially focused on using existing data bases in the rehabilitation and disability research area. The Institute will also pull together interdisciplinary teams to respond to requests for applications for governmental and private funding. In the long term it will seek federal set-aside and carve-out opportunities in the areas of interdisciplinary disability research.

The University of Memphis Institute on Disability, which enjoys strong administrative support from the University, will also serve as a model for the University's creation and promotion of other institutes with foci on interdisciplinary topics, both within the University and across other universities nationwide and around the world.

Chrisann Schiro-Geist is the Senior Vice Provost for Academic Affairs at the University of Memphis and a full professor in the department of Counseling, Educational Psychology and Research. She was previously a professor and the Director for Disability and Rehabilitation Educational and Training, Office of the Vice Chancellor for Public Engagement and Institutional Relations at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign (2003-2004)and a Director of the Disability Research Institute (DRI) (2000-2004) during a 17 year (1987-2004) tenure there. Her first academic appointment was at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago (1975-1987). She holds a Ph.D. in Counseling Psychology from Northwestern University (1974).

She has published widely in the area of counseling and disability, and in applied psychology. She is the recipient of numerous honors and awards and is the author of two books. She has been awarded over $22 million in external grants, including grants from RSA, NIDRR, NAS and SSA.

Dr. Schiro-Geist currently serves on the Boards of the Council on Rehabilitation Educations' Commission on Standards and Accreditation, and its Committee on Undergraduate Education. She is on the Board of Directors of the Victor C. Neuman Association in Chicago, and Chairs the International Committee for the American Psychological Association, Division of Rehabilitation Psychology. She is a Diplomate of the American Board of Vocational Experts.