Education (Colleges & Universities)
Here's a look at documents from public, private and community colleges in the U.S.
Featured Stories
Virginia Tech: Supply, Demand, and the Future of Data Centers
BLACKSBURG, Virginia, April 1 -- Virginia Tech issued the following news:
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Supply, demand, and the future of data centers
Researchers across the university are working to solve the mounting challenges of AI infrastructure.
Note to readers: This series of articles focuses on researchers whose work improves efficiency, addresses concerns, or offers alternative solutions to some of the pressing issues created by data centers.
By Noah Frank
As Kirk Cameron sees it, there's an innovation gap in the rapidly expanding business of data centers.
On one side is the demand for raw computing power
... Show Full Article
BLACKSBURG, Virginia, April 1 -- Virginia Tech issued the following news:
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Supply, demand, and the future of data centers
Researchers across the university are working to solve the mounting challenges of AI infrastructure.
Note to readers: This series of articles focuses on researchers whose work improves efficiency, addresses concerns, or offers alternative solutions to some of the pressing issues created by data centers.
By Noah Frank
As Kirk Cameron sees it, there's an innovation gap in the rapidly expanding business of data centers.
On one side is the demand for raw computing powerthat will need to be built out to service the ever-expanding needs of artificial intelligence (AI). On the other is the supply of energy and resources that will be required to make these data centers run. The companies involved, understandably, tend to be focused just on their own side of the industry.
"In general, the two work in isolation, siloed," said Cameron, managing director of the Virginia Tech Institute for Advanced Computing in Alexandria.
That dynamic may be changing, though. As consumer energy prices rise because of the massive energy demands that data centers put on the grid and as some communities have rallied to keep companies from building the structures nearby, there is more pressure than ever to find better solutions on all fronts to the challenges that data centers can create. Virginia Tech's location as a land-grant university in the commonwealth, its guiding principles, and its broad collection of researchers already tackling these issues make the university the ideal place to convene to discuss what comes next.
"What you'd really like to do is bring everybody together on the supply and the demand side to start talking," said Cameron.
That's exactly what will happen when the university convenes leaders from industry, academia, and government, including both expert and emerging voices, at the Data Center Summit in Alexandria later this spring. The invitation-only event will feature candid conversations about the opportunities, trade-offs, and decisions defining the future of data center infrastructure, grounded in real-world experience and cross-sector collaboration.
"These are billion-dollar industries that have been very successful focusing on what they do well. There's not a ton of incentive for them to sort of cross the aisle, in a sense, to really think about co-designing these things together," said Cameron. "And yet, there's probably a lot of efficiencies to be gained."
Cameron is also particularly well-suited to help facilitate these conversations. He began his career working on supercomputers, precursors to today's data centers. In California, contemporary particle accelerators were such energy drags that they could often only run at night in the summer because they were competing with residential and commercial air conditioning on the power grid. Data centers now compete with cities for power, water, and real estate, making Cameron and his team's work at the time prescient.
"We were mostly focused on squeezing every ounce of performance" out of power sources, he said.
Cameron's early work was all about comparing systems like large-scale supercomputers and tracking their energy efficiency over time. That led to creations like the SPECpower benchmark and, more practically to the general public, EnergyStar appliance standards. Once better measurements were in place, the second phase of data center evolution prioritized designing for efficiency throughout the 2010s, delivering a 200-fold improvement over those years. Then came AI.
"Every time we build these big systems, we think we're satisfying a current need," said Cameron. "The reality is, the moment we satisfy the current need, the need goes up."
The recent Ratepayer Protection Pledge signed by AI companies will require that they build, bring, or buy energy resources to power their data centers. But experts believe that will likely require some combination of new natural gas, nuclear, or even fusion power plants to come online, each of which come with their own obstacles and secondary impacts. Cameron believes that viable solutions will need to address both this power supply issue as well as the efficiency on the demand side of the equation.
"They're working in isolation -- they always have," he said. "It might be that the solution we're looking for is in the collaborative space."
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Original text here: https://news.vt.edu/articles/2026/03/data-center-summit-series-supply-demand.html
University of North Florida Hosts Gail M. Cobb Archaeology Laboratory Dedication Ceremony
JACKSONVILLE, Florida, April 1 -- The University of North Florida issued the following news:
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UNF hosts Gail M. Cobb Archaeology Laboratory dedication ceremony
The University of North Florida's Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work in the College of Arts and Sciences today dedicated the Gail M. Cobb Archaeology Laboratory and the new outdoor archaeology laboratory.
The naming of the Gail M. Cobb Archaeology Laboratory indoor teaching and research space was made possible due to a transformative gift from Bill Cobb, given in memory of his late wife, Gail, who was a local
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JACKSONVILLE, Florida, April 1 -- The University of North Florida issued the following news:
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UNF hosts Gail M. Cobb Archaeology Laboratory dedication ceremony
The University of North Florida's Department of Sociology, Anthropology and Social Work in the College of Arts and Sciences today dedicated the Gail M. Cobb Archaeology Laboratory and the new outdoor archaeology laboratory.
The naming of the Gail M. Cobb Archaeology Laboratory indoor teaching and research space was made possible due to a transformative gift from Bill Cobb, given in memory of his late wife, Gail, who was a localarchaeology enthusiast and teacher.
UNF's archaeology lab has been uncovering knowledge and understanding of the archaeology of northeastern Florida and surrounding areas since 1998. The laboratory provides students with hands-on experience in both archaeological fieldwork and laboratory analysis. The lab is currently involved in four somewhat interrelated local research projects, the Mocoma Archaeology Project, Sarabay Project, Mill Cove Complex, and Search for La Caroline.
The new outdoor archaeology laboratory was made possible through a one time investment by the University. This space will expand teaching and learning efforts by allowing students to process materials, practice field techniques and engage hands on with archaeological inquiry.
Both laboratory spaces will allow students to catalogue, analyze and preserve materials with the same care and rigor they will use in professional and academic careers.
"This gift ensures that students will continue to learn in a space that reflects excellence, curiosity and care, values that Gail embodied and that Bill has chosen to honor in such a meaningful way," said Dr. Keith Ashley, Gail M. Cobb Archaeology Lab director. "On behalf of our department, our faculty and our students, thank you, Bill."
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Original text here: https://www.unf.edu/newsroom/2026/03/dedicated-archeology-lab.html
University of Michigan's Literacy Investment Pays Off, Growth in Early Reading Instruction
ANN ARBOR, Michigan, April 1 -- The University of Michigan issued the following news:
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Michigan's literacy investment pays off, growth in early reading instruction
Written By: Danielle Dimcheff, Marsal Family School of Education
Early literacy instruction is improving in classrooms across Michigan--showing that targeted coaching can significantly strengthen how young students are taught to read--as a result of the state's investment in early literacy support for educators.
Michigan passed one of the most comprehensive literacy reform efforts in the United States in 2016. The Read by Grade
... Show Full Article
ANN ARBOR, Michigan, April 1 -- The University of Michigan issued the following news:
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Michigan's literacy investment pays off, growth in early reading instruction
Written By: Danielle Dimcheff, Marsal Family School of Education
Early literacy instruction is improving in classrooms across Michigan--showing that targeted coaching can significantly strengthen how young students are taught to read--as a result of the state's investment in early literacy support for educators.
Michigan passed one of the most comprehensive literacy reform efforts in the United States in 2016. The Read by GradeThree Law was a response to growing concerns over students' performance on state and national reading assessments.
Michigan began funding early literacy coaches at the Intermediate School District level in 2016-17 with an initial $3 million investment. Since then, funding has expanded steadily, reaching $42 million annually by 2023-24.
Researchers Tanya Wright of the University of Michigan Marsal Family School of Education and Lori Bruner of the University of Albany examined how literacy coaching was implemented under the Read by Grade Three Law and the extent to which it supported improvements in teachers' instruction.
The findings are presented in a new policy brief released by the Education Policy Innovation Collaborative, now available on their website alongside additional briefs from the Read by Grade Three Study.
A distinctive feature of the policy is its funding structure, which gives each ISD flexibility to determine how its coaches are hired, assigned to districts and schools and what responsibilities coaches assume, allowing implementation to be tailored to local needs.
Although coaches consistently followed statewide frameworks, the amount and structure of coaching differed significantly across districts, shaping how teachers experienced support.
Coaching was most successful in schools and districts that provided clear roles, manageable caseloads, strong administrative support and access to high-quality instructional materials.
The study, which was supported by the Institute of Education Sciences, U.S. Department of Education and by a grant from the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, highlights both the promise of Michigan's approach and opportunities to strengthen its impact.
The researchers' policy recommendations are designed to establish conditions that sustain and expand the most effective practices identified in their findings and ensure that all teachers benefit from high-quality literacy coaching:
* Expand access to coaching by increasing funding to enable more teachers to receive literacy coaching, reducing coach-to-teacher ratios and enabling districts to pilot and evaluate more scalable models, such as small-group, virtual or hybrid coaching.
* Clarify which research-aligned coaching and literacy instructional practices are core for coaching and provide concrete examples of structured adaptations.
* Strengthen infrastructure to support sustained, focused coaching. This includes establishing reasonable caseloads, clarifying roles and responsibilities, and maintaining regular statewide or ISD-level professional development for coaches and administrators.
* Establish clear expectations for coaching time.
"Improving literacy instruction at scale is possible when coaching is well aligned with research and supported by strong local systems," Wright said.
Gov. Gretchen Whitmer's proposed budget for the 2026-27 fiscal year, which was unveiled in February, prioritizes literacy. Wright and Bruner's study provides a clear framework for improving early literacy instruction across the state.
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Original text here: https://news.umich.edu/michigans-literacy-investment-pays-off-growth-in-early-reading-instruction/
University of Hawaii Manoa: 2 trillion gallons of water trigger historic flooding in Hawaii
MANOA, Hawaii, April 1 -- The University of Hawaii Manoa campus issued the following news release:
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2 trillion gallons of water trigger historic flooding in Hawaii
More than 2 trillion gallons of water--enough to fill 3 million Olympic-sized swimming pools--inundated Hawaii in March. The accumulated rainfall over 14 days reached as high as 3,000% of normal historical levels for this time of year, culminating in a destructive "rain bomb" over Oahu. Through the University of Hawaii's Hawaii Mesonet and the Hawaii Climate Data Portal, researchers captured the scale of these back-to-back Kona
... Show Full Article
MANOA, Hawaii, April 1 -- The University of Hawaii Manoa campus issued the following news release:
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2 trillion gallons of water trigger historic flooding in Hawaii
More than 2 trillion gallons of water--enough to fill 3 million Olympic-sized swimming pools--inundated Hawaii in March. The accumulated rainfall over 14 days reached as high as 3,000% of normal historical levels for this time of year, culminating in a destructive "rain bomb" over Oahu. Through the University of Hawaii's Hawaii Mesonet and the Hawaii Climate Data Portal, researchers captured the scale of these back-to-back Konalow systems, mapping localized threats and providing crucial data on the state's severe flooding.
Between March 1 and March 23, statewide rainfall averaged 18.25 inches--more than 2.6 times the standard March average of 6.85 inches.
While the first storm (March 10-16) brought hurricane-force wind gusts of 135.4 mph to Hawaii Island and up to 62 inches of rain to Maui, the second Kona storm between March 19 and 23 triggered a new wave of devastation. The second storm dumped up to 61 inches of rain in localized areas, producing destructive floods across eastern and central Molokai, West Maui and Oahu.
Communities such as Waialua and Haleiwa on Oahu's north shore experienced devastating inundation. Hawaii Mesonet stations highlighted the widespread intensity of the storm: the Kaala station recorded the island's highest two-day rainfall of roughly 22 inches, including 19.67 inches in a 24-hour period beginning the evening of March 19. Almost simultaneously, the nearby Kalahee Ridge station above Waimea Valley recorded 9.75 inches in 24 hours.
Manoa, Palolo flash floods
As the two-week rainy period neared its end, an intense, localized atmospheric event struck Manoa and Palolo valleys on March 23. Honolulu Mayor Rick Blangiardi described it as a "classic rain bomb," heavy rain caused by a stationary storm cell. This "rain bomb," over Manoa and Palolo valleys, dropped 2 to 4 inches of rain per hour.
Six Hawaii Mesonet stations in the Nuuanu-Manoa area recorded between 3.5 and 6.5 inches of rain, the majority of which fell within a three-hour window. Falling on already saturated ground, this turned streams into raging torrents and triggered significant flash floods.
The Hawaii Mesonet, a statewide network of state-of-the-art weather stations, is proving to be a critical source of weather information, especially valuable during extreme events.
"We are building the mesonet to serve multiple purposes, including research, resource management, support for farmers and ranchers, and others," said Thomas Giambelluca, Hawaii Mesonet project lead, and former director of the UH Water Resources Research Center. "But, providing data when and where it is most needed before and during extreme events like floods and wildfires, might be its most important purpose. Mesonet data will make us better prepared for future events by improving weather forecasts and enabling emergency managers to plan for and respond to extremes."
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Original text here: http://www.uhm.hawaii.edu/news/article.php?aId=14467
University of Colorado: Leadership Under Pressure - Yankey Attends Faculty Fellowship Program in Israel
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado, April 1 -- The University of Colorado issued the following news release:
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Leadership under pressure: Yankey attends Faculty Fellowship Program in Israel
Paul Yankey, Assistant Teaching Professor in the College of Business, recently joined faculty members across the U.S. in Israel as part of the Jewish National Fund-USA's Faculty Fellowship Program, where he had the opportunity to meet Israeli leadership and observe how they shape and apply leadership in high-pressure situations, some of which he now brings to his classroom when teaching.
Taking place from December
... Show Full Article
COLORADO SPRINGS, Colorado, April 1 -- The University of Colorado issued the following news release:
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Leadership under pressure: Yankey attends Faculty Fellowship Program in Israel
Paul Yankey, Assistant Teaching Professor in the College of Business, recently joined faculty members across the U.S. in Israel as part of the Jewish National Fund-USA's Faculty Fellowship Program, where he had the opportunity to meet Israeli leadership and observe how they shape and apply leadership in high-pressure situations, some of which he now brings to his classroom when teaching.
Taking place from December27 to January 7, the program hosts faculty beyond the Jewish faith to travel to Israel, where they are "introduced to the diversity and complexity of Israeli society while enabling them to cultivate collaborative relationships with their Israeli peers at leading academic institutions." While there, Yankey visited Sapir College and several memorial sites, met with civilians, attended a Bedouin dinner and spent time with his fellow faculty travelers.
Yankey spoke on the experience and the significant aspects of being in a high-pressure area and seeing how both officials in charge and residents approach them.
"We were right at the border of Lebanon and Gaza Strip," said Yankey. "So there were many opportunities to see how they applied leadership under pressure. I had the privilege to talk with several leaders, including one of the former Prime Minister Chief of Staffs, and also the individual that is the leader of the largest venture capital firm in Israel. We had hour-long conversations, each of us, and I was able to get real insight behind who they are, living under this constant pressure that they're under, and how that plays out in leadership and decision making."
"I learned a lot, and was quite inspired by the Israeli people and how they think, how they work, and it's impacted a lot of my teaching even in my classes," he continued. "One of the places we went to see was a brand new museum that they had opened, and this is a beautiful facility and the whole purpose of it is tolerance. It's called the Museum of Tolerance, and it gives all kinds of different examples and pictures showing this notion that we may not see eye to eye, but we can employ tolerance with each other. It was one of the things that I took away from the trip, being able to talk about things we disagree on and understand another point of view."
Along with Yankey, faculty from Arizona State University, University of South Florida, Morgan State University, University of Florida, Cornell University, Rice University, New York University, Appalachian State University, University of North Dakota, Florida Atlantic University, Florida International University, New Mexico State University, University of Arizona, University of Texas-El Paso, Northern Arizona University, University of Alabama, Bowling Green State University, Texas A&M University and the University of New Mexico all traveled to Israel and joined in the fellowship.
"It was a very self-aware, respectful group, and all of us just took it in and shared healthy discussions," Yankey said. "We came from different opinions, but it was nice to be able to experience it with purposeful, respectful different points of view."
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Original text here: https://news.uccs.edu/2026/03/31/leadership-under-pressure-yankey-attends-faculty-fellowship-program-in-israel/
University of Cincinnati: Tiny Forests Make Big Impact on and Off Campus
CINCINNATI, Ohio, April 1 -- The University of Cincinnati posted the following news:
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Tiny forests make big impact on and off campus
UC students, faculty take steps to install more small green spaces across Cincinnati
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With Earth Day less than a month away, students and faculty at the University of Cincinnati are taking the first steps at making the city greener through the installation of tiny forests.
What started as a group project between students has grown into a sustainable option for carbon reduction and elimination in Cincinnati, which is one of the only cities in Ohio to have
... Show Full Article
CINCINNATI, Ohio, April 1 -- The University of Cincinnati posted the following news:
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Tiny forests make big impact on and off campus
UC students, faculty take steps to install more small green spaces across Cincinnati
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With Earth Day less than a month away, students and faculty at the University of Cincinnati are taking the first steps at making the city greener through the installation of tiny forests.
What started as a group project between students has grown into a sustainable option for carbon reduction and elimination in Cincinnati, which is one of the only cities in Ohio to havetiny forests.
That project has grown to include a collaboration across these colleges: Arts and Sciences; Engineering; Design, Art, Architechure and Planning; and the Lindner College of Business.
What are tiny forests?
Tiny forests are a densely populated, biodiverse woodlands, often smaller that a tennis court or a couple of parking spaces. They include native species that create a self-sustaining ecosystem within three to five years. Originally developed by Japanese botanist Akira Mayawaki, they are used to both remove and reduce carbon from the atmosphere.
Locally, tiny forests have become more popular in urban areas. One site being considered for a tiny forest is near Camp Washington, near the CSX railroads.
Ken Petren is a professor of biology in UC's College of Arts and Sciences, and director of UC's Center for Field Studies in the Miami Whitewater Forest, which offers nearly 18 acres for environmental research and education.
"Tiny forests are meant to have fast, vigorous growth and to be an island of bio-diversity," Petren said. "We're planting a lot of different species that are going to support a lot of different insects. Those insects are going to feed more diverse birds, some native bees, and all native species."
Not only are tiny forests a benefit to urban neighborhoods, but also introduce composting sites and rural communities that can supply manure-based compost needed to replace depleted urban soil when installing them--which in turn can create more positive and restorative impacts within the Cincinnati area.
Reducing carbon: student-led tiny forests inspire
In 2024, a group of UC students worked together to install a tiny forest and study its carbon reduction. That tiny forest would later introduce the city to an innovative way to approach urban greenspaces.
"I was an environmental engineer last year, so for my capstone we had to implement the tiny forest," said Zachary Torres, a graduate student enrolled in UC Business Administration. "The method has actually been around, since the 70s, using the Miyawaki method."
Developed for urban areas and used in nations where reforestation is needed, a group of UC students took that idea into their own hands and brought Ohio's only tiny forest to life at the UC Field Center. In the same year, another tiny forest was installed on UC's campus at the College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning (DAAP)'s Annex site at 429 Riddle Road.
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"Sites could be a border along a highway or an off-ramp. It could help provide a border shielding from emission, light and noise."
- Professor Ken Petren, Director of UC's Center for Field Studies
Sustainable and innovative
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"We're out of balance," said Ralph Brueggeman, an adjunct professor at the UC's College of Engineering and Applied Science. "Because of the urbanization issue, we don't have a lot of land, so we want to put down wherever there is room and we only have 100 acres in Cincinnati to use. So maybe we can put these in areas next to highways, in parks, in any location that has space."
Tiny forests are an urban asset as they are designed to be small, dense forest areas that are installed with specifically curated soil for the plants that will be included. Trees, shrubs and native plants are added to the tiny forest, and the curated soil will promote quick growth. As the plants age and die, nutrients from those plants make the living plants stronger while improving the biomass of the soil.
"We were able to get handheld sensors that record two month's worth of data in regards to soil, moisture, nutrient contents," Torres said, "To see if soil was actually getting better and then the goal of it is that, in three or four years, you could actually be able to quantify the amount of carbon that is captured."
Torres talked about software that members of the team developed utilizing a Physiological Processes Predicting Growth or 3PG model to record the data and predict the carbon capture of that specific forest. Brueggeman was one of the professors involved in the installation of student-developed sensors into DAAP's tiny forest site.
"Decarbonization is what we want to achieve because we want to reduce and remove CO2," Brueggeman said. "Reduce and remove, use climate solutions and use engineering solutions."
Reduces, removes carbon more efficiently
When more people drive electric vehicles or purchase technology that runs on renewable energy, that can reduce the amount of carbon that is produced in the atmosphere, but Brueggeman points out that efforts relying solely on reductive solutions can only get us so far in the fight to actually remove CO2.
"We also have to remove CO2 and there's certain things that we need to do to go beyond reducing and there are two solutions: one is climate solution and the other is engineered removals," Brueggeman said. "So, what we want to achieve is net zero."
Tiny forests are especially effective at removing that leftover carbon through photosynthesis, which takes carbon out of the atmosphere and into the wood, and those plants replace it with oxygen.
Tiny forests go off campus
While few tiny forests have been created in Ohio, many outside of UC have had their eye on the progress UC's tiny forests have been making.
"This past summer, we were contacted by Taking Root," said Petren. "It's a local organization. They are planting native species, and they heard through the grapevine that we have a tiny forest."
"It's grown very quickly, it looks like a mini jungle, so it's small but it inspired them," Petren said. Data was shared from the Field Center's tiny forest and the soil recipe was gathered, and now Taking Root has partnered with Petren to apply for a grant that would help fund another tiny forest.
"They've put in a proposal to the Cincinnati Bell Foundation to build four tiny forests in two years," Petren said. "I think the city park foundation has chimed in with another $10,000, so we'll be planting tiny forests a little bigger than the ones we planted here, which makes sense because ours was just a little example."
Petren explained that for an urban area like Cincinnati, tiny forests "make a lot of sense."
"Sites we're looking at could be a border along a highway and an off-ramp. It could help provide a border shielding from emission, light and noise," Petren said. "The grant has been approved, so its just about getting formal approval in the next month or two, and then we could actually go and potentially break ground in the next couple of weeks."
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Original text here: https://www.uc.edu/news/articles/2026/03/tiny-forests-make-big-impact-on-and-off-campus.html
Access Reimagined: UofM's Community-Engaged Healthcare Initiatives
MEMPHIS, Tennessee, April 1 -- The University of Memphis issued the following news:
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Access Reimagined: UofM's Community-Engaged Healthcare Initiatives
In a physical therapy clinic in rural West Tennessee, a handwritten schedule hangs on a clipboard. Appointment times have been carefully arranged to make use of every available provider, yet the week still has long stretches where rooms sit unused.
The reason is simple -- there are not enough clinicians to fill them.
Some job openings have remained unfilled for months. Other facilities can't find practitioners to fill them, often going
... Show Full Article
MEMPHIS, Tennessee, April 1 -- The University of Memphis issued the following news:
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Access Reimagined: UofM's Community-Engaged Healthcare Initiatives
In a physical therapy clinic in rural West Tennessee, a handwritten schedule hangs on a clipboard. Appointment times have been carefully arranged to make use of every available provider, yet the week still has long stretches where rooms sit unused.
The reason is simple -- there are not enough clinicians to fill them.
Some job openings have remained unfilled for months. Other facilities can't find practitioners to fill them, often goingweeks without a single application.
On top of this, the community continues to age. People keep working in physically demanding jobs. Injuries keep happening. The need grows, but the workforce does not.
A few hours away in Memphis, another barrier to care takes form.
An older man is struggling with hearing loss. Even if he could find a nearby clinic, he has no way to get to his appointment and he is unsure if the specialist could actually help him.
In many urban neighborhoods, the path to routine hearing care has never been simple.
Specialized clinics are few and far between, and even when services exist, daily realities make them out of reach. Many families juggle tight budgets, jobs without sick leave and long commutes on limited transportation, leaving little room for preventive appointments. Others have gone years without seeing a provider because past experiences have made the healthcare system feel uncertain or unwelcoming.
Layer by layer, these circumstances create a landscape where early screening is rare, and hearing issues often go unnoticed until they become urgent. For many Memphians, emergency rooms have become the default entry point to care, a place that cannot offer the long-term support these conditions require.
These moments reveal a shared truth.
Access to healthcare is not a single challenge but it is one that shifts with geography, resources and how connected people feel to the systems meant to support them.
At the University of Memphis, two initiatives are stepping into these gaps with place-based strategies designed to strengthen the well-being of communities across Tennessee.
The first strategy is the new Doctor of Physical Therapy program at the University of Memphis Lambuth campus. The other is the Memphis SOUND Project (Serving Our Underrepresented Neighbors who are Deaf or Hard of Hearing), a community-engaged hearing health initiative through the Cochlear Implant Research Lab (CIRL).
CIRL views communication as a fundamental part of the human experience.
When people have a breakdown in their communication, they experience a breakdown in the way they can fully participate in their communities. Thanks to community and private philanthropic support, CIRL is able to engage the community and provide programming and education to improve outcomes for individuals suffering from severe hearing loss.
Together, both CIRL and the SOUND project reflect what access can look like when a University and its supporters recognize a need, respond directly and commit to serving its region with intention.
While rural challenges are primarily shaped by distance and lack of providers, the barriers in Memphis stem from mistrust and a lack of opportunity. The Memphis SOUND Project focuses on hearing health among primarily older adults in the Memphis community who are often underserved by traditional healthcare systems.
Rather than expecting people to enter unfamiliar clinical environments, the SOUND project brings care to trusted places.
"The project was co-developed with community partners and is building on long-term relationships with local faith-based organizations, which serve as trusted spaces for outreach education and on-site hearing screenings." says Dr. Sarah Warren, team lead for Memphis SOUND.
That foundation reflects a shared leadership model.
"A core principle of the project is shared leadership," Warren explained. She also credits community partner Iris Allen as being central to that work. "I work closely with Iris Allen, a community partner who helped found and shape the project from the beginning and plays a central role in engagement, trust-building and implementation."
As Warren explains, "Community voices guide both what we study and how the work is carried out."
Recent research highlights the urgency.
"In the past couple of years, new research has found that hearing loss is the largest modifiable risk factor for cognitive decline and dementia, yet most people don't know about that connection."
Many individuals have never encountered this information.
"It simply hasn't reached them, even though early identification and intervention could meaningfully change long-term health outcomes," she said.
Dr. Warren and the rest of the SOUND team see that gap as a call to action.
"We see it as a responsibility to share that knowledge broadly and especially with communities who have historically had the least access to preventive health information," Warren said.
Awareness, however, is only part of the challenge.
"The barriers these individuals face go far beyond awareness," Warren explained. "They include limited access points for care, structural hurdles within healthcare systems and longstanding mistrust rooted in prior experiences."
Memphis SOUND responds by expanding access directly to the neighborhoods where it's needed most. The project is "designed to address those challenges by bringing hearing health services into trusted community spaces and building relationships first rather than expecting people to navigate systems that weren't built with them in mind."
Collaboration across campus strengthens the work.
Warren said, "From the University side, Memphis SOUND brings together collaborators across multiple schools, including the School of Communication Sciences and Disorders, the School of Public Health and the School of Social Work alongside community partners."
Warren notes that it reflects a broader commitment to interdisciplinary and community-centered impact right here in Memphis.
Looking forward, she sees significant potential.
"Our vision is for Memphis SOUND to serve as a prototype for similar community-engaged hearing health initiatives in other urban areas facing comparable inequities."
As a Memphian, she finds the work deeply meaningful.
"I have found our community to be enthusiastic about opportunities to improve our city and the lives of people who live here," she said.
In West Tennessee, just 75 miles from Memphis at the Lambuth campus, the mission is the same.
Dr. Jacque Bradford, director of the new DPT program at Lambuth, has spent years watching clinics struggle to hire enough physical therapists to meet the demand.
"They have open PT positions but graduates from DPT programs in more urban cities tend to stay in the urban city or go out elsewhere," Bradford said.
The issue spans the entire region.
"My colleagues who work, lead and have developed and established clinics in West Tennessee are unable to serve their patient population because they don't have the staffing they need."
Delayed care creates a downstream impact for families who must balance time off work, travel, cost and the physical toll of waiting.
As Bradford explains, "Distance is part of it too, but if you have a clinic and you're not even able to get the clinic staffed, that's another whole layer to it. It's a big layer."
Rural labor often involves physically demanding work and the risk of injury is high.
"If you think about rural communities, what kind of jobs do you think of? Sometimes you think of the farming industry, you think of blue-collar labor. And when you think of those jobs, the incidence of injury is higher," Bradford said.
Effective physical therapy not only restores mobility but reduces reliance on pain medication.
"This program also helps reduce the need for opioids and it keeps our community safer and healthier in the long run," she said.
Jackson is a natural home for a program like this.
As Bradford shares, "Jackson, Tenn is known as Hub City, and Hub City is really the hub of West Tennessee."
The Lambuth campus is close to Jackson Madison County General Hospital and near clinics that serve both urban and rural patients. "This campus is to me a hub for healthcare education."
That sense of purpose guides the program.
"Our mission emphasizes rural healthcare...ensuring that every decision we make as we continue to develop this program is reflecting back on our mission," Bradford said.
The program relies on strong partnerships throughout West Tennessee to achieve this mission.
"First and foremost, we would not be a program without these partnerships," Bradford said.
Clinics provide training environments where students gain direct experience. In return, the University offers shared resources and continuing education. Community therapists help with simulation activities and serve as mentors.
"We need clinical sites... they need our graduates, they need to educate their team... in a nutshell, it's a pipeline," she said.
Bradford hopes this pipeline leads to a workforce rooted in the region. "I hope they will be practitioners who will want to work in West Tennessee or rural communities." She also wants graduates who embody empathy and patient-centered care.
"I want them to be patient first providers and very goal-oriented in the sense of meeting the patient's needs over their own as a physical therapist. I would hope that they would all be empathetic," Bradford said.
Although the Lambuth DPT program and Memphis SOUND address different needs, they share a common philosophy: Bring care closer. Build trust. Honor the communities being served.
Warren said, "The comparison between the two programs highlights how expanding medical services can look different, but can be equally impactful across urban and rural settings."
These initiatives also demonstrate the impact of the University's investment in regional wellbeing. When new programs take root in West Tennessee and community-engaged research grows in Memphis, the University strengthens its role as a partner in the health of its state. Alumni, donors and community supporters help fuel this work by believing in its purpose and by trusting the University to lead with care.
Across Tennessee, the work underway in classrooms, clinics, churches and community centers is reshaping what access can mean.
In Jackson, future physical therapists prepare for the day they will serve the communities that trained them. In Memphis, community volunteers backed by the UofM help adults receive critical hearing screenings in a space where they feel seen and known. In both places, the University of Memphis continues to expand its presence as a neighbor, a partner and a source of steady support.
This is access reimagined through commitment and connection made possible by a University that believes in meeting people where they are and helping them move forward with confidence and care.
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Original text here: https://blogs.memphis.edu/newsroom/2026/03/31/access-reimagined-uofms-community-engaged-healthcare-initiatives/
