Rehabilitation Counseling Program Gets $1.5 Million - August 25th, 2009

The Rehabilitation Services Administration in the U.S. Department of Education has awarded Dr. Randall Parker two grants totaling $1.5 million to support graduate students in the College of Education’s rehabilitation counseling program.

The grants are in effect from September 2009 through August 2014 and complement a $500,000 grant, also from the U.S. Department of Education, that’s now in its second year. The $500,000 grant is helping master’s degree rehabilitation counseling specialists who will work with blind individuals.

The University of Texas at Austin’s master’s degree program in rehabilitation counseling requires 48 hours of course work over four semesters and the doctoral program requires 75 hours. The graduate programs are designed to prepare students to counsel youth and adults with disabilities who are experiencing difficulties related to personal, social and vocational adjustment. The range of individual needs and conditions with which the counselors assist include neurological, intellectual, behavioral, emotional, orthopedic, sensory and learning disabilities.

Parker is the Melissa Elizabeth Stuart Centennial Professor of Education and director of the Rehabilitation Counselor Education Program in the College of Education’s Department of Special Education.

Students interested in more information on the rehabilitation counseling program grants may contact Parker at r.parker@mail.utexas.edu.

—Kay Randall, University Communications, 512-232-3910