Repository: UIHistories Project: Board of Trustees Minutes - 1976 [PAGE 610]

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1976]

UNIVERSITY OF ILLINOIS

599

Establishment of an Institute for the Study of Developmental Disabilities, Chicago Circle

(14) O n February 11, 1976, the Chicago Circle Senate approved a proposal for the establishment of an Institute for the Study of Developmental Disabilities. T h e institute would be operated cooperatively by the Departments of Biological Sciences and Psychology at Chicago Circle and the Illinois Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities. T h e proposal also contemplates that other academic units at Chicago Circle and at Urbana-Champaign and the Medical Center may participate in the institute as they choose to do so. The State of Illinois has mandated that the Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities provide through such an institute services for some two hundred thousand developmentally disabled persons not presently served by existing programs. Through this cooperative program, specialized training for service and research personnel in areas related to mental retardation, epilepsy, cerebral palsy, and autism will be provided. Interdisciplinary courses in psychology and biology will be offered in the initial phase, but it is hoped that faculty from additional areas of teaching and research will be drawn into the project. T h e institute will sponsor seminars and lectures, coordinate courses, promote cooperative research, and combine practicum and laboratory facilities. The faculty will consist of members who hold appointment in the participating departments or others with an interest in developmental disabilities. T h e clinical and research staff of the State Department of Mental Health and Developmental Disabilities will provide the facilities for much of the clinical and research field work through formal agreement with the University. Several joint appointments between the University and the State department will expedite the cooperation. T h e institute would begin operations in 1976-77 supported by a $33,000 planning grant awarded by the Governor's Council on Developmental Disabilities. Incremental funds outside the University's instructional budget (similar to those received by the Division of Services for Crippled Children) will be sought for the operation of the institute beginning in fiscal year (FY) 1978. T h e Chancellor at the Chicago Circle campus and the Vice President for Academic Affairs concur in recommending the establishment of the institute. T h e University Senates Conference has indicated that no further Senate jurisdiction is involved. I recommend approval, subject to further action by the Illinois Board of Higher Education.

On motion of Mr. Howard, this recommendation was approved. Establishment of Program in Law and Society, Urbana

(15) A Program in Law and Society as a special unit of the Graduate College is proposed at the Urbana-Champaign campus. T h e program will devote itself to promoting and carrying out research and graduate teaching in areas related to law and society, with special emphasis on criminal justice. T h e areas to be addressed are of great national concern, and the campus has faculty resources, spread throughout a number of departments and colleges, with which to make contributions to the understanding of serious societal problems. A Program in Law and Society would provide the necessary focus for sustaining interdisciplinary research in these problems, as well as constitute an important intellectual and teaching addition to graduate education. T h e objective of the program would be to promote and carry out research and teaching in law and society. Operating on an informal, temporary basis in