We are writing to provide you information that all employees, but especially teaching faculty, must know regarding OSU’s legal and policy responsibility to reasonably accommodate any qualified student who has a disability. Providing equal educational opportunity is an important and shared responsibility.
Please refer to OSU’s policies related to disability, and the Disability Access Services Faculty and Staff Guidelines for more in-depth information.

Online Training
We’re seeing a trend, with many faculty asking for in-depth training about students with disabilities and accommodation obligations. In addition, there has been a substantial increase in the number of universities requiring employee training about working with and accommodating people with disabilities.
Towards the goal of meeting our legal obligations and institutional aspirations, we offer a concise (30 minute) self-paced online training, designed to address many of the questions faculty have asked, as well as all of our responsibilities. The training can be completed at any time, though it should be completed as close to the beginning of the term as possible.
Register for and view the Disability Access Services Training.

Accommodation Process Changes [these became effective Fall Term 2015]
In response to the developing legal landscape, Disability Access Services (DAS) is changing how two common accommodation processes happen: flexibility in attendance and extension of deadlines.
Previously, a student with one of these accommodations had the responsibility to meet with faculty to fill out an agreement to determine how the accommodation would occur. We have concluded that we must regard this as an institutional responsibility not a student responsibility. Because of this, DAS is implementing a new process, called Disability Related Flexibility in

Attendance/Assignments.
Once a student is approved for this accommodation, DAS will email the faculty member an explanation of the accommodation and an agreement form with suggested guidelines. This agreement form should be returned to DAS within 3 days to keep the implementation process moving. The new process will provide opportunities for faculty input and discussion directly with DAS on specifics of each class. After an agreement form has been received, DAS will discuss with the student, and work with the faculty member towards a final signed agreement for all.
If you have questions about this specific accommodation process, please contact Marth Smith, Director of Disability Access Services at 7-4098 or martha.smith@oregonstate.edu
Thank you for your attention to understanding our obligations and implementing these process changes.
Angelo Gomez
Executive Director
Office of Equity and Inclusion

Every Semester Needs a Plan
National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity – Core Curriculum Webinar
Thursday, January 14, 2016
11:00 A.M.— 1:00 P.M.
Valley Library, Room 3622 (Willamette East and West)

OREGON STATE ADVANCE invites faculty to a viewing and discussion of the National Center for Faculty Development & Diversity (NCFDD) webinar, Every Semester Needs a Plan. This webinar is part of the NCFDD Core Curriculum designed to equip faculty with the skills needed to thrive in the academy.

Bring your lunch and join us to watch the webinar and meet others with similar plans (finishing a paper, preparing a new course, writing a grant proposal) so that peer mentoring groups may be formed.

Coffee and tea provided. Registration appreciated: http://goo.gl/ZbzOTA

Events is free and open to the public. Contact ADVANCE@oregonstate.edu or 541-737-4108 with questions or accommodation requests related to a disability.

If you would like to know more about these and other upcoming events please visit our calendar (http://calendar.oregonstate.edu/advance), follow us on Twitter (@OSUADVANCE), and like us on Facebook (https://www.facebook.com/OregonStateADVANCE).

NCFDD_1.14.16_webinar

OSU MANRRS seeks donations of ‘lightly used’ professional business attire: The annual Career Wardrobe event on Feb. 18 helps all OSU students prepare for the winter term career fairs and supports student members attending the MANRRS National Conference. Current donation drop off locations are 158 or 147 Strand Agricultural Hall (STAG) and OSU Career Development Center located at B008 Kerr on campus. The Beaver Store in Portland is also a donation center which is located at 538 SW 6th Ave.

Applications for PCOSW scholarships are now being accepted. The President’s Commission on the Status of Women, or PCOSW, provides funding to women faculty, students, and staff who are pursuing professional development or research opportunities, as well as individuals conducting research related to women’s issues. Scholarships average $500 and applications are due Friday, Feb. 5 (week 5) with notification in Week 7. Information: http://leadership.oregonstate.edu/pcosw/awards-scholarships

An information session for the Winter 2016 round of the Learning Innovation Grant Scaled Grants will be held Tuesday, January 19, 1:00-2:00 p.m. in Kidder 202. Please attend if you have questions and are considering submitting a proposal.

About Learning Innovation Grant Scaled Grants: Applications for the winter round of the 2015-2016 Learning Innovation Grants are now being accepted. These grants support projects that deploy technology in ways that improve student learning. The maximum award for Scaled Grants (cross-unit teams) is $100k; project descriptions are due February 12, with full proposals due March 11.  For more information and application materials, please visit: http://leadership.oregonstate.edu/tech-funding/learning-innovation-grant.

Please contact Robin Pappas, robin.pappas@oregonstate.edu, with questions.

Stanford University, in conjunction with the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the Research Councils of the United Kingdom (RCUK) with support from the National Science Foundation (NSF), is hosting a Transatlantic Data Science Workshop.

This two-day workshop will be held on March 1-2, 2016 at the NIH campus in Bethesda, MD. The objectives of this workshop are:

•             To facilitate the development of novel computational approaches to health;

•             To guide computer scientists, data scientists, statisticians, computational scientists, and mathematicians in discovering and accessing US and UK health datasets; and

•             To support researchers in establishing interdisciplinary, international collaborations.

The first day of the workshop will be devoted to exploring in-depth six datasets available to US and UK researchers, three housed in the US and funded by NIH and three in the UK and funded by RCUK.

The second day will offer an opportunity for researchers to work in small groups to develop and apply novel computational techniques to the discussed health datasets, and to develop, present, and gather feedback on research concepts that will advance our approaches to and understanding of health problems.

The datasets to be explored in depth are:

1.            The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA): https://tcga-data.nci.nih.gov/tcga/tcgaHome2.jsp

2.            Alzheimer’s Disease Neuroimaging Initiative (ADNI): http://adni.loni.usc.edu/about/

3.            Health and Retirement Study (HRS): http://hrsonline.isr.umich.edu/index.php

4.            UK Biobank – http://www.ukbiobank.ac.uk/about-biobank-uk/

5.            Millennium Cohort Study – http://www.cls.ioe.ac.uk/page.aspx?sitesectionid=851

6.            CALIBER – https://www.caliberresearch.org/

Submission:

Two-page submissions are invited from researchers in computer science, data science, statistics and/or mathematics. Preference is given to early career researchers, but all applicants will be considered.  Proposals should describe novel computational approaches and an innovative application to a health/medical problem, employing one or more of the above six named datasets. Special consideration will be given to proposals using more than one of the above named datasets, with novel combinatorial (e.g., novel database research or data linkages) methods.  Proposals may draw upon prior work minimally, but should not propose on-going or published research. Note: researchers do not need any prior experience using the named datasets.

Please include a brief description of the proposer’s background and credentials (less than 1/2 page). Other contributors may be acknowledged but only the lead proposer will be invited to attend the workshop, if selected. Travel and expenses (up to approximately $1300, depending on originating location, for the two-day workshop) will be reimbursed through an NSF grant to Stanford University.

The concept paper is limited to two pages, with 1-inch margins and 10 point Arial font or larger.

Please upload you concept paper submission and CV here, and enter your details here. https://sites.google.com/site/usukhealthdata/

Important Dates:

January 20, 2016 (11:59 PM Pacific Time): Vision Papers Due

January 29, 2016: Notification of Acceptance

March 1-2, 2016: Workshop Date

All students, staff & faculty are invited to participate in OSU’s annual Bring Your Kids to Campus Day on April 15, 2016 hosted by Childcare & Family Resources. Any offices/departments on the Corvallis campus interested in hosting a family friendly activity that day, please contact erika.woosley@oregonstate.edu.