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Pay for Spring 2010 Conference Online!!!
For the Spring 2010 Conference you will have the option to pay for the conference online through paypal. The link to the payment page with instructions is here.
Indiana Ahead 2010 Spring Conference
April 22 & 23, 2010 at Bradford Woods in Martinsville, Indiana.
Conference Theme:
This Indiana AHEAD Conference will be centered around serving students with disabilities who are studying in the area of Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM).
Speakers:
Ron Stewart currently works in our community in a variety of voluntary capacities; Technology Advisor to AHEAD (Association on Higher Education and Disability), Chairs the AHEAD E-Text Solutions Group and is the Postsecondary Educational representative on the NIMAS (National Instructional Materials Access Standard) Development Committee. In 2001 Ron was the driving force in the founding of the Access Technologist Higher Education Network (athenpro.org), and serves as the organizations President. Ron left Oregon State University in 2006 to take the position of VP for Operations for Dolphin Computer Access (yourdolphin.com) and in that capacity led a variety of efforts on an international level on curricular access for students with print related disabilities including the Altformat.com effort to establish an international clearing house for information related to Alt Format and DAISY materials production. Ron left Dolphin in 2008 to return to private consulting and is the Managing Consultant for Altformat Solutions LLC, an association of private consultants and companies working in the Alt Format and E-Text field.
Ron Stewart was the founding Director of the Northwest Center for Technology Access at Oregon State University. Ron has worked in the field of Educational Technology for over 20 years, and for ten years was the Director of the Technology Access Program at Oregon State University. Ron established at OSU a program focused on inclusive access to educational technology for at-risk learners that quickly become a national model, a model that has been replicated in several forms and colleges and universities around the country. Ron's expertise is in the area of educational technology access and distance education program development, with an emphasis on the implementation of emerging technologies and the development of inclusive educational environment. Ron consults extensively with regional and national educational systems on the development of fully accessible technology environments, systemic and institutional culture change, universally accessible building and program design and capacity building for curricular access.
In Ron’s role as Chair of the AHEAD E-Text Solutions Group he has taken a strong leadership position in the development and delivery of training to higher education in the areas of curricular and distanced education access. Over the last three years Ron has conducted over 40 two day AHEAD E-Text Institutes and trained over 2000 higher education staff and faculty on the preparation and delivery of accessible instructional materials (AIM). As a member of the NIMAS Development Committee, and now the NIMAS Standards Board, Ron plays a critical role as one of the only Board members who has actually developed and operated comprehensive accessible curriculum. Currently he is also working with several State Departments of Education on the development of their NIMAS delivery and management programs. These efforts will be a focus for the next several years as well as the development of modular online trainings and the continued work with several national blindness organizations in the UK and Europe.
Ron was the recipient of AHEAD's Ron Blosser Award in 2007 for service in the areas of Access Technologies and Alt Format Production to the AHEAD membership and the postsecondary community. The Blosser Award is a distinguished service award and was given for Ron's work in regards to Access Technologies and Curricular Access within the AHEAD membership.
Jean Morrell has been with the Entry Point Internship Program since 1997. She first became involved as the designated IBM executive on loan to AAAS to help expand the program and integrate it into IBM’s internship and hiring processes. When she retired from IBM in 2004 after 32 years, she began working directly with AAAS and the Entry Point internship program as a consultant and recruiter.
Jean's prior IBM positions included Project Executive responsible for several systems integration projects in the US, and abroad, including assignments in Thailand, India, Singapore and South Africa. She also held several senior management positions in Global Services and Field Engineering.
- Bianca McArrell is currently the Program Coordinator at the Ohio State University Nisonger Center and Program Coordinator Ohio's STEM Ability Alliance sponsored by the National Science Foundation. She completed her B.A. in Psychology at Ohio State in 2004. Bianca has collaborated on numerous publications
Caitlyn McCandless is currently the assistant Director at the Ohio State University Office of Disability Services. She completed her Bachelor of Arts in Communications with minors in Business and Sociology at Muskingum College in 2002 and her Masters of Art in Rehabilitation Counseling at Ohio State in 2004.
Caitlyn is a member of Association on Higher Education and Disabilities (AHEAD) and Transition and Communication Consortium on Learning and Disabilities (TACCLD). In July 2008 Caitlyn presented "Winning with People – The Collaboration between Disability Services and Student Athletes" for the AHEAD National Conference in Reno, Nevada. In February 2008 Caitlyn presented "A Students Perspective – Helping Professionals Understand a Students Perspective" for TACCLD in Columbus, Ohio.
Conference Brochure:
The brochure for the Indiana AHEAD 2010 Spring Conference is now available for download from the website. It is available in Microsoft Word or PDF formats.
For more information about the conference, contact IN-AHEAD President.
Constitution Preamble
Indiana AHEAD is comprised of folks in the state (and some from surrounding states) who work with students with disabilities in some capacity. Some of us work in disability services offices, some in adaptive computer labs, and some wear many hats on campus. We have a fall and a spring meeting at beautiful Bradford Woods in Martinsville. For more than twenty-five years the group has served to form a very helpful network among folks involved with the provision of services to students with disabilities.
October 2003
Preamble
We the Disability Service Providers of postsecondary educational institutions of Indiana and surrounding states, desiring to provide ongoing training and support for participants, do ordain and establish these bylaws for Indiana AHEAD, that we may enhance education for disability service providers and services to students with disabilities.
Article I - Name
This organization of disability service providers shall be called Indiana AHEAD (Association for Higher Education and Disability).
Article II - Purpose and Function
Section I
The purpose of Indiana AHEAD is to provide training and support to disability service providers with special regard to postsecondary education. Indiana AHEAD will provide training, fellowship, leadership, and support to its members.
Section II
There shall be biannual meetings with members to provide training and education programs, and conduct conference evaluations for review by officers.
Section III
All business meetings of Indiana AHEAD shall be conducted according to Robert's Rule of Order.
Article III - Representation
Membership in Indiana AHEAD shall consist of disability service providers in postsecondary education and the community.
Article IV - Officers
Section I
Indiana AHEAD members shall elect officers from its membership during the Spring business meeting: a President Elect, Secretary, Treasurer, and Historian. These officers shall assume office immediately upon their election and shall serve until their successors are elected. Other officer positions may be created to fulfill unmet needs as perceived by the membership.
Section II - President
The President shall secure speakers for biannual conferences, prepare conference and business-meeting agendas, preside over conferences and business meetings, and appoint committees as necessary to carry out business. The President shall display impartiality and cast no vote except in the event of a tie.
Section III - President Elect
The President Elect shall support the President in his/her duties. The President Elect shall a serve a term of one year. Following the spring election, will assume the duties of President.
Section IV - Secretary
The Secretary shall prepare registration packets for conferences, take minutes for each business meeting, prepare meeting minutes, prepare conference evaluation form, keep a file of all meeting minutes, and conduct necessary correspondence.
Section V - Treasurer
The Treasurer shall pay bills and maintain fiscal records.
Section VI - Historian
The Historian shall maintain a record of biannual conference events. Said record shall consist of copies of materials distributed to the membership in the registration packets (i.e. agenda, menu, description of sessions, names of presenters), copies of session handouts, a roster of conference attendees, and minutes of the business meeting. The Historian shall also prepare, disseminate, collect, and collate data from conference evaluation forms to be included in said record.
Article V - Removal
Elected Officers may be removed from the Board, with cause, by a vote held in a manner consistent with that established for election of Officers.
Article VI - Finance
In the event of dissolution of the state organization, the treasury will be submitted to AHEAD.
An Historic Hoosier Perspective
Indiana AHEAD can actually boast of an origin that precedes the beginnings of national AHEAD, or AHSSPPE, as it was called then. Sometime in the mid 1970's, three Hoosiers (Betty Nelson of Purdue University, Don Wakefield of Indiana University Purdue University, and Richard Harris of Ball State) got together informally to talk shop and share professional expertise. They invited others to join them and after a time began to call themselves a state group and hold regular meetings. As happens often in DSS work, good ideas are contagious and a national organization soon followed.
Sam Goodin, then coordinating disability services at Indiana University Bloomington, brought the group to its current meeting site of Bradford Woods, a facility owned by Indiana University. "The Woods," (http://www.bradwoods.org) located near Martinsville, Indiana, has provided recreational, educational, and leadership development opportunities to youth and adults for over 50 years. Situated within a large acreage of wooded, green hills in south-central Indiana, the Manor House of The Woods has been our meeting home for over 20 years. In the early years, the Manor was used largely as it had originally been built and was a bit primitive by today's standards. Attendees of state meetings brought their own bath towels and bedding. Each of the two lodging floors contained only one bath facility necessitating that women be consigned to one floor and men to another. Nor was it very accessible. At the first meeting to be attended by a someone who used a wheelchair, a makeshift accessible sleeping room had to be created near the vending machines. Its one virtue was being conveniently near the ice maker.
Like early DSS work, to be fully appreciated and enjoyed, the Manor required an open and pioneering spirit. We like to think it contributed to the development of the best sort of DSS professionals: hearty, versatile, creative, sharing, full of character, and focused clearly on important things – like what's for dinner. For years, we did our own cooking for the Thursday evening meal. In good weather we hiked to the lake and built a roaring bonfire on the beach while distinguished members such as Richard Harris and Sam Goodin grilled fabulous steaks and told great stories. Cooking techniques, in common with the field of DSS, evolved over the years. The inaugural cookout used a Buffalo Trough, an open pit of coals onto which steaks were tossed. Time and experience brought more sophisticated efforts utilizing Dale's Steak Marinade and a serviceable, if primitive, grill of glowing charcoal.
To make it accessible, the Manor underwent a several years' long renovation in the mid 1990's so Indiana AHEAD, forced to go elsewhere, went down the road apiece to an Episcopalian retreat named Waycross located near the towns of Trevlac and Bean Blossom. Fully accessible and comfortable, it is a lovely facility but we were nevertheless happy to return to the newly renovated Bradford Woods.
Our meetings, held twice a year, begin at 1:00 on a Thursday afternoon and conclude at noon the following day. We offer a wide variety of programming to promote professional development for attendees who come from Indiana and the neighboring states of Kentucky, Ohio, and Illinois. At least one meeting a year is attended by the Director and management team of Indiana Vocational Rehabilitation Services who update us on relevant VR business and collaborate with us on improving services to our students. Always we have ample opportunity to hike in serene fresh air, develop networks and friendships among our many colleagues, and enjoy a moment's peace in an island of quiet in the midst of our sometimes hectic work life.
Opportunities for learning new things and for sharing what we know is our legacy from those folks who organized Indiana AHEAD. Seeing the tradition continue is both a privilege and a responsibility.
We hope you can come and join us sometime.
Liaison to AHEAD and President:
Carlos Taylor
Ball State University
2000 W. University Ave.
Muncie, Indiana, USA 47306
President@IN-AHEAD.org
President-elect/Vice President
Julie Schrader
IUPU Fort Wayne
2101 E. Coliseum Blvd.
Fort Wayne, IN 46805-1499
VicePresident@IN-AHEAD.org
Treasurer:
Joe Humbert
Indiana University Purdue University Indianapolis
535 W Michigan St IT214E
Indianapolis, IN 46202
Treasurer@IN-AHEAD.org
Treasurer-elect:
Natasha Baebler
Purdue University
155 S. Grant Street
Ernest C. Young Hall, Room 830
West Lafayette, IN 47907
Treasurer-elect@IN-AHEAD.org
Secretary:
Heidi Smart
Purdue University
155 S. Grant Street
Ernest C. Young Hall, Room 830
West Lafayette, IN 47907
Secretary@IN-AHEAD.org
Webmaster:
Tomas Gregg
Indiana University
1320 E Tenth St Room 101
Bloomington, IN 47405
Webmaster@IN-AHEAD.org
More Information
For more information, please contact any of the officers listed above.
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