KU announces 2020 Mentoring Circle for Disability Inclusion


LAWRENCE — The University of Kansas has announced participants selected for the 2020 Mentoring Circles for Disability Inclusion (MCDI) program. The MCDI program seeks to strengthen the university by broadening participants’ perspectives on disability inclusion; providing knowledge, technical assistance and expertise on disability inclusion; and providing opportunities for participants to use their new perspectives to change and improve disability inclusion within their own workplace and the university.

Participants will be grouped into one of five mentoring circles, with approximately six individuals in each circle. The mentoring circles will meet weekly for seven weeks during the spring semester for disability inclusion trainings, discussions, assistance and professional support and development. Each mentoring circle will complete a disability inclusion project and report back to the full group.

Catherine E. Johnson, director of the ADA Resource Center for Equity & Accessibility, will serve as the primary mentor, and participants will serve as peer mentors within their respective mentoring circles. Each Mentoring Circle also will be paired with a coach. All coaches participated in the MCDI pilot program and have been designated as Ambassadors for Proactive Disability Inclusion. The coaches will provide help and support to their circle throughout the seven-week program.

The program will cover various topics, such as an overview of the history of the disability rights movement, the Americans with Disabilities Act, intersectionality, disability studies, people-first language, employment accommodations, microaggressions, bystander intervention and proactively creating an accessible workplace.

KU’s ADA Resource Center for Equity & Accessibility developed the Mentoring Circles for Disability Inclusion program to teach proactive disability inclusion to at least one individual in each of KU’s 200 campus units. Those individuals will serve as Ambassadors for Proactive Disability Inclusion to advocate for disability inclusion within their units and help ensure campus practices support disability inclusion. The ambassadors will meet regularly to proactively address campuswide issues related to disability inclusion.

Spring 2020 Mentoring Circles for Disability Inclusion participants:

  • Delaney Bird — student
  • Monica Bradshaw — employee relations specialist, Human Resource Management
  • Breta Campus — doctoral student
  • Amanda Cushing — office coordinator, Enrollment Management
  • Emily Doffing — student
  • Adina Duke — associate director of public engagement, Spencer Museum of Art
  • Judy Eddy — program manager, Center for Teaching Excellence
  • Mary Fry — professor of health, sport & exercise science
  • Kim Glover — instructional designer, Center for Online and Distance Learning (CODL)
  • Jeromy Horkman — director of public operations, KU Libraries
  • Sabine Jones — administrative associate, Student Senate
  • Lyndsie Koon — assistant research professor, applied behavioral science
  • Meg Kumin — photographer, Marketing & Communications
  • Robert Lee — director of public engagement, Student Involvement & Leadership Center/KU Religious Advisors
  • Callie Long — associate vice provost, Campus Operations
  • Amalia Monroe-Gulick — librarian, KU Libraries
  • Kajsa Mullenix-Mohammed — assistant researcher/app development UX team member, Juniper Gardens Children’s Project
  • Megan Nemec — residence life complex director, Student Housing
  • Moya Peterson — clinical professor and certified family nurse practitioner, School of Nursing and School of Medicine
  • Paul Pierce II — assistant athletics director-compliance, KU Athletics
  • Drew Rosdahl — communications manager, Life Span Institute
  • Mike Rounds — vice provost for operations
  • Amara Simons — graduate studies and scholarships coordinator, School of Music 
  • Jaime Snyder — administrative assistant, Air Force ROTC 
  • Rachel Straugh-Navarro — state outreach coordinator, Spencer Museum of Art
  • Jennifer Tucker — research contracts officer-senior, Office of Research
  • Kale Webster — EEO investigator, Institutional Opportunity & Access
  • Laurie White — facility manager, Office of Research

 

Spring 2020 Mentoring Circles for Disability Inclusion coaches:

  • Kit Cole — IT accessibility coordinator, KU Information Technology
  • Rachel DaPron — case manager, Institutional Opportunity & Access
  • Shawn Harding — director, Facilities Services
  • Susan Patton — senior programmer, KU Information Technology
  • Katelynn Schultz — disability inclusion outreach coordinator, ADA Resource Center for Equity & Accessibility
  • Meredith Wiggins — career adviser senior, Career Services.

 

Thu, 01/30/2020

author

David Day

Media Contacts

David Day

Office of the Provost

785-864-0236