A TEAM APPROACH: FACULTY, DISABILITY SERVICES, AND STUDENTS WITH DISABILITIES WORKING TOGETHER TO ACHIEVE EQUAL ACCESS TO EARTH SCIENCE COURSES

Achieving equal access for students with disabilities to courses in postsecondary education is an ongoing challenge, particularly in the sciences. Presenters will describe the activities of Project PACE, a program of Disability Support Services of the University of Arkansas at Little Rock. The primary goal of Project PACE is to improve the quality of education for students with disabilities. In addition presenters will provide a brief overview of how services to students with disabilities are handled in Earth Science courses.

Services to Faculty. Project PACE, a three-year model demonstration grant project funded by the U.S. Department of Education, Office of Postsecondary Education, has for three years provided professional development activities in a variety of forms, with the goal of enabling faculty to better teach this population. Goals have been accomplished through: the implementation of a Faculty Resource Council on Disability made up of representatives from each academic department who received intensive training on disability issues; provision of a variety of other faculty development opportunities; and development of products including training videos, Web resources, faculty handbooks, and a project newsletter. Presenters will describe the Faculty Resource Council Model and approaches to faculty development which can be implemented on other campuses. Samples of videos, handbooks and other grant products will be available.

Services to Students with Disabilities. Disability Support Services has worked closely with Earth Science faculty for the past 15 or more years to improve access to their courses that are part of the core curriculum. More recently, two students with disabilities have declared their majors in Earth Science. This portion of the presentation will focus on the process developed for ensuring that students with disabilities receive the services they need in order to achieve equal access, to the extent possible, in Earth Science courses.