NMC welcomes ‘rehabilitation specialists’

Northern Marianas College is currently hosting a number of rehabilitation specialists who are here to help the college prepare the establishment of its rehabilitation services associates degree this upcoming school year.

President Tony V. Deleon Guerrero said hosting these guests would help get the college off to a solid start. The rehabilitation specialists arrived last Thursday.

Deleon Guerrero said the college must first obtain approval for the establishment of the Associate in Arts in Rehabilitation Services from the Western Association of Schools and Colleges before offering the degree.

Acting director of the Rehabilitation Project, Brante Dashiell, M.Ed., is working with project directors Dan Hopkins of the Rocky Mountain Technical Assistance and Counseling Center in Aurora, Colorado, Dr. Madan Kundu of Southern University’s Department of Rehabilitation Services and Disability Studies, and associate coordinator Thomas Throunbourgh, MSE, of the Rocky Mountain Technical Assistance and Consulting Center in Bismark, Arkansas, in establishing the program.

Guerrero said the rehabilitation specialists would stay on the island until tomorrow, Tuesday. NMC has been awarded a total of $1.1 million over the next five years to plan and implement an associate level degree program in rehabilitative services and to articulate its courses with baccalaureate degree programs in this field at other U.S. institutions.

Dr. Timothy Muzzio of the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Special Education and Rehabilitative Services said, “We look forward to the contribution of your project to the field of capacity building for traditionally underserved populations and to improving results for individuals with significant disabilities.”

The award comes from the Federal Rehabilitation Capacity Building for Traditionally Underserved Populations Program and NMC is the first postsecondary two-year institution in the western Pacific region to receive this rehabilitation capacity building grant, which would greatly enhance its institutional ability to prepare Pacific islanders, Asians, and other individuals for professional careers in the public vocational rehabilitation and human services areas.

Guerrero said he is delighted by the approval of the college’s grant application, and is looking forward to working with the Office of Vocational Rehabilitation, Community Guidance Center, the Public School System, and other relevant service providers and government agencies in developing the new degree program.

In its efforts to jumpstart the work on getting community input and support, the college is currently identifying members of the community interested in serving on the advisory council. (Marconi Calindas)