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Committee on Services to Students with Disabilities Minutes for September 29, 2006

In attendance Karen Wolford, Harry Shock, Drew Urbanek, Larry Mayo, Melissa  Barlow, Deborah Curry, Jim McGivney, Starr Knapp, CHris  Hebblethwaite, Jim Russell, AManda Fenlon, Bobbi Schnorr Bobbi called meeting to order at 9:05.  Members introduced selves  and campus affililiations Bobbi  presented a brief overview of the committee's history and  purpose for new members. She highlighted shifts in recent years to  broaden our focus on promoting campus understanding of disability  as a diversity issue, rather than a narrow focus on legal compliance. Bobbi shared examples of last year's committee activities  (developed content for a web based faculty guide to serving  students with disabilities, fall speaker related to ORI--Michael  Schwartz, contributed and participated in film series--Arts and  Psychology; identified physical barriers to accessibility in  Sheldon, Wilber and Poucher; some members attended a conference on  Inclusion and Disability in the spring... Bobbi shared update on status of Web based Faculty Guide. We had  hoped to have it uploaded by the beginning of the school year. The  content is complete. Mike Regan plans to complete the uploading in  the coming weeks. Harry Shock mentioned that the next training for  new faculty is scheduled for October and the topic is serving  students with disabilities. We plan to have the web version  available for use at that workshop. Harry also reported that he  shared information at summer orientation for new faculty and staff  related to serving students who have disabilities. Bobbi summarized content from the June 9 retreat. At that meeting,  those present unanimously agreed that one priority for the coming  year (06-07) is for our committee to actively promote the new web  based faculty guide through chairs and dept meetings.  Bobbi shared  the brainstorm list of other possible areas of focus that was  generated at the retreat (physical accessibility issues, student  perspectives, town hall mtg w/ students, disabilities studies  possibilities, activities through CELT, UDL training for campus) The group discussed possibilities for each topic.  Individual  members agreed to take lead responsibility to initiated group/sub  group action related to the following: Meet with Mary DePentu about proactive planning for physical  accessibility (Deborah Curry) Continue/ broaden effort to gather information on perspectives of  students who receive accommodations about their experiences at SUNY  Oswego (academic and all aspects of campus life). A survey was  initiated in Spring 05--we have some data. Melissa asked if  students with disabilities have a peer contact. Starr indicated  this does not exist. This may be something this sub group explores.  Amanda said that last spring we had talked about holding some kind  of "Town Hall" meeting to connect with students who receive  accommodations and invite their participation. Chris, Amanda and  Melissa agreed to lead this effort. Karen Wolford shared comments from the retreat discussion about  exploring an undergrad "Disabilites Studies Certificate." Larry  Mayo asked if we might consider a graduate level certificate  program. Both Larry and Karen agreed to gather more information  about what each effort would entail and share this with the committee. The committee also discussed how we might work with CELT and Bill  Bosch. Bobbi mentioned that we had contacted Bill about possibly  offering a workshop/ speaker on UDL. No further steps have been  taken. We discussed other upcoming events that might be forums for  our participation and sharing--Chalk and Talk? Quest? (Perhpas  students would be willing to share data on their experiences at  Oswego? related to the above subgroup and survey?)  Bobbi suggested  that we need to have representation on these key committees like  CELT. Karen is going to follow up on finding out more about this  year's CELT activities. Deborah is going to follow up with seeking CSEA representation on  our committee. Melissa asked if non professional staff receive any  training related to interacting with students with disabilities or  general awareness. Harry said that these efforts are aimed at  professional staff at this time. Melissa suggested this may be a  need area. ________________ Bobbi shared information on a fall film series in Syracuse--held on  Monday evenings at SU. Bobbi suggested that such events stretch our  vision and continue to inform our ideas about change. AManda plans  to attend with 11 -12 SOE grad students on Oct. 30. All films  portray some kind of disability experience. Each is followed by a  facilitated discussion about challenging media portrayals and  oppression in film. These are free. For more info go to: http://thechp.syr.edu/filmfest2006/ Meeting adjourned 10:10. Next meeting  10/26  9 am Roberta F. Schnorr, Ph.D. Professor Dept. of Curriculum and Instruction SUNY Oswego schnorr@oswego.edu