April 2024 Meeting

Meeting Date
  • Opening quotation 
    • “Disability is not a brave struggle or ‘courage in the face of adversity.’ Disability is an art. It’s an ingenious way to live” -Neil Marcus
  • Agenda 
    • Karina Moore - Deputy Director, University of Michigan Office of Undergraduate Admissions 
      •  Overview of Admissions office and scope of their work 
        • Their primary responsibility is to recruit and admit the undergraduate class. They work to reach out to prospective students and families through events and emails.
          • Serve over 60,000 visitors for tours and information sessions.
          • On campus programming for prospective and admitted students and families
        • Application review process
          •  Received close to 100,000 applications last year.
        • Recruitment process
          • Work with students who reach out to them. Most engagement happens through on campus programming.
            • They offer virtual and recorded information sessions and virtual live Q and A’s.
          • Gather information from websites including College Board
          • At the end of junior year students get information from the office about events and programming.
        • Fall high school visits
          • Goal: visit every high school in the state at least every 3rd year.
          • 1500 high schools visited each year to show a presentation of materials that are digitally accessible to students. 
            • They work with the school to ensure accessible measures that should be taken for each session.
        • For programming here at U of M
          • RSVP asks questions about accessibility to ensure everyone who RSVPs has their needs met
            • Most of these requests are for ASL interpreters and wheelchair accessibility. 
        • Attend high school hosted college fairs
          • They rely on these schools to provide accessibility measures.
        • Half-day and day long programs that invite families to engage with the campus
          • Slice of Life- serves first generation students who may not have had the experience of being on college campus and pairs them with a student to show them what college life will be like.
        • Application workshops
          • Provide students with help completing the CommonApp application. 
        • Admitted student programs
          • Winter and Spring
          • Campus day
            • Offered from February to April
            • Happens multiple times a week including weekends
            • Allows students to connect with offices on campus and communicate the next steps.
        • Office of Undergraduate Admissions in Detroit
          • Programming for students who live in Detroit and surrounding areas. Most of the programming above is also offered in the Detroit Office
            • Admission workshops
            • Wolverine Wednesday- office hours for financial aid questions.
            • Admitted student programs in the high schools of Detroit. 
      •  Steps taken to make their offerings more accessible
        • Ask about and provide any accommodations participants might need
          • Dietary restrictions
          • Wheelchair access
          • Accessible parking
          • ASL interpretation
          • CART
          • Limited travel grant access- allows for students who have financial difficulties to visit.
            • Gas card
            • Bus tickets
            • 1 night hotel stay
      • Questions:
        • What are some of the most common accommodation requests you get from students? And how is that handled by your department?
          • Dietary requests for programs that include a meal.
            • To do this they run a solution by the person who requests a solution that they have and that person either further explains their need or confirms that this fulfills their requests. 
            • Receives requests for this for every event that has  a meal
          • Wheelchairs
            • Several wheelchairs that the office shares to accommodate anyone who needs them who communicates in advance.
            • Receive this request approximately every month.
          • They make sure they have enough of whatever they need for accommodation
            • If they do not have enough of the resource they need they will reach out to other offices on campus.
          • Accessible parking
            • Pay for parking for families who are visiting as admitted students.
              • Not for non-admitted visitors.
          • ASL interpretation requests
            • Only 2 requests in the past year for this.
        • Karina, does CfDC, The U-M Office of Services for Students with Disabilities (SSD), and other local disability resources have tables at your undergrad welcome event for admitted or prospective students?
          • They do have tables at multicultural events.
          • Other information about this will be shared with Pam after meeting
          • The Council and DC@UM will had a table at Saturday's Spring Welcome event
        • The more resources available to students, the more students will want to go to the University of Michigan.
          • Accessibility is important and can make or break an experience. 
          • Our team is available to prospective and admitted medical students. Admissions does a great job of connecting us. What local resources would you want included in our info? I'm a former K-12, so most of my knowledge is K-12 based. Many of our students are out of state . Would love to have them more connected to local resources for which they are eligible.
          • I'm not an SSD coordinator, but I don't see any others here today, so I will say that I know we have presentations at every new student orientation. I'm not sure about other new or prospective student events. I can check. - Saumya Gupta
            • This is what I was going to add.  At admitted students day in 2023, an information session with SAAS was one of the options during the day. - Colleen
        • Is this for regular, not older students only (non traditional 25+)? What resources on accessibility and  digital accessibility resources are available to them?
          • Resources are available for anyone who signs up to visit. This includes students in high school and middle school as well as non-traditional students.
          • They also have events for transfer students who often represent more of the non-traditional students at UM.
        • Are resources for staff available if they are starting their undergraduate and/or graduate degrees?
          • Informational resources are available to staff and their students if they are interested.
          • In the fall UM dearborn offered a scholarship for staff that covers whatever the U of M reimbursement benefits do not cover. This allows for graduate school to be completely covered. 
        • Are there tips  you could share from your experience that could be transferable to other programs, such as new hire orientations of staff? 
          • Being available to families for questions to be answered especially for individuals who are traveling for a visit.
          • Have an admissions counselor designated for every area of the world. Allows them to contact a real person who they can contact directly.
          • Options for families to choose their engagement levels with the office.
        • Can you share anything regarding the accessibility of our UM-specific materials?
          • Marketing and communications team works to make sure emails, presentations, etc. are digitally accessible and that they are taking care of individuals who need resources (ex: a reader). They make sure documents are reader accessible and have the right color contrast. 
          • They use accessibility checkers
          • Build in time while building a publication to make the publication accessible. 
          • OEM team overseas materials for many of the new and current student programs. 
        • Would one reach out to your department who are staff that are applying for enrollment and need accessibility, or would another department handle it because they are staff (even though the accessibility concerns are not staff role related)?
          • SSD would handle their student accommodations, I think- Ava Armour
            • This is correct. Admitted students who are not yet on campus engage with SSD.
            • SSD handles academic accommodations
              • Not sure about student employment accommodations but start with SSD. 
              • if an undergrad student is an employee then their accommodations may go to the ADA Team or they can choose to go directly to their supervisor, if they are grad student employees they need to go to Rackham
              • Reported Barriers to access in any space or digitally can also be reported centrally to the ADA Coordinator using our report a barrier form-https://ecrt-umich-accommodate.symplicity.com/activity_provider_request/ 
        • Access to resources?
          • If you reach out to offices, resources can be made available to you. 
          • Students often move away from needing the resources the university can offer and move on to their own. 
          • Setting them up for success by giving students access to resources even if they do not think they need them.
          • Encouraging students to use their available resources is a big part of their work.
        • If someone did have an accessibility concern related to admissions what email would you reach out to? Does someone in your office handle this directly?
          • No specific email. Reach out to their main email located on the bottom of their contact us page. They can email, call, or talk with a chatbot (AI and overseen by humans).
        • Do we ever work with orgs like CommonApp to push for more digital accessibility in these types of applications?
          • They do. They attend their regular member meetings. 
          • Work closely with common app and to address needs that are identified.
            • Has worked to include pronouns
          • Also works with Slate which is the system they use to interface with applicants
            • Implement changes with the in-house team and work with Slate for system wide change. 
        • Is this posted somewhere? For example,  a flowchart/mind map? 
          • It would be helpful for staff pathways. At the moment there is not a resource like this. 
        • For any other questions contact: [email protected]