Director of Student Accessibility Center

Directs all aspects of the Justin Dart Jr Student Accessibility Center (SAC), including long and short-term strategy and operational planning, evaluation, budgeting, hiring, programming, policies and training to ensure equitable access to disabled students including the provision of academic accommodations and advisement, sign language interpreting and captioning services, accommodated testing, assistive technology; collaborates with faculty and campus partners to ensure appropriate access; works in collaboration with the departments within the DSAES Health & Well-Being portfolio for a healthy campus.

• Provides visionary leadership and management of services and programs designed to promote and provide an equitable learning environment for students with disabilities.
• Coordinates a team of experts in the provision and coordination of academic and campus access and educational opportunities for students with disabilities.
• Provides direct supervision for the leadership team and office manager.
• Provides campus leadership with assistance in resolving student accessibility issues and initiating programs and practices that contribute to equity for students with disabilities.
• Directs the collection, analysis, and interpretation of statistics relevant to program planning and maintains quality standards including compliance with regulations.
• Plans and conducts outreach activities on and off campus to raise awareness of disability issues and enhance services for students with disabilities. Advises and consults with university faculty, staff and administration.
• Ensures that programs, activities, and services comply with University, State, and Federal regulations.
• Manages and administers an effective and efficient organization through short- and long-term planning and assessment, including developing and monitoring the annual budgets to ensure that expenditures are fiscally sound.
• In coordination with Facilities Management, oversees facility maintenance, renovations, repairs, and major equipment purchases; ensures effective and safe building operations including security and fire prevention.
• Performs other job-related duties as assigned.

Education: Requires a thorough understanding of both theoretical and practical aspects of an analytical, technical or professional discipline; or the basic knowledge of more than one professional discipline. Knowledge of the discipline is normally obtained through a formal, directly job-related 4 year degree from a college or university or an equivalent in-depth specialized training program that is directly related to the type of work being performed.

Experience: Requires a minimum of five (5) years of directly job-related professional experience.

Preferred: Seven (7) years of directly job-related and supervisory experience.

Certification/Licensing: None.

Preferred: Licensed Professional Counselor (L.P.C), Certified Rehabilitation Counselor (CRC), or related license.

Additional Posting Information

Since 2003, the Justin Dart, Jr. Center for Students with DisABILITIES has had the privilege of serving students in need while honoring one of our most distinguished alumni and the “godfather” of the Americans with Disabilities Act. Our Center was the first space specifically designed for disabled students at any major Texas university, and we are the only Center in the country that honors Justin's legacy of advocating for diversity, inclusion, and the ADA by bearing his name. We always want to improve. Our utmost promise to our students is to help them achieve success at the University of Houston by providing them with the access and accommodations they need to go from freshman to graduate. After soliciting feedback from students, an overwhelming sentiment emerged: They did not like our name. Students explained they felt the emphasis on “abilities” suggested that having a disability is a negative quality that we needed to help them correct. We listened to them. This year on the 31st anniversary of the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act, we launched our new name: The Justin Dart, Jr. Student Accessibility Center. We are not stopping with the new name. We are committed to serving our students, and so we are also going to roll out new improvements in the coming months: More staff, a revamped Center, and more training for faculty about accommodating disabled students at UH. Other changes are also coming. As part of the Health and Well-Being portfolio, the Dart Center is one of six departments committed to cultivating a community of care to promote and enrich the health and well-being of our students, to become successful scholars and engaged global citizens. We are looking for a director that is passionate about supporting our student with disabilities and providing the strategic and operational vision and implementation to help us reinvent ourselves, so we are leaders in empowering our students. Our staff is excited. Our students are excited.