When senior Stacye Cline transferred to Ball State University, she found the university's services for students with disabilities a breath of fresh air.
"I transferred here from a small liberal arts college where I was the only disabled student on campus," she said.
Making a transition to college from a life of assistance from friends and family can be difficult for a student with disabilities, Cline, who has cerebral palsy, said.
"Many disabled students are sheltered before coming here, so they may need more assistance, more outreach," she said.
To remedy transition difficulties for students, Ball State's Office of Disabled Student Development and its division of student affairs started a mentorship program in which first-year students are partnered with a faculty member who helps with problems and offers general guidance while the students get used to campus life. In its third year, the program has 40 faculty members participating, Larry Markle, director of Disabled Student Development, said.
While Cline has not participated in the program, she said she would have wanted something like that when she started school.
On Aug. 29, the U.S. Department of Education announced Ball State would receive a $113,257 grant in relation to programs through the Office of Disabled Student Development. Markle said he had not received official notification about what the grant was specifically for, but he said the grant proposal included extending the mentorship program and providing sensitivity training classes for faculty, as well as adding an outreach program for secondary schools.
According to a release from the Department of Education, $6.7 million in grants was awarded to 23 higher education organizations, most of which were universities.
The three-year grants assist initiatives for "technical assistance and professional development to faculty and administrators who teach and counsel students with disabilities," according to the release.
Markle worked with three other faculty members - Taiping Ho, professor of criminal justice; Jacqueline Harris, Learning Center study strategies and writing coordinator; and Roger Wessel, associate professor of higher education - to apply for the grant.
Wessel is one of the faculty mentors in the program.
"We are asked to meet with our mentees (our students) on a somewhat regular basis, and that is kind of customized on the student that we are meeting with," he said. "And based upon that interaction, it's my goal to try to make sure that student is aware of all the university resources available to make college successful. For example, students need to be aware of the Learning Center and the availability of tutors available through the Learning Center."
Wessel said the program has been successful so far, as more students are coming back to Ball State for their second year after going through this program.
"We're assisting them in becoming more enabled students," he said.
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