North Carolina Central University Visually Impaired
Training Program
Tessa McCarthy, Ph.D., Assistant Professor, tmccart3@nccu.edu
Justin Kaiser, Ph.D., Program Coordinator, Assistant Professor,
jkaiser@nccu.edu
Brief History
The Visual Impairment Training Program (VITP) in North Carolina
began in 1995 when state funding was earmarked for a program to train
teachers to work with students who are blind and visually impaired. The
earmark came about through the efforts of the National Federation of the
Blind (NFB) of North Carolina, the Department of Public Instruction (DPI), and
the North Carolina legislature as a mandate to meet the needs for highly
qualified personnel in visual impairments and blindness. The program was
originally housed at North Carolina State University in Raleigh. The program
was later moved to North Carolina Central University (NCCU) in Durham.
This was an interesting move. NCCU is a Historically Black University
(HBCU; Historically Black College or University). The mission of NCCU's
School of Education is to prepare educators for culturally diverse contexts,
and housing the VITP at an HBCU is actually a very natural fit. Like
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