The primary purpose of Davidson College is to assist students in developing humane instincts and disciplined and creative minds for lives of leadership and service. Davidson College is a highly selective, independent liberal arts college located in Davidson, North Carolina that serves approximately 2,100 undergraduate students, has graduated 23 Rhodes Scholars, and is consistently ranked among the top private liberal arts colleges in the country.

As a department within the Division of Student Life, the Office of Academic Access and Disability Resources (AADR) serves two primary functions - to provide academic support to students so they may improve their academic performance and to support otherwise qualified students with disabilities, temporary disabilities, and/or undiagnosed disabilities and work with campus partners to provide equitable access to academic courses, course content, services, programs, and facilities. AADR also recognizes disability as an identity and an essential component of Davidson’s diversity. 

The Associate Director has three main responsibilities: 1) Provide disability services to students, 2) Oversee the academic coaching functional area, and 3) Supervise the Administrative Assistant/Assistive Technology Specialist and alternate format lab. Specific responsibilities are listed below. The Associate Director will work collaboratively with a variety of Student Life, academic, and campus partners, including Residence Life, the Center for Student Health & Well-being, the Center for Student Diversity & Inclusion, the Center for Teaching and Learning, and faculty, in addition to serving as a front-facing, highly interactive role to students.

This is a salaried, full-time (40 hours), 12 month position that reports to the Director of AADR. Work hours typically occur between 8:30-5:30pm, Monday - Friday, with occasional evening and weekend hours for campus activities, events, and programs. Some travel to national, state and local conferences and/or to give presentations or workshops will be required.

PRIMARY POSITION RESPONSIBILITIES

Responsibility #1 – Disability Services 

• Serve as a disability professional to otherwise qualified students in reviewing and interpreting confidential documentation for the determination of reasonable accommodations in the areas of campus access, academics, housing, emotional support animals, and dining. 

• Process requests, communicate approvals through the appropriate channels, and ensure implementation by serving as a consultant to faculty and staff involved in implementing the accommodations. 

• Provide guidance to students who suspect an undiagnosed disability in the process of seeking a diagnosis and documentation to support a request for accommodations and make appropriate referrals. 

Responsibility #2 – Academic Coaching

• Oversee the academic coaching function of AADR, which includes the development of and actively pursuing innovative coaching strategies, directing and providing logistical support to the Peer Academic Coaching (PAC) Program, and supervising and training the student and professional staff assigned to academic coaching responsibilities. 

• The Associate Director will also serve as an academic coach in the form of individual academic coaching sessions and small group workshops to help students further develop and enhance their academic skills, e.g. time management, test-taking strategies, organizational skills, note-taking, studying, reading, writing papers, and preparing for tests and exams. 

Responsibility #3 – Supervise the Administrative Assistant/Assistive Technology Specialist and Oversee the Alternate Format Lab

• The Administrative Assistant and Assistive Technology Specialist is a position that provides direct support to AADR staff and is responsible for a wide variety of complex administrative and office management duties. 

• As an Assistive Technology Specialist, they implement the notetaker program and work directly with students to provide appropriate assistive technology. This position also coordinates the Alternate Format Lab, which involves facilitating the production of accessible course materials as well as processing documents for accessibility. 

• The Associate Director will supervise this position and oversee the Alternate Format Lab. 

Responsibility #4 – Assist the Director of AADR

• Assist the Director in the day-to-day operations of AADR and in the implementation of programmatic and administrative policies and procedures. 

• Additionally, the Associate Director will assist and be assigned the lead at times in maintaining, updating, and forming policies related to disability accommodations. 

• Assist with strategic planning and goal setting to contribute to the vision AADR as it embraces growth in demand and changing student needs. 

• Serve as the primary back-up as requested for the director in their absence.

Responsibility #5 – Consultation and Outreach

• Maintain a working knowledge of federal, state and local laws in order to play an advisory/advocacy role in removing barriers to accessibility in campus programs and physical spaces. 

• Assist with the development, coordination, and implementation of workshops and events for faculty, staff, and students on academic strategies; disability law; the implementation of accommodations; best practices for serving students with disabilities; and disability identity, awareness, and inclusion. 

• Initiate collaborative interactions with stakeholders, encouraging the application of equitable practices to educational and administrative processes, promoting universal design, and affirming disability as an identity to be included in all aspects of campus. 

Responsibility #6 – Record Keeping

• Maintain confidential student records utilizing Accommodate, a web-based data management system, and a hybrid system of paper and digital files. 

• Assist the Director with maintaining the use of Accommodate, which may include designing and running reports, accurately filtering data to create and distribute appropriate communications, and troubleshooting and solving glitches in the system. 

• Assist with the collection and evaluation of departmental data to be used in goal development, budget and strategic planning, and the development of reports for stakeholders, partners, and funders.

EDUCATION AND EXPERIENCE REQUIREMENTS

A bachelor’s degree is required. A graduate degree in College Student Development, Disability Studies, Educational/School Psychology, Special Education, Rehabilitation, Assistive Technology, Social Work, or a closely related field is preferred. The ideal candidate for this position would have:

• At least three years of demonstrated full-time experience in supporting students with disabilities at a secondary or post-secondary educational environment,

• Working knowledge of various disabilities and disability laws (ADA, Section 504, etc.) as they pertain to higher education and students with disabilities, 

• Skillset and relative expertise in the interpretation of disability-related documentation for the purpose of verifying disability and identifying appropriate accommodation plans. The person in this role will need to be able to physically navigate campus to visit and enter residence halls, academic buildings, and other areas of campus for meetings, accessibility checks, and events. Must also be able to lift 25 pounds, typically in the form of boxes of print material and office supplies.

• Experience developing and facilitating academic coaching programs and services to students,

• Expertise with web-based data management systems, such as Accommodate, and software programs related to assistive technology, such as Read and Write Gold, Moodle, LiveScribe, Glean, and Dragon,

• Knowledge of and skill in producing accessible course materials, such as alternate formats for those with print and/or reading disabilities, digital formats for blind students, and captioning videos. The person in this role will need to be able view and identify inaccessible course materials and convert them into accessible formats. They will also need to read student case files, which may consist of folders with print documents.  

• Ability to connect effectively with faculty, staff, students, and campus partners from diverse backgrounds to share the value and importance of access and disability-related processes within the college/university setting,

• Working knowledge of website development and ongoing maintenance,

• The ability to contribute to the general teamwork efforts required of the staff to maintain AADR, working both independently and as part of the team on AADR initiatives

Information about how to submit an application can be found at https://employment.davidson.edu