Academic Support (cont'd)
College of Education
Completed in 1972, the College of Education (COE) building houses two academic departments as well as the Certification and Field Experiences Office (CAFÉ), the Montana Center on Disabilities, and the Big Horn Teacher Project. In addition, Information Technology’s new COE 158 provides technology support and services for computing, applications, multi-media production, and student computing. The COE provides excellent observation facilities and ample opportunity for participating in classrooms and clinics. Construction of the two-story addition was completed in the Spring of 2000. The building boasts state-of-the-art classrooms with hearing enhancement equipment and high-tech audio and visual equipment.
Big Horn Teacher Project
The Big Horn Teacher Project is a grant funded program in the College of Education. The Big Horn Teacher Project provides a variety of teacher training services for American Indian students through recruitment, retention, multicultural curriculum enrichment, and the provision of culturally appropriate student support services for Native students entering and enhancing their teaching profession. Active partnerships with tribal colleges and K-12 schools on or near the Crow and Northern Cheyenne Reservations assist the Big Horn Teacher Project to meet the goals of each federally funded project.
The Big Horn Teacher Project provides individualized, computerized, and holistic student support services that include the student’s financial concerns, family, culture, academics, and professional development. The staff includes American Indian professionals highly skilled in academic counseling, social service referrals, and financial aid advocacy. The staff is also knowledgeable of contemporary issues in American Indian education and they are adept at delivering these services in a manner appropriate to cultural protocols commonly practiced among American Indians of the Great Plains region.
Student Fellows in the Big Horn Teacher Projects receive a variety of benefits that include monthly stipends, book allowances, paid tuition and fees, examination fees, attendance at professional conferences, tutoring, Master teacher mentors, tribal elder mentors, multicultural curriculum enrichment, employment assistance, induction year services, and camaraderie with other Natives in the teaching profession.
For additional information visit the Big Horn Teacher Project website at: www.msubillings.edu/bighornteacherproj
Montana Center on Disabilities
The Montana Center on Disabilities is a statewide disability outreach program of the College of Education. The Center is dedicated to creating a fully inclusive society that values people with disabilities and their perspectives. To meet this vision, the Montana Center collaborates with campus, regional, state, and national programs in support of increasing the number of leaders with disabilities.
The Montana Center serves as a training and technical assistance resource to people with disabilities, families and numerous agencies throughout the state. The activities of the Center are funded by a variety of state and federal resources.
The staff of the Montana Center has professional skills related to disability in the areas of employment, work incentives, rehabilitation counseling, transition, hearing conservation, community integration, and collaboration. Through its unique array of programs the Center provides students opportunities to apply skills in a supervised setting. In addition, the various programs of the Center offer unique opportunities for students to engage in study and applied research. The center also maintains a wealth of research resources in the Center’s library and on their web page www.msubillings.edu/mtcd.
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