USD Magazine, Fall 2004

AN EXCEPTIONAL

Judy Mantle Leads Special Education Into a New Era by Michael R. Haskins T hree years ago, the School of Education's special education program was about to be reborn. An outdated curriculum had been rewritten, the requirements were updated to reflect evolving student needs, and the school was prepared to launch a new and improved era in USD's teacher education programs. The only thing missing was a leader. That's when Judy Mantle came on board. A veteran of educa– tion programs, with more than 30 years in the field, Mantle was recruited to guide the university's special education program to a position among the best in the country. And in three short years, that's just what she's done. "Judy is masterful at organizing," says School of Education Dean Paula Cordeiro. "She is passionate about students with special needs, and she has formed wonderful relationships with community organizations." Since arriving at USD in 2001 and assuming the School of Education's Deforest Strunk Chair in Special Education, Mantle has done far more than implement the new special education curriculum, which offers specialized credentials in the areas of early childhood special education, mild/moderate disabilities and moderate/severe disabilities. She built new partnerships with diverse school districts, allowing the program's student-teachers to experience varied learning environments. She created a new schol– arship program that allows general education teachers, released because of budget curs, to retrain as special education teachers. And she formed an advisory board of expercs from the San Diego region to offer advice about how to make the program better. "I was honored to come to USD, because I felt chat I could empower teachers to go out into the world and make a difference," Mantle says. "In the special education field, it's so important to help teachers learn to connect and work effectively with fanulies, because that's how the needs of the children are best served." Because of her efforcs, this year USD has doubled the number of special education student teachers and interns in the field. Working with colleagues Jerome Ammer and Kacie Bishop-Smith, she facilitated a program development initiative that resulted in USD becoming the first private university in California to be accredited by rhe Council for Exceptional Children, the major national professional organization for special education teachers.

PHOTO BY ROONEY NAKAMOTO

Mantle's most recent coup is a just-announced partnership between USD and the John Tracy Clinic, a private, nonprofit education center that assists families of infants and preschool children with hearing losses by providing free education and assistance services worldwide. The partnership with the Los Angeles-based center will allow USD to expand its special education programs and to attract some of the best teachers in the region. Through the partnership, the university will help facilitate the Tracy Clinic's mission to educate and offer emotional support to parents and deaf youngsters, while USD students will benefit from working with one of the most advanced centers in the world. This year, experts from the center and the university will collaborate to create a new master's curriculum in the deaf and hard-of-hearing specialty chat will debut at USD in Fall 2005 . In addition, clinic staff will come to USD to team-teach courses and offer guest lectures, while students will do a significant portion of their clinical work at the center. "We are honored that the Tracy Clinic selected USD to help serve the deaf and hearing-impaired community," says Cordeiro, who worked with Mantle to create the partnership. "It shows chat USD's stature in the education community has risen as a result of Judy's work. " Although she's taking a break from teaching chis semester while she hammers our the details of the school's partnership with the Tracy Clinic, Mantle isn't done coming up with new ideas. "Success, to me, is when we have school district personnel call and say they have a position and they want a USD graduate, and that does happen frequently, " Mantle says. "When our students are sought out by the districts, we know we're making a difference in education. " +

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