Dir, ARC, Access/Disability Specialist

Overview:

The Director of Disability Services will provide leadership and operational oversight for the University’s student disability support and accommodation programs. This is a mission-critical role that ensures students of all abilities have the resources, access, and advocacy needed to thrive academically and personally. The Director will oversee all aspects of disability services, from intake through appeals, ensuring fair and efficient processes; review documentation and determine

reasonable accommodations in alignment with best practices and legal requirements; develop strong partnerships with faculty, staff, and campus colleagues to coordinate student support; lead data collection; monitor federal and state disability law together with campus partners; and regularly review and, as needed, update policies and practices to maintain compliance and support student access.
The Director of Disability Services will provide leadership and operational oversight for the Universit

y’s student disability support and accommodation programs. This is a mission-critical role that ensures students of all abilities have the resources, access, and advocacy needed to thrive academically and personally. The Director will oversee all aspects of disability services, from intake through appeals, ensuring fair and efficient processes; review documentation and determine reasonable accommodations in alignment with best practices and legal requirements; develop strong partnerships with faculty, staff, and campus colleagues to coordinate student support; lead data collection; monitor federal and state disability law together with campus partners; and regularly review and, as needed, update policies and practices to maintain compliance and support student access.

Essential Functions:

Case management and data collection: Oversees a unified case-management system that tracks accommodation requests, documentation, deadlines, and outcomes; defines clear performance metrics and publishes annual reports; develops an escalation protocol for high priority or urgent accommodation requests; develops analytics dashboards to identify trends and drive continuous improvement; coordinates the acquisition and installation of hardware and software to support computer-based testing accommodations, including Accommodate case management software. 20%

Intake interviews: Meets with students as part of an interactive process to discuss accommodations; develops a process to reassesses need for reevaluation for accommodations; fosters student advocacy; delegates intake interviews; communicates with instructors/faculty as needed about accommodations. 20%

Policy and legal monitoring: Monitor federal and state disability-law changes and update internal policies and procedures accordingly; draft a "students' rights and responsibilities" guide; conduct regular audits of ADA compliance and publish summary of findings and action plan(s); establish an ad hoc advisory committee to oversee policy alignment and cross-unit collaboration and address complex cases; ensure all digital platforms meet WCAG 2\.1 standards and conducts annual accessibility audits. 15%

Outreach and communication strategy: Develops a targeted communications plan to raise visibility of the office and the services available; host annual Disability Awareness Week in partnership with existing student organizations; oversees the development of quick reference guides (print and digital) outlining common accommodation processes. 10%

Cross-Campus partnering: Formalizes referral pathways to key offices on campus for holistic student support; collaborate with Facilities on an annual physical-accessibility audit; engage with Athletics to ensure extracurricular programs provide equitable access opportunities. 10%

Training and professional development: Develop mandatory ADA and Universal Design for Learning training for faculty and student-facing staff; offer ongoing workshops and professional development for office staff on emerging trends, technology assistance and legal and regulatory updates; partners with the Center for Learning and Teaching to embed inclusive pedagogy modules in faculty development programming. 10%

Student engagement and feedback: Conduct periodic surveys and focus groups to capture real-time feedback on accessibility services and academic supports; create and oversee a student-led Accessibility Ambassador program to promote best practices and surface emerging needs. 10%

Budget and Resource Allocation: Track technology/assistive-tech loans (e.g. screen readers, speech-to-text devices) and emergency accommodation needs; assist in advising for reserve funding (e.g., real-time captioning, specialize exam proctoring). 5%

Job Requirements:

Direct Supervisor: Direct authority to make decisions on the following: employee hiring, disciplinary action, starting salaries and increases; conduct employee performance evaluations.

Number of Direct Staff Supervised: 1-2

Level of Direct Staff Supervised: Individual Contributor(s)

Does this Job have budget responsibilities? Yes- Planning, Purchasing, Monitoring/Tracking

Level of Education:

Required- Bachelor’s

Preferred- Master’s

Work Experience

Required: 3-5 years of related experience and/or training.