The Inside Scoop - August 2008
Welcome Students
The Disability Resource Center (DRC) staff at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock want to welcome new and returning students to the 2008-2009 school year. We hope that everyone had an enjoyable and fruitful summer. We look forward to working with you. Please email sadowns@ualr.edu if you’d like to reply to this message.
Staff Changes at the DRC
Sharon Downs took the helm as the new Director of Disability Resource Center on June 1st. Prior to accepting this position, Sharon served as the Associate Director for the department. She has been with the DRC in some capacity since 1996, when she started out here as a sign language interpreter. After that she ran PEPNet at UALR for seven years, providing outreach and technical assistance to postsecondary institutions in the state who served deaf and hard of hearing students, before being promoted to Associate Director. Sharon had the pleasure of working closely with Susan Queller for all of those years, and looks forward to continuing to collaborate with the campus community to create usable, equitable, inclusive, and sustainable learning environments.
Melanie Thornton began as Associate Director this month. She has served as the Director for Project PACE, a grant-funded DRC project, for nine years. In that capacity, she collaborated with faculty, staff and administrators to create inclusive and equitable learning environments. About her new role, Melanie says, “I am excited about collaborating more closely with students as we continue to work toward the vision of a campus that embraces disability as an aspect of diversity.”
Jan Chaparro will be in the office a couple of days a week for a while to ease the transition while Melanie finishes up the last year of the PACE grant. You may know her from when she used to work full-time in our office as our Access Consultant. We’re so grateful to her for helping us these next few months.
Got Gas?
In an effort to maximize time, energy, technology and gas, the DRC wants to take this opportunity to ensure that you are aware of our website and its virtual tools. Our homepage is: www.ualr.edu/disability. There you can learn more about our mission, contact information, perspective on disability and the elements of diversity we all bring to the UALR campus. Additionally, you can also virtually request your Faculty Notification Letters and submit Requests for Books in Alternate Format. Here’s how:
Request Books in Alternate Format:
• Go to: www.ualr.edu/disability
• On the left, select forms
• On this page, select Requests for Books in Alternate Format
Fill out the form completely and select SUBMIT at the bottom
Requests will be sent to a DRC staff member via email who will begin processing them right away.
REMINDER: Please request your books at least ten (10) weeks prior to the start of each semester.
Request Faculty Notification Letters:
• Go to: www.ualr.edu/disability
• On the left, select forms
• On this page, select Request for Faculty Notification Letters
• Fill out the form completely, and select SUBMIT at the bottom
Requests will be sent to a DRC staff member via email who will begin processing them right away.
REMINDER: Requests received from online students will be sent directly to faculty, via campus mail. All other requests should be picked up at the DRC.
New UALR email alternative
UALR has released a new alternative, web-based e-mail client for users of screen-readers, mobile devices or corporate networks that prevent use of the primary e-mail client (https://mail.ualr.edu/).
This replaces webmail.ualr.edu.
The new product is located at https://altmail.ualr.edu/.
If you need assistance with this system, please consult the e-mail support website (http://ualr.edu/computingservices/email/) or contact the Computing Services Help Desk at 501.569.8720.
Interested in Career Exploration Assistance?
If you are a student who lives in Tennessee, Kentucky, Arkansas, Mississippi, Alabama or Georgia who is interested in career exploration and networking opportunities, including the possibility of attending a national conference, please visit the following website: http://www.cosdonline.org, to learn more.
Students, the DRC, UALR, and Universal Design!!
Universal design is the design of products and environments to be usable by all people, to the greatest extent possible, without the need for adaptation or special design, (AHEAD, date unknown). The DRC and the UALR community as a whole view disability as an aspect of diversity. Furthermore, the DRC collaborates with students, faculty, staff and community members alike to ensure to the greatest extent possible that campus facilities and programs are designed to be usable, equitable, inclusive and sustainable. Such designs would greatly reduce the need for disability-related accommodations because courses and buildings will have been designed to suit everyone’s needs.
UNIVERSAL DESIGN equals GOOD DESIGN!!
As new or returning students, if you encounter any physical, technological, environmental or educational barriers at UALR, please let us know. Also, if you would like to learn more about the concepts of Universal Design and the impact these concepts have had at UALR, please contact the DRC anytime, 501.569.3143 (voice/tty).
Check us out on Facebook!
The DRC just got set up on Facebook, so check us out and sign on as a fan!