Rachel Newland found the NIU Department of Special and Early Education’s Visual Disabilities Program through a YouTube search. And in coming to the College of Education, she’s found a home. “Dr. Kapperman has been my primary guide; his interest in sex education
Read moreVisual Disabilities students impress with research at biennial conference
Gaylen Kapperman has attended countless professional conferences during his nearly half-century in academia. But the professor emeritus in the Department of Special and Early Education’s Visual Disabilities program is hard-pressed to remember a meeting room fuller than the one he encountered this
Read moreGraduate student whips up a sweet recipe to teach children about visual disabilities
Elizabeth Hipskind stood in front of a room full of TVIs – teachers of the visually impaired – wearing an apron and prepared with a plastic tub of moist baby-wipes. Hipskind had come to the February conference of the Illinois Association for
Read moreVisual Disabilities alumna Kateri Gullifor discovers joy, national acclaim in teaching
Kateri Gullifor laughs now when she thinks about the big red flag she wisely ignored on the way to her career. “I’ve never been one to be super well-oriented,” says Gullifor, a Teacher of the Visually Impaired and the only Orientation and
Read moreCongratulations!
Todd Gilson, acting associate dean of Research, Resources and Innovation in the NIU College of Education, has been named a Fellow of the Association of Applied Sport Psychology (AASP). His election to Fellow status is “a well-earned recognition of his contributions to
Read moreVision Program graduate student earns prestigious Donald Blasch Scholarship
Michael Foster, a Vision Program graduate student working toward a master’s degree in Orientation and Mobility, is one of two recipients of the prestigious Donald Blasch Scholarship. Sponsored by the O&M division of the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and
Read morePeople with visual impairments might score romance on Tinder, SEED researchers discover
Men with visual disabilities are more likely to find dates on Tinder than are women with visual disabilities, according to a study by professors and their graduate research assistants in the NIU Department of Special and Early Education. Published in the July-August
Read moreVision Program alum rekindles love of ice skating with Chicago Blackhawks Blind Hockey team
Kevin Allison had spent most of his young life on the ice in pursuit of one dream. “I was always a figure skater. I was always training. I was getting my degree at the same time – my undergraduate degree – but
Read moreVisual Impairments grad student hopes to improve lives, system
When Lizzy Koster graduated from Hendrix College in Arkansas, she took a job as an assistant at a political consulting firm. It didn’t last long. “Politics wasn’t what I imagined it would be,” says Koster, an NIU College of Education graduate student
Read moreSilicon Valley social entrepreneur to receive honorary NIU doctorate
NIU will confer an honorary doctorate degree this fall to James Fruchterman, who has devoted his career to bringing “Silicon Valley’s technology innovations to all of humanity, not just the richest 5 percent.” The CEO and founder of Benetech will receive his
Read moreTrailblazing
Craig Phillips, M.S.Ed. ’95, is completing a groundbreaking project with the National Park Service. Phillips, a certified orientation and mobility specialist and teacher of the blind and visually impaired, has led a project to make all 40-plus miles of trails in the
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