Building Bridges: Life Lessons from Three
Different Disability Service Directors
Barb Hammer–University of Missouri
Linda Nissenbaum–St. Louis Community College
Christine Street–Washington University St. Louis
Session Goals & Learning Outcomes
• Learn new pragmatic approach for dealing
with a relevant issue in your own unit
• See how different styles and approaches can
be effective depending on individual
management style and campus culture
• Make a friend! Meet a new colleague or
colleagues with whom you can continue these
conversations. We are among one another's’
best resources!
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Session Overview
I. Institutional Summaries
II. Topical Discussions
III.Small Group Discussions
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Institutional Overview: St. Louis
Community College (STLCC)
Large Community College with 4 campuses (3
suburban, 1 urban) and many off-campus sites.
Approximately 25,000 students college-wide
(10,000 FT, 15,000 PT), with Meramec being the
largest and serving 40% of STLCC students.
Institutional budget comes from tuition, local
tax funding, state funding, and some grant
funding
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Large Community College with 4 campuses (3
suburban, 1 urban) and many off-campus sites.
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STLCC- Florissant Valley
STLCC- Meramec
STLCC- Forest Park
STLCC- Wildwood
The 4 STLCC Access Offices have a long history of working
together with consistent policies and procedures
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Meramec is the largest campus serving 40% of
STLCC students. The majority of the students at this
campus are seeking a transfer degree to a four year
college or university
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Meramec’s Access Office is housed in the
Administration Building along with the VPSA Office,
TRIO, Administration and Registration, Financial Aid,
Advising and Counseling, the President’s Office and
Community Relations.
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The Meramec Campus has four FT
professionals, two FT classified, and
one PT classified position for the
Meramec Access Office.
Additionally, the Adaptive
Technology Specialist and a PT
captioner report to the Director of
Library Services, and the
Assessment Center has additionally
staff that provide over 1500 hours
per semester of out-of-class
testing.
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Approximately 553 registered students with disabilities
registered with the Meramec Access Office and 1200
students with disabilities registered college-wide.
Disabilities served include: LD 28%, Psych 12%, Ortho 2%,
Health 5%, Vision 3%, Deaf/HOH 3%, ABI 1%, BIF .01%, ADHD
16%, LI 4%, Undetermined 15%, Autism-Spectrum 9%
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The Meramec Access Office is a decentralized program. While services are
compliance-based, they also include, advising, academic coaching,
coordination of out-of-class testing through the Assessment Center,
relationships with the Information Access Lab/Library, and Academic Support
Programs that help us to provide paid notetakers and other assistance.
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Institutional Overview:
University of Missouri
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Large, publicly funded
research based institution
(member of AAU)
More than 34,000
students (approx. 27,000
undergraduate)
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Over 306 degree programs through 19 colleges;
largest research operation of any public
university in Missouri; only one of six public
universities nationwide with schools of
medicine, veterinary medicine and law on one
campus
More than 30 percent of MU students come
from another state or country
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The Disability Center is part of the Division of Student
Affairs, which also has Student Life, the Counseling
Center, Residential Life, Campus Dining, Student
Auxiliary Services, Mizzou Rec Services, and as of July
1, Student Health
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Eight full time staff: two administrative support
staff, four Access Advisors (one who is a Deaf
Services Coordinator), an Exam Coordinator and
the Director.
Over 1100 students registered during 2012 –
2013 academic year (40% cognitive, 1%
developmental, 10% health related, 2%
deaf/hard of hearing, 16% learning, 4% physical,
17% psychological, 3% blind/low vision, 6%
temporary conditions, and less than 1%
neurological and speech/language)
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Disability Center services are
primarily compliance based.
Additional supports include a
Graduate Assistant within the
Disability Center who provides
one-on-one counseling with
clinical supervision provided by
Counseling Center
psychologist, and one-on-one
tutoring through the Learning
Center (funded in part by TRIO
and in part by the campus).
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The Disability Center works collaboratively with
the Adaptive Computing Technology Center at
MU to provide alternative formats. ACT (part of
IT) manages the physical conversion of
materials, provides software/hardware support
for students, and hosts server space for e-texts.
Exam accommodations and all other
accommodations are provided by the Disability
Center. In 2012-2013, the Disability Center
scheduled 6162 exams, and administered 4768
exams.
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Institutional Overview: Washington
University in St. Louis
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Five undergraduate schools (A&S, business,
art, architecture, and engineering) and 7
graduate schools (A&S, law, medicine,
business, art & architecture, engineering, and
social work)
Medium-size, highly selective research
institution with strong “known by name and
story” culture
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Approx. 7000 undergraduate students and
6000 graduate students
In addition to tuition, research funds, direct
clinical care, and endowment revenues
provide significant portion of institutional
budget
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Disability Resources:
Housed within
Cornerstone Center
for Advanced
Learning, along with
Academic Support
Programs and Trio
Support Programs
Services are primarily
compliance-based;
however, co-location
results in more
intensive and targeted
academic supports
Three FTEs for Disability
Resources alone, although
other Cornerstone staff also
support mission
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DR staff includes assistant director for disability
resources and two masters-level disability resources
coordinators.
Approximately 700 registered students with
disabilities (54% LD and/or ADHD, 26% mental health,
20% chronic health, 5% mobility, 4% food allergies,
4% hearing/vision, 1% ASD)
Unit manages the provision of all accommodations,
including testing. In 2013-2014, DR oversaw 4728
exams
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Topical Issue Discussions
Personnel
Staffing
Budget
Collaborating across campus
Workflow/Work Assignments
Data Collection & Reporting
Use of Technology for Office Management
Adaptive Technology
Strategic Planning
Leadership
Campus Education & Training
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Topical Issue Discussion
Personnel
Staffing
Budget
Collaborating across campus
Workflow/Work Assignments
Data Collection & Reporting
Use of Technology for Office Management
Adaptive Technology
Strategic Planning
Leadership
Campus Education & Training
25
Topical Issue Discussion
Personnel
Staffing
Budget
Collaborating across campus
Workflow/Work Assignments
Data Collection & Reporting
Use of Technology for Office Management
Adaptive Technology
Strategic Planning
Leadership
Campus Education & Training
26
Topical Issue Discussion
Personnel
Staffing
Budget
Collaborating across campus
Workflow/Work Assignments
Data Collection & Reporting
Use of Technology for Office Management
Adaptive Technology
Strategic Planning
Leadership
Campus Education & Training
27
Topical Issue Discussion
Personnel
Staffing
Budget
Collaborating across campus
Workflow/Work Assignments
Data Collection & Reporting
Use of Technology for Office Management
Adaptive Technology
Strategic Planning
Leadership
Campus Education & Training
28
Topical Issue Discussion
Personnel
Staffing
Budget
Collaborating across campus
Workflow/Work Assignments
Data Collection & Reporting
Use of Technology for Office Management
Adaptive Technology
Strategic Planning
Leadership
Campus Education & Training
29
Topical Issue Discussion
Personnel
Staffing
Budget
Collaborating across campus
Workflow/Work Assignments
Data Collection & Reporting
Use of Technology for Office Management
Adaptive Technology
Strategic Planning
Leadership
Campus Education & Training
30
Topical Issue Discussion
Personnel
Staffing
Budget
Collaborating across campus
Workflow/Work Assignments
Data Collection & Reporting
Use of Technology for Office Management
Adaptive Technology
Strategic Planning
Leadership
Campus Education & Training
31
Topical Issue Discussion
Personnel
Staffing
Budget
Collaborating across campus
Workflow/Work Assignments
Data Collection & Reporting
Use of Technology for Office Management
Adaptive Technology
Strategic Planning
Leadership
Campus Education & Training
32
Topical Issue Discussion
Personnel
Staffing
Budget
Collaborating across campus
Workflow/Work Assignments
Data Collection & Reporting
Use of Technology for Office Management
Adaptive Technology
Strategic Planning
Leadership
Campus Education & Training
33
Topical Issue Discussion
Personnel
Staffing
Budget
Collaborating across campus
Workflow/Work Assignments
Data Collection & Reporting
Use of Technology for Office Management
Adaptive Technology
Strategic Planning
Leadership
Campus Education & Training
34
Small Group Discussion
• Break down into small groups and select a “group
reporter or reporters”
• As a group, select 3 or 4 issue prompts that
pertain to areas that your group finds particularly
challenging or interesting
• Discuss the prompts, with the reporter(s) taking
enough notes to be able to report out to the
larger group
• Be sure to exchange names and contact
information for future conversations.
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Any Questions?
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