Teach Access Fellowship Program

 

A collaboration between Teach Access and partner higher education institutions to further advocacy, support, and work for teaching accessibility. 

Overview

The Teach Access Fellowship Program engages educators and administrators to create purposeful communities of action for teaching accessibility and advocating for it. Over the course of a year, fellows are supported in learning how accessibility informs their practice, in teaching about it to others, and in strategizing for embedding it into the curriculum.    

As a Teach Access Fellow, you will:

  • Learn from leading experts in accessibility and inclusion
  • Develop and implement innovative approaches to teaching accessibility in your course(s)
  • Collaborate with other educators to further advocacy, support, and work for teaching accessibility
  • Receive mentorship and guidance from professionals in academia and industry
  • Earn a $4,000 stipend to support your fellowship work

Join us in our mission to make technology and design more accessible for all. Apply now to become a Teach Access Fellow and make a difference in equipping learners to build toward an inclusive world. 

The application for the 2024 Cohort is now closed. We are in the process of evaluating applications and should be notifying selected applicants by Thursday, December 14, 2023. 

Did you miss our information session? Don’t worry, you can access the recording.

Teach Access Fellowship Program. Make a difference in equipping learners to build toward an inclusive world. Graphic of three diverse teachers speaking before a presentation with a disability access symbol. Another graphic of a teacher speaking with a student in a wheelchair over a desk with a book. Sponsored by Verizon.

Outcomes

By the end of the program, fellows should be able to:

  1. Demonstrate a basic understanding of accessibility principles and how they inform their disciplines.
  2. Develop strategies to incorporate the teaching of accessibility concepts and skills into the curriculum.
  3. Design effective instructional materials to teach the concepts and skills of accessibility to their students. 
  4. Successfully teach discipline-specific accessibility concepts and skills to their students.
  5. Engage colleagues in fostering collaboration, learning, and sharing of accessibility knowledge.

Eligibility Criteria

  • Work as faculty or academic support staff in an educational institution in the United States or Puerto Rico. 
    • Professionals from Minority Serving Institutions (MSIs) and/or from minority groups are strongly encouraged to apply.
    • Professionals from the following disciplines are strongly encouraged to apply:
      • Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM)  
      • Marketing and Communications
      • Management and Business Administration
      • Health Sciences
      • Social Sciences
  • Have basic knowledge of the principles of accessibility and the Web Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG).
  • Have the availability to participate in a year-long professional development program. As part of the program, fellows are required to attend 11 synchronous Zoom sessions (seven in the spring and four in the fall). They are also required to complete asynchronous work related to building curricular materials for teaching accessibility in their courses.

Application Process

To be considered for the Teach Access Fellowship, interested applicants must complete the Teach Access Fellowship Program application. The form requests the following information:

  • Applicants’ personal information (required)
  • Applicants’ demographic information (optional)
  • Applicants’ academic information (required)
  • A link to applicants’ resume or CV (required)
  • Responding to these three prompts (required):
    • Explain why you want to participate in the fellowship program. Frame your explanation within the context of the subject matters that you teach. 
    • Please tell us about any projects or ideas you’ve come up with that have helped students learn better or solve problems they were facing.
    • Please tell us about any experiences that demonstrate your dedication to a cause and achieving goals on your own with clear expectations.
  • Acknowledgement of agreement with the program’s participation, deliverables, and reporting requirements (required)

Please submit your application before Thursday, November 30, 2023. Selected applicants will be notified via email by Thursday, December 14, 2023 and will have until Tuesday, December 19, 2023 to confirm their acceptance to the program.

Please, make sure that you have read all the information about the program before starting your application. 

Curriculum

The Teach Access Fellowship is a year-long program. The estimated time commitment for each month is approximately 5 hours. 

Spring

During spring, fellows are supported in understanding how accessibility informs their disciplines and in planning on how to teach it to their students. The fellows will meet the following dates, from 3:00pm to 4:00pm ET/12:00pm to 1:00pm PT:

  • Kick-off meeting (January 24, 2024)
  • Session 1: Disability (February 7, 2024)
  • Session 2: Assistive Technology (February 21, 2024)
  • Session 3: Accessibility Principles (March 6, 2024)
  • Session 4: Accessibility: A Disciplinary Look (March 20, 2024)
  • Session 5: Teaching Accessibility (April 3, 2024)
  • Session 6: Project Pitch (April 17, 2024)

Summer

Throughout the summer, fellows work on creating at least two curricular materials to teach accessibility in their courses. To support fellows, Teach Access offers optional office hours during the following dates, from 3:00pm to 4:00pm ET/12:00pm to 1:00pm PT:

  • Office Hours (June 5, 2024)
  • Office Hours (August 7, 2024)

Fall

During the fall, fellows are supported in teaching accessibility to their students and in strategizing how to incorporate accessibility principles into the curriculum. The fellows will meet the following dates, from 3:00pm to 4:00pm ET/12:00pm to 1:00pm PT:

  • Session 7: Teaching Accessibility (September 4, 2024)
  • Session 8: Transforming the Curriculum (October 2, 2024)
  • Session 9: Becoming Advocates for Accessibility in our Work (November 6, 2024)
  • Session 10: Final Presentations (December 4, 2024)

Past Fellows

Pilot Program (Spring 2023)

  • Akira Kawaguchi – CUNY The City College of New York
  • Brittany Butler – CSU East Bay
  • Chen Wang – CSU Fullerton
  • Devorah Kletenik – CUNY Brooklyn College
  • David Daniel Bogumil – CSU Northridge
  • Eva-Maria Sofianos – CUNY Lehman College
  • Joe Bautista – CSU Northridge
  • John T. Drew – CSU Fullerton
  • Kumar Ramansenthi – CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice
  • Lorraine Githiora – CUNY 
  • Mark Farquhar – CSU Northridge
  • Oscar Marin – CSU Northridge 
  • Sarah A. Meyer – CSU Poly Pomona
  • Shally Juarez – CSU Northridge
  • Shubha Kashinath – CSU East Bay
  • Suzanne David – CSU Northridge
  • Vickie Yu – CSU Northridge
  • Ching-Song (Don) Wei – CUNY Borough of Manhattan College
  • Tatiana Anderson – CUNY College of Staten Island
  • Marc Thompson – University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign