The Office of Student Accommodations recognizes faculty and staff who have gone out of their way to make WVU a more accessible place for students with Disabilities. This distinction is voted on each spring by OSA staff. If you are a student who wishes to nominate a faculty member for consideration, please contact us with a short blurb describing your faculty or staff member’s exceptional contributions to accessibility.
2024-2025
Sally Brown, Curator, WVU Art in the Libraries
Sally Brown takes a proactive approach to accessibility and has made it a priority to include accessibility, among other topics, in her Art in the Libraries Series, working with OSA to showcase the impacts, positive and negative, of AI within the disability services arena. She regularly sends us videos for captioning, and has been thoughtful about making sure that her curated exhibits are accessible to individuals who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing, reaching out in advance of events for our input. Her pre-planning and desire to make her work accessible to others serves as a good model for all.
Jenna Edwards, Senior Academic Advisor, Davis College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Jenna Edwards has gone above and beyond as an advisor. She is an advocate in every sense of the word. She demonstrates kindness, empathy and compassion for students with disabilities, meeting them where they are, and she works hard to identify what they need to help them succeed. One of our Freshmen in the Autism Support Program experienced a challenging transition to college, and my student, their parents, and I, were all grateful their advisor is Jenna. She has been a guiding light and a safe place for this student.
Jacek Jaczynski, Professor of Food Science and Muscle Food Safety, Davis College of Agriculture and Natural Resources
Jacek Jaczynski has worked with us seamlessly for many years, ensuring that his videos are accessible for students. This past year, he met with us to help ensure that his class was accessible for students who are Deaf and Hard of Hearing. He provided us with media in need of captioning, and put in a lot of work, altering teaching materials (and, in some cases, his approach), to ensure that his class would be accessible, this semester and beyond.
Eric Johnson, Assistant Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders, School of Medicine
Incredibly responsive and one of our easiest faculty to work with, Eric Johnson always has his materials prepared in case an accommodation request arises, and he provides materials to transcribers well ahead of time to allow for preparation. He fully understands the importance of making video accessible, and promptly implements requests from our office, always ensuring that the videos he shows in class are captioned. He even had real-time captions running over his PowerPoints in case any students missed what he said, during lecture, and he would often clarify or restate something if he noticed the captions “heard” it wrong. The student in his class reported that they “almost wanted to cry” when they saw how much work he put into making his class inclusive and accessible.
Maureen Mansfield Kaddar, Teaching Assistant Professor of Dance, School of Theatre and Dance
One of our students was unable to meet the technical standards of her dance class but desperately did not want to drop it. Maureen Kaddar offered that student an independent study course, so that she could continue studying the subject that she loved, and this allowed the student to maintain the number of credit hours she needed for the semester. Professor Kaddar didn’t have to do that, but she went above and beyond to put the student’s needs first.
Theresa Lubich, Academic Program Coordinator, College of Law
Teresa Lubich is thoughtful and proactive, and has been a phenomenal partner in the law school, helping to ensure accommodations are implemented smoothly. Many students have mentioned that they appreciate her reminders to renew their accommodations, and she has encouraged them to promptly connect with our office when needed. Whenever we’ve needed to jump on a Teams call or a phone call, Teresa didn’t hesitate to make herself available. She makes a point to collaborate closely with OSA and ensures that students have access to what they need.
Tamba M'bayo Associate Professor of History, Eberly College of Arts and Sciences
Without fail, Tamba M'bayo emailed up-to-date course notes to his transcriber well in advance of each week’s class, to ensure that the service provider had all the proper names, geographical locations, and other information for his World History course. He was a proactive communicator, and was terrific about wearing the mic to ensure that his voice could be heard. He was also great about promptly sending course videos to our office for closed captioning.
Ron Reaser, Teaching Instructor in the Lane Department of Computer Science and Electrical Engineering, Statler College of Engineering
Over the past year, Ron Reaser served on OSA’s Faculty Advisory Group. He never missed a meeting and was always willing to share his thoughts on the accommodation process, places where it worked well and places where it was less efficient and could be improved. He provided a valuable faculty perspective and helped us anticipate potential pitfalls, and his feedback was extremely valuable as we rolled out the new and improved accommodation letters.
2023-2024
Rodney Adlington, IT Operations Manager, WVU Libraries
Rick Bebout, Technology Manager, Reed College of Media
Rachael Conrad, Assistant Director of Employer Relations, Career Services
Anna Gravelin Coy, Assistant Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders, School of Medicine
Tammy Honesty, Associate Professor of Scene Design, School of Theatre and Dance
Dana Huebert Lima, Teaching Associate Professor and Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies, Department of Biology
Sharon Martin, Vice President for University Engagement and CMO
Renée Nicholson, Director, WVU Humanities Center
Danica Ryan, Career Development Specialist, Career Services
Chris Schmoldt, Interim Director, Mountainlair
2015-2016*
Cassandra Pritts, Associate Professor and Chairperson, Department of History—Potomac State College
( *previously named “Commitment to Communication Access Award”)
Note: all listings reflect the awardee’s position and title at the time of the award.