With support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), the Quality Education for Minorities (QEM) Network will offer technical assistance to enhance support services available to students with disabilities who are enrolled in STEM programs at minority-serving institutions (MSIs) and to increase the participation of MSIs in the National Science Foundation's Research in Disabilities Education (RDE) Program. The NSF award enabled QEM to conduct a two-day workshop in October 2008 to assist MSIs in learning about ways they might expand and enhance their STEM-focused disability support services as well as to provide feedback to the participating institutions on ways they might further develop their ideas for proposals they intend to submit to the FY 2009 RDE competition.

The two-day workshop was designed to accommodate 20 three-person institutional teams from MSIs. Each team included: (1) a STEM faculty member at the institution; (2) a staff member from the institution’s student support services whose responsibilities include providing support to students with disabilities; and (3) an Education/Special Education faculty member at the institution.

At the workshop, participants: (a) shared information on the specific services and resources available to students with disabilities on each of the participating campuses and on the use of these services and resources by students; (b) learned about effective strategies used on the respective campuses to ensure that students with disabilities have access to all campus facilities as well as to instructional materials, tutorial assistance, and other resources, including assistive technologies to support their academic study; (c) discussed barriers to providing needed services and support on the respective campuses and ways those barriers might be reduced/eliminated; and (d) received and discussed the latest program solicitation for NSF’s Research in Disabilities Education (RDE) Program.

Participants also received copies of FY 2008 project abstracts and of other currently active RDE-funded projects; headr presentations by RDE-funded project directors on effective strategies; and discussed their teams’ preliminary ideas for potential RDE proposals.

For further information on the QEM RDE workshop, please contact Shirley McBay, Project Director, at smmcbay1@qem.org or by telephone at 202/659-1818.

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Web Accessibility Statement

The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of 1990 (http://www.usdoj.gov/crt/ada/adahom1.htm) requires that U.S. programs and services be accessible to individuals with disabilities. Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act requires that the web pages and other information technology of federal agencies be designed to be accessible to employees and visitors with disabilities.  The World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) develops and maintains the protocols used on the web to insure interoperability and promote universal access. The W3C's Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI) (http://www.w3.org/WAI/) has developed guidelines for web authors.

The QEM Network is committed to ensuring that opportunities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) are accessible to underserved groups, including individuals with disabilities. QEM's webpages are living documents and are regularly updated. Efforts are underway to make them more accessible according to Section 508 standards and W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. Suggestions for increasing the accessibility of these pages are welcome. Comments may be sent via email to smmcbay1@qem.org   or   to   lldavidson@qem.org.