Accessibility Minute - December 2021
What is the Digital Accessibility Office?
The Digital Accessibility Office (DAO) at CU Boulder is part of the Office of Integrity, Safety, and Compliance. Our goal is to improve the accessibility of the digital campus environment and increase opportunities for participation in the digital life of the university for people with disabilities. We provide:
- Manual accessibility testing for technology created, bought, or maintained by CU
- Training, consultations, and resources on digital accessibility best practices
- Captioning services for all of CU
- Procurement review for software purchases
And more! Email us at digitalaccessibility@colorado.edu if you have any questions or visit our DAO Training page to schedule a training.
Meet the team
We’re excited for you to meet our team, including our two newest members Rachel Levin and Marisha Manfre!
Rachel Busnardo (she/her)
Digital Accessibility Training Coordinator
rachel.busnardo@colorado.edu
Rachel facilitates digital accessibility training and consultations across campus. Schedule a training or one-on-one consultation with her by visiting the DAO Training page.
When Rachel isn’t training, she can usually be found reading a book, painting, playing video games, or taking a long walk.
Rachel Levin (she/her)
Digital Accessibility Services Coordinator
rachel.levin-1@colorado.edu
Rachel provides support for the captioning service and will be building out support for other DAO services over time. You can send her your captioning questions at captioning@colorado.edu.
In her free time, you can find Rachel creating more new plants through propagation, learning about (and consuming) gluten-free baked goods, and knitting yet another blanket that won’t fit in her NYC apartment.
Marisha Manfre
Accessibility and Usability Assessment Coordinator
marisha.manfre@colorado.edu
Marisha provides support coordinating the different stages of accessibility assessments and consulting work.
Outside of work, Marisha gardens during the warmer months and spends time with her husband and dog.
Laura Hamrick (she/they)
Assistant Director, Training & Outreach
laura.r.hamrick@colorado.edu
Laura's areas of responsibility include the captioning service as well as training & outreach efforts for campus. If you'd like to connect about how to build digital accessibility into your or your department's workflows, Laura would love to help! When not at work, you can find them playing Ultimate Frisbee, working on various creative projects, and spending time outdoors.
Kosta Tovstiadi (he/him)
Director
kosta@colorado.edu
Kosta’s work focuses on strategy and big picture items - partnerships with other units, watching over policy and standards compliance, and making sure our services are efficient and sustainable. Outside of work, he is busy with two little children and a research project on the early history of mountaineering in the Caucasus (he is from Russia originally).
Michael Williamson (he/him)
Assistant Director, Assessment & Usability
michael.d.williamson@colorado.edu
Mike manages digital accessibility assessment and usability activities within the DAO, where he oversees accessibility testing, consulting, and procurement efforts. Please reach out to Mike if you would like to know more about the accessibility of a digital technology application, service or system.
Mike also teaches multiple courses in accessibility and assistive technology at California State University, Northridge.
Thank you, Paula!
We would like to take a moment to recognize our own Paula Vaughan as she “re-retires” from CU Boulder. Paula has spent the last seven years working for the Accessibility and Usability Lab (AUL) and the Digital Accessibility Office in a variety of roles and capacities.
Paula came to digital accessibility as an OIT project management retiree in November of 2014. At that time, the AUL was a new project taking shape so that digital accessibility testing and consulting would occur in-house rather than being farmed out to third party vendors. One conversation with Paula and it was clear that Paula’s experience in OIT project management, her organizational capabilities, and her ability to diagnose problems and provide succinct, effective solutions would be an asset.
Paula’s current role within the DAO is the Accessibility Testing Coordinator, where she’s tasked with creating, overseeing, and reporting on our major accessibility testing efforts. As stated, Paula has served in many capacities: she has overseen accessibility testing efforts, provided technical insight and problem solving regarding accessibility to various CU entities on both the Boulder campus and the System office, and she’s conducted digital accessibility training events for design and development teams.
After seven years, Paula has left an enduring legacy, both due to her quality of work and the quality of her character. Paula has been both the conscience and the sage of the AUL, helping to ensure that all of the AUL’s work is at top quality and that the work always points back to one main goal – allowing digital technologies implemented at CU to be used by all individuals.
We truly thank Paula for all her efforts over the years and wish her luck and success whether she’s running trails in Boulder and all across the country, or if she’s sitting on a rocky outcrop, watching the waves in Petosky, Michigan.
November Challenge
Visit the DAO library of resources and pick one topic you would like to know more about.
Once you’ve reviewed a resource, pass it along! Send it out to your colleagues and/or your students.
We also offer one-on-one consultations and trainings. If you have some content you’d like evaluated, or would like to schedule a training session with the DAO, visit the DAO Training page to schedule today!
Your Thoughts
We want to hear from you! Please send us any accessibility questions or thoughts on our newsletters.
If you have questions or comments, or would like support with accessibility, please contact us at DigitalAccessibility@Colorado.edu.
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