Utah Valley University’s Office of Accessibility Services (OAS) received a two-year grant, totaling $203,000, from the Marriott Daughters Foundation to further their support of differently abled students. The grant includes funding for a new OAS counselor & outreach specialist position and faculty training in Universal Design for Learning (UDL) in higher education.

“The donor wanted to fund a grant that would directly help students who are differently abled, as well as tie in with existing first-year experience programming to increase student success and retention,” said Sherry Page, director of Accessibility Services. “It is critically important to the Marriott Daughters Foundation that students who need accommodations request and receive them.  The faculty training and the new position will help us ensure we are meeting the needs of as many students as possible.”

The OAS counselor & outreach specialist position will increase visibility of the OAS by having a presence at student orientations, high school transitions, and campus advisor, staff, and faculty trainings. The position will also do the following:

• Raise awareness about accessibility services in order to help students who may not realize they qualify for accommodations;
• Serve as a bridge between the OAS and the First-Year Experience Office to increase retention and completion rates for differently abled students; and
• Counsel first-year differently abled students about high-impact learning opportunities on campus

 

“Having someone dedicated to educating the university about the purpose of our office will really help us connect with students who don’t know we exist, don’t know they’re eligible for accommodations, or are hesitant to request accommodations,” said Page. “Increased visibility will increase the comfort level of students to utilize our office, and if they decide they need accessibility assistance, this new position will be an easy and direct contact for them.”

The second portion of the grant, the faculty training in UDL in higher education, will help professors understand the benefits of proactively removing access barriers in their coursework. Following the practice of universal design, students who do not self-identify as differently abled will also benefit from the faculty training.

 

 

UDL’s classroom application could be as simple as a professor adopting a textbook that already has an audio component. Not only does the professor eliminate the need for a differently abled student to special order an audio edition, it also benefits the students who are auditory learners, prefer to multitask while studying, or are permitted to listen to audiobooks while working.

Both the OAS counselor and outreach specialist position and UDL in higher education training will be implemented by the Fall 2020 semester.

“The Office of Accessibility Services has over 2,000 current student caseloads,” said Page. “While this grant is focused on enriching the UVU experience for these differently abled students as well as any new students that use our services, it really will benefit the campus as a whole.”  

 

The Office of Accessibility Services

The Office of Accessibility Services serves Utah Valley University students and the community by providing access to the campus and curriculum for individuals with disabilities to facilitate, support, and encourage their academic success and retention, and ensure their educational rights.