UM Faculty Receive $1.2 Million Federal Grant to Fund Specialized Training Program

MISSOULA – Two University of Montana faculty recently received a federal grant to fund a training program that will produce special education teachers and speech-language pathologists for Montana schools.

Dr. Morgen Alwell from the Phyllis J. Washington College of Education and Dr. Jennifer Schoffer Closson from the School of Speech, Language, Hearing, and Occupational Sciences received a $1.2 million grant for their project, “Specialized Interventionists for Montana Schools (SIMS) Scholars Training Program.”

Funded by the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP), the SIMS Scholars Program will focus on the preparation of Special Education personnel development to improve services and results for children with disabilities who have high-intensity needs.

Special Education teachers are the number one shortage in Montana schools, especially in rural areas where families with children with disabilities often cannot access services.

Drs. Alwell and Schoffer Closson welcome this opportunity to further address the rural disparities Montana schools experience.

Alwell says that this grant gives them the leverage to support Montana families with children with disabilities and under-served schools and to expand and connect their respective programs to prepare specialized interventionists. 

The SIMS Scholars Program will provide two years of scholarship (tuition, fees, technology, books, etc.) for future special education and speech-language pathology students. 

In return, the students will be required to work in Montana Schools, with a caseload majority of children and specialized needs, for four years. 

The program will welcome both distance and on-campus students.

Contact: Dr. Morgen Alwell, faculty and chair of the Department of Teaching & Learning, morgen.alwell@mso.umt.edu, or Dr. Jennifer Schoffer Closson, Speech, Language, Hearing, and Occupational Sciences, jennifer.closson@mso.umt.edu.