VIRGINIA MURRAY SOWELL CENTER FOR RESEARCH & EDUCATION IN VISUAL IMPAIRMENT
The Virginia Murray Sowell Center for Research and Education in Visual Impairment at Texas Tech University in Lubbock, Texas, prepares specialists in visual impairment, orientation and mobility, and deafblindness. It promotes quality research to address the academic and social needs of school-age students with visual impairments and provides public service to assist local, national, and international constituencies. The Center offers degree and certification programs in visual impairment (VI), orientation and mobility (O&M), and deafblindness (DB). Scholarships are offered for students in both degree and certification programs. The students in the program are often found throughout Texas and the bordering counties, as most of the programs are available through distance education. The center also offers an Annual Distinguished Lecturer Series in which the finest and most highly qualified in their field come to Lubbock, Texas to offer valuable learning opportunities through the occurrence of lectures.
Dr. Virginia Murray Sowell developed the program at Texas Tech University which is recognized internationally. Dr. Sowell began teaching students with visual impairments in 1955 at the San Antonio Independent School District and received her Ph.D. in special education at the University of Texas at Austin. She started a personnel preparation program in visual impairment at Texas Tech University in 1977. This position along with her many years of teaching provided the background necessary to begin the Orientation and Mobility Program in 1982. In 1989, another program was established that prepared teachers of students with deafblindness.
The Virginia Sowell Center employees nine people. It operates as a federal and state funded grant program. Students with either a Bachelor's or a Master's degree can receive certification as an O&M Specialist, training students how to travel independently, safely, and efficiently in their homes, schools, and communities. O&M Specialists work with individuals with visual impairments - birth through adulthood in both educational and rehabilitation settings.
Students can receive their Teacher of Visually Impaired Certificate if they have or will receive their teaching certificate before completing their VI coursework. This will provide the student with the background necessary for assisting visually impaired children - birth to 22 years, to achieve their educational goals. Students who are prepared to teach children with deafblindness usually have a bachelor's degree and are teachers. They are employed by public schools, residential schools for the blind and agencies serving children and youth with deafblindness. Vision specialists also work with children, parents, other educators, O&M specialists and other community agencies. They teach children the compensatory skills needed to function independently within society.
The Virginia Sowell Center's program offers face to face instruction at a distance, where the faculty will travel to a central site in a region to teach classes, Internet classes, on-campus instruction, for which students move to Lubbock to attend classes on campus, and/or a combination of the above.