Teach Access Faculty Grants

To accelerate the creation and delivery of accessibility-infused college curricula, Teach Access provides monetary awards to higher education faculty to develop curriculum enhancements that introduce the fundamental concepts and skills of accessibility into their existing courses.

Overview

Since 2018, Teach Access has provided direct awards to full-time, part-time, adjunct faculty, and instructional staff at US-based institutions of higher education (community colleges, two-year colleges/universities, and four-year universities). Awards are given to faculty to develop modules, presentations, exercises, and curriculum enhancements that introduce the fundamental concepts and skills of accessible design and development into their existing courses rather than requiring instructors to develop completely new courses.

To expand the impact of the awards, faculty grantees are asked to present their work within their institutions. Awardees are also encouraged to present their innovative work at conferences, symposia, and workshops. To date, Teach Access has awarded $240,000 in grants.

Faculty Grant Canvas Site

Want to learn more about faculty grants?

Register for the Faculty Grant Information Canvas Site to hear from former grant recipients, see examples of funded projects, and connect with other applicants. Note: If you haven’t already created a free Canvas Teacher account, you will need to create one and use those credentials to log in to the Faculty Grant Information Canvas site (not a Canvas account associated with a university). For help with accessing the pages please contact Judi Cook (cookju@tcnj.edu).

Register for Faculty Grant Information Canvas Site

 

Faculty Grant Eligibility

Faculty members (full-time, part-time, or adjunct) or instructional staff who meet following criteria:

  • Have read our FAQs page
  • Instructor of an existing course in computer science, design, user experience research, human-computer interaction, or related field (see our FAQs for more information about “related fields”)
  • Instructor at a two- or four-year university or college in the United States
  • Preference will be given to instructors who have not received a past Teach Access Faculty Grant. If you are a previous grantee and you wish to receive consideration for this round of awards, you may submit an application for a different course than previously awarded.
  • Planning to teach this course in the 2023-2024 academic year. Teach Access reserves the right to rescind award funds if your course is not taught in this timeframe.

Timeline

  • Mid-March 2023: Call for Proposals opens
  • Mid-May 2023: Teach Access notifies selected faculty grant awardees.
  • Thursday, May 18, 2023: Teach Access publicly announces awardees (on Global Accessibility Awareness Day!)

Criteria for Selection

Submissions will be judged on impact, outreach, sustainability, and evaluation plans. Faculty who have not taught accessibility topics in their courses before are particularly encouraged to apply.

 

Faculty Grant Frequently Asked Questions

Application Questions

Review the list of application questions and prepare your responses.

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Questions with an asterisk denote required questions.

  1. Email address*
  2. First name*
  3. Last name*
  4. Mailing address*
  5. Your job title/role*
  6. Your race/ethnicity
    • Native American or Alaska Native
    • Asian
    • Black or African American
    • Hispanic or Latino
    • Native Hawaiian or Other Pacific Islander
    • White
    • Other
  7. Your gender
    • Female
    • Male
    • Non-binary/non-conforming
    • Prefer not to respond
  8. Your pronouns
  9. Your age
  10. Your disability status
  11. Institution name*
  12. Institution type (please check all that apply)*
    • 4-year undergraduate or graduate institution
    • 2-year institution (such as community college or junior college)
    • Public institution
    • Private institution
    • Historically Black Colleges and Universities
    • Hispanic Serving Institution
    • Women’s College
    • Tribal College
    • Technical Institute and/or Professional School
  13. Course number and title*
  14. How large is your class? (Total number of students enrolled in course)*
  15. How frequently do you teach this class? (Every semester, once per academic year, etc.)*
  16. Link to online course information (if available). Alternatively, you may upload the course syllabus as an additional attachment when you submit your narrative at the end of this form. 
  17. Link to applicant information (your personal academic site, if you have one). Alternatively, you may upload your resume/CV as an additional attachment when you submit your narrative at the end of this form. 
  18. Have you been awarded a Teach Access faculty grant in the past? Preference will be given to instructors who have not received a past Teach Access Faculty Grant. If you are a previous grantee and you wish to receive consideration for this round of awards, you may submit an application for a different course than previously awarded, or you can submit an application for the same course as long as your course modification is something significantly different than what you used your award funding for previously.*
    • Yes
    • No
  19. How did you first hear about these faculty grants?*
    • At a conference
    • Teach Access social media
    • Email from Teach Access
    • Coworker
    • Professional network or community of practice
    • Friend/family member
    • Other
  20. What is your previous experience in the field of accessibility? What is your level of expertise? Applicants new to the field are welcome. (200 words or less)*
  21. What type of course enhancement are you requesting funding for? (Lecture, module, infused throughout, etc.)*
  22. Please indicate the field in which your course is focused:*
    • Technical or design field (e.g., Computer Science, HCI, engineering, visual design, user experience)
    • A related field (e.g., NOT a technical or design field)
  23. [If answered “related field” to question 21] You indicated that you are teaching a course in a related field (NOT a technical or design field). Please describe how your course will impact a student’s knowledge of fundamental accessibility concepts and skills and their ability to implement the principles of accessibility. (200 words or less)*
  24. When would this class be taught? Please indicate length of the course (semester, quarter, etc.) and time of year (Fall 2022, Spring 2023, etc.). NOTE: We are only accepting applications for courses being taught in the 2022-2023 academic year.*
  25. What is your plan for promoting your course to your colleagues and institutional leadership? (200 words or less)*
  26. How do you plan to share your research and course materials externally, such as at conferences? (200 words or less)*
  27. Are you willing to offer your students the opportunity to be part of ongoing evaluation and metrics and career tracking/opportunities? This is not required and students will have the option to opt-in by sharing their LinkedIn page or email addresses with Teach Access.*
    • Yes
    • No
  28. Sharing your modified course materials with Teach Access and beyond is a requirement of all awardees. We want to confirm that you acknowledge this requirement and agree to it.*
    • I agree
    • I disagree
  29. Students’ participation in a simple pre- and post-evaluation of accessibility knowledge (supplied by Teach Access) is a requirement of the grant. We want to confirm that you agree to ask your students to take part.*
    • I agree
    • I disagree
  30. Submission of several concluding components is a requirement of the grant. These include a summary report on your curriculum development, student outcomes, institutional impact, perceived effectiveness of your presentations, and an evaluation of the project process and effectiveness. We want to confirm that you are aware of each, and agree to submit them at the end of your course.*
    • I agree
    • I disagree
  31. Please upload a narrative of no more than 2 pages that demonstrates your understanding of the mission of Teach Access, the problem that Teach Access is seeking to solve, and how higher education in general, and your course in particular, can contribute to the solution. Please include information about how you intend to use the award funds, how you plan on sustaining accessibility in your coursework over time, and what other ways you believe Teach Access can make progress in expanding the knowledge and awareness of accessible design and development among college students. You may also upload any other relevant attachments at this time (such as your course syllabus or resume/CV).

Faculty Grant Course Materials

The Teach Access Faculty Grants program has resulted in the creation of hundreds of new course materials by our grantees, as well as several research papers. The database of course materials is linked below, followed by research papers written by past grantees.

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Previous Awardees

Round 1 – Fall 2018-Spring 2020

During Round 1 of our Curriculum Development Awards Program (for courses taught in Fall 2018-Spring 2020), Teach Access awarded 19 grants of $5,000 each to the following faculty:

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  1. Camila Afanador-Llach (Florida Atlantic University)
  2. Bruce Elgort (Clark College)
  3. Aaron Ganci (Indiana University – Purdue University Indianapolis)
  4. Regine Gilbert (New York University)
  5. Grace Jun (The New School)
  6. Claire Kearney-Volpe (New York University)
  7. Devorah Kletenik (Brooklyn College, CUNY)
  8. Amanda Lazar (University of Maryland, College Park)
  9. Li Liu and Joe Bautista (California State University Northridge)
  10. Victoria Lowell (Purdue University)
  11. Benito Mendoza (New York City College of Technology, CUNY)
  12. Vivian Motti (George Mason University)
  13. Rebecca Mushtare (SUNY Oswego)
  14. Ashwin Satyanarayana (New York City College of Technology (CUNY)
  15. Brian Stone (Boise State University)
  16. Deborah Sturm (College of Staten Island, CUNY)
  17. Alyssa Vine (City University of New York)
  18. Amber Wagner (Birmingham-Southern College)
  19. Rosa Laura Zavala (Medgar Evars College, CUNY)

Round 2- Fall 2020-Spring 2021

During Round 2 of our Curriculum Development Awards Program (for courses taught in Fall 2020-Spring 2021), Teach Access awarded 10 grants of $5,000 each to the following faculty:

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  1. Rachel Adler (Northeastern Illinois University)
  2. Iftekhar Ahmed (UC Irvine)
  3. Anastasia Angelopoulou (Columbus State University)
  4. Stacy Branham (UC Irvine)
  5. Sarah Huibregtse (University of Mount Union)
  6. Christine Lhowe (Seton Hall University)
  7. Lisa Ortiz (Metropolitan State University of Denver)
  8. Andrea Salgian (The College of New Jersey)
  9. Andrew Scholer (Chemeketa Community College)
  10. Elaine Short (Tufts University)

Round 3- Fall 2021-Spring 2022

During Round 3 of our Curriculum Development Awards Program (for courses taught in Fall 2021-Spring 2022), Teach Access awarded 10 grants of $5,000 each to the following faculty:

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  1. Omar Badreddin (University of Texas at El Paso)
  2. William Bares (Whitman College)
  3. Dr. Tracy Christofero (Marshall University)
  4. Samantha Corcoran (Wichita State University)
  5. Mine Dogucu (University of California, Irvine)
  6. Jenny Kowalski (Temple University)
  7. Anastasia Kurdia (Tulane University)
  8. Lauren Lee McCarthy & Claire Kearney-Volpe (University of California, Los Angeles)
  9. Mac-Arthur Louis (Hudson Valley Community College)
  10. Michael McQuaid (Rochester Institute of Technology)
  11. Meredith Moore (Drake University)
  12. John L. O’Neill (University of Minnesota, Duluth)
  13. Alyssa Taylor (University of Washington)
  14. Dr. Elissa Weeden (Rochester Institute of Technology)

Please read the blog post about the round 3 faculty grantees!

Round 4- Fall 2022-Spring 2023

During Round 4 of our Curriculum Development Awards Program (for courses taught in Fall 2022-Spring 2023), Teach Access awarded 9 grants of $5,000 each to the following faculty:

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  1. Anastasia Angelopoulou, Columbus State University
  2. Andrea Quam, Iowa State University
  3. Brenda Sanfilippo, University of California Santa Cruz
  4. Chiara Bellini, Northeastern University
  5. Evelyn Zayas, Rasmussen University
  6. Kelly Spoon, San Diego Mesa College
  7. Lauren Milne, Macalester College
  8. Merideth Moore, Drake University
  9. Robyn Deterding, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign