01/15/09 - Institute announces Siskin Circle of Scholars winners

Date: January 15, 2009
Contact: Seth Seymour
423.648.1709
seth.seymour@siskin.org

Siskin Children’s Institute announces Siskin Circle of Scholars winners
Scholarship program honors UTC students studying early childhood special education

CHATTANOOGA, Tenn. — Siskin Children’s Institute has announced the award recipients of the second annual Siskin Circle of Scholars program. The program offers students in special education or related majors at the University of Tennessee at Chattanooga an opportunity to advance their education and pursue a career that will help children with special needs.

The Institute awarded two $1,000 Undergraduate Scholarships to students with a strong academic record whose career aspirations involve children with disabilities. The recipients are:
-Rachel M. Boyd, of Nashville, a junior who is a double major in early childhood education and special education;
-Sarah E. Rankin, of Chattanooga, a junior who is majoring in early childhood education with an emphasis on early childhood special education.

The Institute also awarded a $1,500 Graduate Research Award to a student whose proposed research aims to improve early childhood special education. The student is required to take a one-credit independent study under the direction of researcher Tom Buggey, Ph.D., the Endowed Siskin Chair of Excellence. The recipient is:
-Linda Rivers, of Chattanooga, a doctoral student in Learning and Leadership and the director of the Children’s Center at UTC. Rivers is studying the impact of a specific teaching strategy and its effect on preschool children with disabilities.

The Institute’s research center, the Siskin Center for Child and Family Research, strives to advance the fields of early childhood development and special education. Led by three doctoral-level researchers, the center partners with higher education institutions on various research projects.

About Siskin Children’s Institute
Since 1950, Siskin Children's Institute has served children with special needs, such as autism, developmental delays and Down syndrome. The Institute achieves its mission in a comprehensive way: a quality preschool education where children with disabilities learn together with typically developing children; family support and community outreach programs; innovative research focusing on early childhood development and special education; and in 2009, developmental and behavioral pediatric health care. For more information about Siskin Children’s Institute, visit www.siskin.org.

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