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Press Release: CIT News: Fall, 2007
Regional Meetings of Interpreting Education Program Administrators
By Cathy Cogen
The National Consortium of Interpreter Education Centers is offering a series of regional meetings of interpreting education program administrators during the 2007-2008 academic year.  The first of these, hosted by the Northeastern University Regional Interpreter Education Center (NURIEC), was held August 30-31, 2007.  The meetings are intended to introduce program administrators to existing and emerging research-based tools and initiatives for achieving curricular and organizational cohesion and quality instruction, a challenging enterprise in the face of staffing and fiscal constraints in today’s programs. Participating program administrators have the opportunity to explore issues of faculty qualifications, staffing (adjunct and full-time) and teaching loads, and their impact on program capacity to offer a cohesive and comprehensive education.  Dr. Betsy Winston, Director of the National Interpreter Education Center, will facilitate the meetings.

Resources supportive of curricular cohesion and faculty assessment are explored, including useful practices offered by participating administrators.  In particular, participants examine the potential benefits of the National Interpreter Education Standards [1] and the CCIE Accreditation Process [2] in enhancing curricular cohesion and strengthening program infrastructure.  Research-based teaching strategies that create cohesion by tying student learning experiences together throughout a program are also addressed. Participants also have the opportunity to explore applications of Effective Practices for Teaching Interpreting: Domains and Competencies [3] in assessing program faculty qualifications and teaching abilities. 

In response to federal grant priorities mandating provision of professional development opportunities for interpreting educators, the National Interpreter Education Center (NIEC) will develop and offer a portfolio review process for administrators and faculty to use in assessing teaching proficiencies.  This newly emerging initiative is introduced in the program administrator series for participant response and input. Program administrators are encouraged to share information on this opportunity with their teaching faculty.

For information on the program administrator meeting being planned in your region, contact your Regional Interpreter Education Center.  Contact information is available at the National Consortium website at: www.asl.neu.edu/nciec/contact.html. 

NCIEC PowerPoint Presentations On-line
The Consortium was privileged to present four sessions at the recent RID Conference. PowerPoint presentations on the Needs Assessment, Medical Interpreting, Mental Health Interpreting, and Deaf Interpreting may be found at: www.asl.neu.edu/nciec/resource/docs.html.

Annotated Deaf Interpreting Bibliography Available
The Northeastern University Regional Interpreter Education Center recently posted Deaf Interpreting Bibliography with Annotations: A Working Document on its website at: www.asl.neu.edu/riec/projects_activities/national_projects/deaf_interpreting/.   Readers are invited to review the bibliography and submit additional entries.  Many of the articles and documents cited are downloadable directly from the bibliography as PDF files, thanks to the generosity of CIT, RID, MJ Bienvenu and Betty Colonomos (The Bicultural Center), and The Court Manager.  Further information about the work of the National Consortium on Deaf interpreting will appear in future issues of the CIT News.

Mental Health and Substance Abuse Domains and Competencies Posted
The National Consortium is working to identify and validate effective practices in programming and resources for teaching mental healthcare and substance abuse interpreting. To date, we have identified existing resources, current practices, and national experts in this area; conducted an informal review of the literature; held interviews with interpreters, providers, and consumers; and, through a series of national and regional focus groups, developed a draft set of domains and competencies that reflect effective interpreting service provision in this setting. An article in the January 2007 RID VIEWS and emails distributed through the Regional Centers invited practitioners and mental healthcare providers to review and comment on the draft domains and competencies, and a market survey was conducted at the RID Conference to gauge practitioner interest in possible levels of training and delivery modes. Next steps will be to begin to evaluate existing mental healthcare interpreting programming to uncover examples of effective practice, and explore promising delivery methods for the programming that the National Consortium will develop during Year 3. Work to date was presented at the 2007 RID Conference.

Domains and Competencies for Effective Mental Health and Substance Abuse Interpreting may be found at www.asl.neu.edu/nciec/projects.html.

Order Discover Interpreting Brochures
The college application season is upon us.  Discover Interpreting brochures are available for distribution at local high schools, college fairs, and career days.  Go to www.discoverinterpreting.com/ and click on Order Brochures to place an order for your program.

References

[1] www.ccie-accreditation.org/PDF/Standards_3.pdf

[2] www.ccie-accreditation.org/Accreditation_Process.html

[3] www.asl.neu.edu/TIEM.online/curriculum_domains.html

Cathy Cogen is Director of the Northeastern University Regional Interpreter Education Center and leads the National Consortium’s effective practices work-teams on Deaf Interpreting, Mental Health and Substance Abuse Interpreting, and Marketing Interpreting as a Career.  The National Consortium of Interpreter Education Centers is funded by grants from the U.S. Department of Education Rehabilitation Services Administration Interpreter Training Program.

The National Consortium of Interpreter Education Centers is funded from 2005 – 2010 by the U.S. Department of Education RSA CFDA #84.160A and B, Training of Interpreters for Individuals Who Are Deaf and Individuals Who Are Deaf-Blind.

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