Interdisciplinary Education and Training

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Education Programs

Disability Policies and Services Certificate

This 12-credit certificate program is designed to allow graduate students, as well as community professionals, to study policies and services that affect the lives of children, youth, and adults with disabilities.

The program examines the spectrum of education, employment, community living, and health policies affecting individuals with disabilities and their families and surveys the public and private networks of disability services from an interdisciplinary perspective. While the program addresses the needs of people with all types of disabilities, it emphasizes intellectual and related developmental disabilities across the lifespan.

Admissions criteria, curriculum information, and application procedures are available here .

The MNLEND Program is an interdisciplinary leadership training program welcoming Fellows from 14+ graduate-level disciplines across the University of Minnesota. MNLEND also invites Fellows who are active community members in experientially-based fields, such as Community Advocacy, Family Advocacy, and Self Advocacy, and/or who are working professionals in disability-related fields and/or graduate students enrolled in universities other than the University of Minnesota.

The program’s mission is to develop the next generation of knowledgeable, interdisciplinary leaders in the neurodevelopmental disabilities (NDD) field. Postdoctoral, predoctoral, and community fellows are trained to grasp the complexities of and challenges in delivering evidence-based and promising practices, supports, and services across disciplines and settings, enabling them to successfully navigate and collaborate across the many NDD-related fields. Weekly sessions are held on Thursdays from 8:30 am to 12:30 pm for the University academic year.

Fellow requirements, curriculum information, and application procedures are available here.

Training Programs

In-person and online, ICI conducts a wide range of training, consultation, and evaluation services that enhance the capacity of individuals, agencies, and programs to serve persons with disabilities, those at-risk, and their families. Examples of training programs include:

Check & Connect: A Comprehensive Student Engagement InterventionCheck & Connect is a nationally recognized intervention used with K-12 students who show warning signs of disengagement with school and who are at risk of dropping out.

Developing Leadership Capacity in Inclusive Education: A U.S.-Ukrainian PartnershipThis project builds capacity in inclusive education practices at the university and public school levels in six regions of Ukraine through lectures, a train-the-trainer model, and mentoring by U.S. experts. These inclusive practices will affect pre-service teachers and students with and without disabilities.

DirectCourse This partnership between the Research and Training Center on Community Living and Elsevier offers a suite of competency-based, online curricula for professionals providing supports to people with intellectual, developmental, physical, and psychiatric disabilities, and to older adults.

Minnesota DHS Systems Change and Capacity Building Through Research, Training, and Technical Assistance ProjectsThis project conducts research, training and technical assistance activities that enhance Minnesota's capacity to support community living for individuals with disabilities and/or mental illness.

MN Act Early AmbassadorAct Early is building a national network of agencies, organizations, and professionals (called ambassadors) that utilize the Centers for Disease Control's (CDC's) "Learn the Signs. Act Early." message. The MN Act Early Ambassador expands on the Institute's Act Early work in culturally and linguistically diverse communities.

Minnesota Employment, Training, and Technical Assistance Project (MN TAP)This project, funded by the Minnesota Department of Human Services, is designed to improve employment outcomes for people with disabilities.