Jemimah Howard
Guest Reporter

Nancy Conklin, 45, of Grand Junction, is Coordinator of Educational Access Services (EAS) at Mesa State College. EAS is the entity of campus that keeps the college in compliance with the Americans with Disabilities Act, but does more than that. EAS helps students with disabilities to fully participate in the educational environment by providing academic accommodations and promoting universal design principles.
Conklin is a big part of the process. From the initial interviews with students, to contacting the students’ professors, or helping them learn life skills (like where to go to get their questions answered), Conklin is available to all of EAS’s students who need help.
According to Conklin, one of the most long-term problems that EAS has had is WebCT. WebCT is MSC’s learning management system that allows the college to offer hybrid and online classes. However, the current system that is being used is not accessible to students who are visually impaired or those students who are not technologically savvy.
“The blind students are the ones who are most impacted,” Conklin said. “When a blind student has a class with WebCT components, our office has to assign people to spend time on the computer with that student on a daily basis.”
When Conklin heard that the college was going to change learning management systems in the spring, she tracked down Ben Keefer, director of extended studies at MSC, whose office is in charge of deciding what the new programming will be. The new possible systems were being analyzed on an eight point criteria: The LMS provides effective solutions and access for students with learning disabilities. Keefer is very respectful of Conklin, realizing both the challenges and limitations of her position.
“I kind of feel sorry for Nancy,” Keefer said. “She is in the position to deal with an unfunded mandate.”
Despite the challenges that Conklin faces in her position faces, she manages to find time to assist the 177 students who receive services through EAS as well as help educate Mesa’s faculty on how to structure their classes to accommodate these students. Recently, Conklin, assisted by Javier Leung from Distance Education, presented training sessions on Oct. 21-22. These sessions focused on teaching faculty how to create documents in Microsoft Word that are compatible with JAWS, the screen reader used by students at Mesa.
Over the nine years that Conklin has worked at MSC, she has proven her worth through her commitment not only to the students but also to the faculty and the college itself, striving always to fulfill her role as an advocate for those with disabilities.
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jahoward@mesastate.edu