Purpose
The Bates Accessibility Committee will establish, review, and evaluate a Collegewide Accessibility Plan and advise senior leadership in regards to inspiring and promoting effective solutions to achieve universal accessibility for employees, students, and communities.
Values
When we make the college more accessible, it becomes better for all.
Function
- To model and facilitate a culture of accessibility for all staff and students of Bates Technical College
- To provide training and support to improve the level of accessibility at Bates
- To serve as a clearinghouse for questions, resources, issues that arise on campus
Accessibility Committee Members
- DeAnne Hamilton – Co-Chair
- Colin Dory – Co-Chair
- Wen Zhao-Pliske
- Brian Umpstead
- Aubrie Swain
- Olena Volkova
- Maddie Porter
- Beth Reichenbach
- Alisha McDonald
- Teodoro Oreiro
- Marjorie Rasmussen
- Rafael Torres
- Aurora Tollestrup
- Hannah Maroney
- ASG Rep Seylina Sophron
Contact Information:
accessibility@batestech.edu
2021 Accomplishments
- Trainings for faculty and staff – general accessibility and PDFs/Acrobat
- Created Accessibility Hub on Bates website for general assistance on accessibility issues
- Canvas LTI’s(3rd party apps available to all students) – ReadSpeaker, Ally, Microsoft Immersive Reader
- Canvas ModZero (introductory class module) includes accessibility information
- Microsoft and Canvas accessibility checkers
- Campus-wide document and webpage remediation
- All online and hybrid classes screened for accessibility as part of evaluation contract
- Captioned most evergreen videos (including instructional videos)
- Provided live captioning of instructional Zoom sessions for students with accommodation needs
2022 Workgroups
- Mental Health Toolkit: Help Bates Technical College faculty and staff support students with mental health conditions.
- Trainings and resources: Create training modules around accessibility: its definition, support, role in student retention.
- Websites: Ensure website documents and elements are accessible to everyone.
- Partnerships: Forge office and department connections and partnerships to conduct business with accessibility top of mind.
Meeting Minutes
2026
2025
2024
2023
2022
2021
2020
2019
2018