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Building on the success of this project, in
2010 the U.S. Department of Education OSEP
sponsored an additional multi-year Cooperative
Agreement - the National Leadership Consortium
in Sensory Disability (NLCSD). This consortium
expanded to include the fields of deafness/hard of
hearing and deafblindness to address the continued need for faculty trained in research in sensory disabilities. Given the ongoing shortage of
faculty at institutes of higher education who have
specialization in the education of children with
sensory disabilities (Antia, Johnson, Lenihan &
Bebedict, 2009; Andrews & Covell, 2007;
Ambrose-Zaken & Bozemen, 2010), NLCSD has
continued to increase both the quantity and quality of future leaders in the fields of sensory disabilities.
Numerous doctoral students have traditionally been trained in a one-university, onedepartment model (Walker, Golde, Jones,
Bueschel, and Hutchings, 2008). This is especially true in low incidence sensory disabilities
where only one full-time professor for an entire
program is commonplace. An unintended and
possibly negative consequence is students receiving instruction and feedback from a limited
number of experts in the field; in essence, students are limited to the silo in which they are matriculated. Additionally, students in low incidence
programs may not partake in a cohort of samediscipline peers from which to bounce ideas and
gather support.
A variety of informal strategies exist for doctoral students in low incidence programs to increase their exposure to professionals and doctoral students in their respective disciplines (e.g.,
networking at regional and national conferences).
NLCSD has moved a step further to create a formal community of learners to support students
throughout their doctoral careers through a valueadded national Enrichment Program and biannual
