University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

University of

Illinois

at Urbana-

Champaign

A Report on the

Participation and Success

of Underrepresented

Students and Staff

Submitted to the Illinois Board of Higher

Education

2008

A Report on the

Participation and Success

of Underrepresented

Students and Staff

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Office of Equal Opportunity and Access at the University

of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Submitted to the Illinois Board of Higher Education

2008



iii

Acknowledgements ....................................................................................... 6

Executive Summary ...................................................................................... 8

I. Academic Achievement Programs and Activities ............................. 10

A. College of Agricultural Consumer and Environmental Sciences ..................... 10

B. College of Applied Health Sciences ................................................................. 13

C. College of Education: Special Educational Opportunities Program (SEOP) .. 15

D. College of Engineering ..................................................................................... 16

E. Graduate College .............................................................................................. 25

F. College of Liberal Arts & Sciences (LAS) ....................................................... 28

G. College of Medicine .......................................................................................... 38

H. Division of Disability Resources and Educational Services ............................. 39

I. Office of Minority Student Affairs ................................................................... 43

II. Institutional Effective Practice for Underrepresented Students’

Academic Achievement: College of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ Access &

Achievement Program ................................................................................ 45

III. IBHE Web Accessibility Report: Evaluation, Plans for

Improvement, and Annual Report ............................................................ 47

A. Standard ............................................................................................................ 47

B. Evaluations ........................................................................................................ 47

C. Evaluation outcomes ......................................................................................... 48

D. Plans for Improvement ...................................................................................... 49

E. Plans for evaluating additional web pages ........................................................ 49

F. Campus policies and procedures to ensure web accessibility ........................... 50

G. Training and Support for Web Developers and Instructors .............................. 50

H. Evaluators and Authors ..................................................................................... 54

I. References ......................................................................................................... 54

J. Appendix A: Evaluation Details ....................................................................... 55

K. Appendix B: Advancing Disability Access in an Electronic Age .................... 66

Acknowledgements

The Report on the Academic Achievements of Underrepresented Students is produced by

the Office of Equal Opportunity and Access at the University of Illinois at Urbana-

Champaign. Dr. Larine Cowan is the Assistant Chancellor and Director of the Office of

Equal Opportunity and Access.

The report was created with information provided by knowledgeable practitioners within

the University of Illinois. We acknowledge the following individuals for their

contribution:

Department Contact Name Title

College of Agricultural, Consumer

and Environmental Sciences (ACES)

Robert Easter Dean

College of Agricultural, Consumer

and Environmental Sciences (ACES)

Jessie Thompson, Jr. Assistant Dean

College of Applied Health Sciences Tanya Gallagher Dean

College of Applied Health Sciences Jen Themanson

Assistant Dean

College of Business Avijit Ghosh

Dean

College of Business Victor Mullins Associate Dean of

Undergraduate Student Affairs

College of Communications Ronald Yates Dean

College of Communications Teresa Savage Associate Dean

College of Education Mary Kalantzis Dean

College of Education Brenda M. Clevenger

Assistant Dean

College of Engineering Ilesanmi Adesida Dean

College of Engineering Susan M. Larson Associate Professor

College of Fine and Applied Arts Robert Graves Dean

College of Fine and Applied Arts Marian Stone Assistant to the Associate Dean

College of Law Charles Tabb Interim Dean

College of Law Dave Johnson Assistant Dean

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Sarah Mangelsdorf Dean

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Mary Ramsbottom Associate Dean

College of Liberal Arts and Sciences Karen M. Carney Associate Dean

College of Medicine Bradford Schwartz Regional Dean

College of Medicine Debbie McCall Assistant to the Dean

College of Medicine James Hall Associate Dean

College of Veterinary Medicine Herbert Whiteley Dean

College of Veterinary Medicine Mary Kelm

Assistant Dean

College of Veterinary Medicine Shelley Rairden Program Manager

Disability Resources and Educational Brad Hedrick Director

Services (DRES)

Graduate College Richard Wheeler Dean

Graduate College

Sharee Wax Director of Budget and Resource

Planning

Office of the Dean of Students William Riley Dean of Students

Office of Minority Student Affairs Michael Jeffries Dean

Office of the Vice Chancellor for

Student Affairs

Renee Romano Vice Chancellor for Student

Affairs

School of Social Work Wynne Korr Dean

Provost’s Office Ruth Watkins Vice Provost

Provost’s Office Feniosky Pena Mora Associate Provost Fellow

Provost’s Office Kristi Kuntz Assistant Provost

Provost’s Office Linda Katehi Provost

Executive Summary

Background

Illinois Public Acts 85-283 and 90-730 require all public institutions of higher education

to annually report to the Illinois Board of Higher Education on efforts designed to

improve and to increase the participation of underrepresented groups. The Board, in turn,

is required to submit an annual report to the Governor and to the General Assembly on

the effectiveness of these initiatives.

Executive Summary

The University of Illinois has a strong commitment to students from underrepresented

groups. As will be discussed in this report, the University has undertaken several new

initiatives since the last report on academic achievement. “Inclusive Illinois” is a new

campus-wide initiative that ushers in a new commitment to diversity and inclusivity,

creating an atmosphere conducive to the maximization of each individual’s potential

within the Illinois community. The University’s goal is to heighten awareness and

engagement about issues of identity and the importance of examining and respecting

differences based on race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation and gender identity, age,

physical ability, and religion, as well as the multiple and intersecting ways we see

ourselves and others. In addition, to enhance the working, living, and learning

environment for faculty, staff, and students, the University encourages a standard of

conduct and behavior that is consistent with the values of inclusivity. In an environment

of inclusivity, there is no place for acts of hatred, intolerance, insensitivity, bigotry,

threats of violence, harassment or discrimination. By creating an atmosphere free from

those insidious distractions, many barriers to maximum academic achievement are

removed for all individuals, including those from underrepresented groups.

Many colleges within the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have implemented

new initiatives geared towards enhancing academic achievement for students in

underrepresented groups or are in the process of updating and revamping existing

programs which have previously met with success. In particular, the College of Applied

Health Sciences has implemented an Enrichment and Outreach Program with several

components that center on core areas of individual contact, assistance, and resources.

The College of Engineering continues its efforts to recruit and retain highly talented

women and underrepresented ethnic minorities by continually assessing and redesigning

many of its long-existing programs to meet the needs of today’s students, and is also

working with the local community to increase the number of underrepresented students in

the educational pipeline with the skills and abilities necessary to successfully pursue

technical degrees. Finally, the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences continues to provide

exemplary support to its own students and has increased its efforts to work cross-

departmentally to ensure that underrepresented students throughout the University of

Illinois at Urbana-Champaign have the opportunity to attain an undergraduate degree.

This report below documents the University’s evaluation of academic achievement for

underrepresented groups and its continuous improvement plan for providing and

sustaining continued academic achievement for underrepresented groups. Specifically,

the report highlights those programs with specific qualitative or quantitative data on

academic achievement.

I. Academic Achievement Programs and Activities

A. College of Agricultural Consumer and Environmental Sciences

INTRODUCTORY STATEMENT

Since 1987, the College of Agricultural Consumer and Environmental Sciences (ACES)

has sought to improve the representation and performance of underrepresented

undergraduate students (i.e., African Americans, Latina/Latinos, Native Americans) in

math and science curriculums related to disciplines in the food, human and environmental

sciences through a set of Diversity Initiatives that focus on recruitment and successful

academic performance. For the purpose of this report, the Young Scholars Program (an

academic enrichment summer program for entering fall ACES freshman) and the

Undergraduate Education component will be the primary topics discussed.

IDENTIFYING AND SERVING STUDENT CLIENTELE

1. Young Scholars Program

The Young Scholars Program invites students from underserved groups and economically

disadvantaged backgrounds who are matriculating into the UIUC College of ACES

during the fall semester to participate in a summer academic enrichment camp prior to its

start. The camp is designed to strengthen skills in math, science and writing, and seeks to

enhance the academic competitiveness of participants during the college freshman year.

The transcripts and test scores of participants are evaluated, and specific course

requirements are created in partnership with their community colleges. Each participant

signs an academic agreement to fulfill the identified requirements at their community

college. Participating students are assigned a graduate student counselor who monitors

their academic performance and provides suggestions for intervention (i.e. tutors, skill

development session, etc.) from the ACES Academic Programs office and ACES

Academic Departments as necessary. The program also works with the ACES Career

Services office and campus undergraduate research programs to place students who

demonstrate strong academic performance in a research (or job) internship or study

abroad experience at the end of their freshman year. Financial aid issues are also

addressed with this group. Over the past two years scholarships from $3,000-$5,000 were

given to YSP participants based on academic merit. Approximately 20-25 students are

selected to participate in this program each summer.

EVALUATION: A five-year study of the YSP students’ fall 2004-2006 performance has

revealed a higher level of achievement at the end of the freshman year, compared with

non-YSP cohorts. YSP students took an average of 36 credit hours, with a GPA of 3.10,

while non-YSP students took only 30 credits hours at a GPA of 2.35.

2. Undergraduate Education

The Undergraduate Education component focuses on student retention. There has been a

new emphasis on merit based scholarships, increased opportunities for study abroad, and

internship experiences to enhance the undergraduate experience of top academic

performers from underrepresented groups. The college’s goals as relates to the

recruitment and retention of underrepresented students and the quality of their academic

experience remains the same:

• Increase the number and geographic representation of underrepresented

students studying at the undergraduate level.

• Increase the academic quality of the underrepresented students in the

admitted pool.

• Increase the academic performance and leadership development of

underrepresented students current studying in ACES programs.

• Increase the graduation and job placement rates of underrepresented

students and to maintain an active alumni relationship.

The program provides services to approximately 216 underrepresented students (African

American, Latino/Latina, Native American), and another 80 students who identify

themselves as economically or physically disadvantaged. All new underrepresented

students and other students identified as at-risk are sent a letter informing them of the

services provided by the college and the campus, and are invited to make an appointment

with the Assistant Dean for Diversity Programs or a graduate student counselor to assess

their academic needs. An academic plan is developed during a series of meetings with

each student. Graduate counselors are trained to utilize services provided by both the

Office of Minority Student Affairs (OMSA) and the Assistant Dean for Diversity

Programs.

EVALUATION: As a result of these services, the gap between retention for

underrepresented students and the ACES general student body is decreasing. It is

noteworthy to report that over the past five (5) years, retention of underrepresented

students (in College of ACES majors) has increased from 60% to nearly 85% after one

year of matriculation. The average GPA of underrepresented students appears to be at its

highest ever with more than 50% of freshman and 25% of all underrepresented students

having achieved at least a 2.70 or higher. Of the fall 2006 underrepresented student body,

20% had grades above the 3.0 and 25% of sophomores and juniors qualified for the

undergraduate research program. Also, the distribution of undergraduate degrees

conferred to underrepresented students was at 8% of the total. Note that in 1990,

underrepresented students comprised only 2% of ACES undergraduate degrees.

The College of ACES through the “ACES 100” course provides an on-line lecture and

assignment on diversity awareness prepared by the Assistant Dean for Diversity

Programs, and a hands-on activity in the small discussion sessions aimed at creating a

better understanding and appreciation for cultural differences. This course is required of

all ACES freshman.

3. Institutional Resources

The College of ACES has employed an Assistant Dean responsible for coordination of

the Diversity Program initiatives since 1992. The Dean employs one graduate student

assistant to assist with academic and career counseling of minority students. It should be

noted that the Office of Minority Student Affairs provides two graduate student

counselors to the college. Approximately 50% of their time is directed towards the

recruitment and retention of underrepresented undergraduate students.

The ACES summer programs have been a wise investment. More than 800 talented

underrepresented and other underrepresented students have participated in the summer

experience since 1988. Approximately 44% have enrolled in the College of ACES. Over

the past 5 years approximately 65% have enrolled at the University of Illinois. More than

68% have enrolled in a University of Illinois college program which focuses on math and

science. A scholarship component is being developed to retain more of these very

talented summer program participants.

I. Academic Achievement Programs and Activities

B. College of Applied Health Sciences

The College of Applied Health Sciences (AHS) Enrichment and Outreach Program

(EOP) was implemented in June 2006, with a mission to provide consistent and continual

academic support and services for AHS students of underrepresented populations,

including first generation, students with disabilities, minorities, women, and student

athletes. The EOP program has several components that center around core areas of

individual contact, assistance, and resources. EOP allows for students to receive extra

attention in areas of need. Whether students need information regarding resumes, cover

letters, study preparation, APA citations, campus employment, or student involvement

opportunities, the EOP program’s goal is to become an information depot for students.

EOP students meet in regularly scheduled appointments with the College of AHS

Program Coordinator. These individual meetings provide students with information

regarding Colleges, departments, and majors, as well as the additional opportunities

available to them for academic growth and enrichment, such as research and volunteer

opportunities. These meetings also provide information to students with respect to

campus life and adjustment issues, academic deficiencies, and skills in the areas of

motivation, initiative, navigation, direction, study skills, expectation, and time

management. EOP will officially be named the Mannie L. Jackson Academic

Enrichment Leadership Program January 2008, and will provide even more services and

resources to students in areas of mentorship, leadership, and outreach.

EOP students are invited to participate in the following individualized services designed

to meet various academic and adjustment needs:

• Bi-weekly individual appointments: These recurrent half-hour appointments

with the Program Coordinator helps to provide information on an individual basis

about the College, major, and opportunities available for academic growth and

enrichment, such as research and volunteer opportunities. Students also create a

semester success plan that provides detailed information on how the student will

utilize department and campus resources for academic and self development.

• “Check-ins”: Students meet with their Program Coordinator (who serves as an

accountability partner) after first exams, mid-term examinations, and for final

exam preparations to estimate grades and grade point average as well as to receive

continued referrals and recommendations to student services cross-campus.

• Tutoring Program: Students are given the opportunity to receive additional

academic support three nights a week, at no-cost, though peer interaction and

course-specific, skill–based development. The tutoring program is a joint

initiative between the College of AHS and the Division of Intercollegiate

Athletics Irwin Academic Center.

• M.I.N.D.S.E.T©: Students can attend a seven-part series which focuses on

students self identifying indicators that prevent their academic success and

composing individual contracts to promote academic success. Areas of skills

discussed in the series: motivation, initiative, navigation, direction, study skills,

expectation, and time management. Sessions can be one-on-one or within a group.

• EOP Website: Information website for EOP students as well as for all AHS

students. The website allows students to see the EOP program “at a glance” as

well as locate student organizations and other student services and resources. The

website is located at: www.ahs.uiuc.edu/advising/eop.htm. This site proved to be

not only a resource for current EOP students but for students college-wide. In

fact, AHS faculty and administrators have found the site useful.

• Outreach: Students are invited to presentations in areas of career development,

professional development, graduate schools, alumnae nights, and organized social

events.

Evaluation/Outcomes: After one year, the EOP Program has seen strong academic

results from students. In 2006, 39 students actively participated in the EOP program

(2006 Average ACT-24.6; 2006 Average HSPR- 78.53) compared to the overall

College of AHS student population (College of AHS student population ACT average

26-27; Average HSPR-87%). EOP retained 95% of its students in 2006 (2 students

pursued a major in Liberal Arts and Sciences); no students within the EOP program

were dropped; 97.4% of all students are in clear academic standing. Additionally,

after the first year within EOP (2006): 7.7 % of students received perfect academic

marks (4.0/4.0) and 23.1% received Deans List status. Additionally, all EOP students

had a cumulative grade point average above 2.0 and 56.4% of students in 2006 AY

had a cumulative grade point averages were B average (3.0) or higher. The same

strong marks are expected from the EOP 2007 cohort, as well as continued academic

success from the EOP 2006 cohort.

I. Academic Achievement Programs and Activities

C. College of Education: Special Educational Opportunities Program

(SEOP)

Special Educational Opportunities Program (SEOP) students in Educational Psychology

from Fall 2004 through Spring 2007 were selected and surveyed to determine their

achievements. During this time period, seventeen doctoral level students participated in

the program, all participating across multiple years. An interesting result of this analysis

was the finding that each student had the opportunity to be a teaching assistant and

research assistant during their tenure in the program. Of the approximately 46 separate

appointments, 50% of them were research assistantships and 50% of them were teaching

assistantships.

The solicitation of curriculum vita from the seventeen SEOP participants (sixteen

responded) revealed the following information:

Eleven former participants are doctoral students in the APA-accredited Counseling

Psychology doctoral program, and all of them have presented research at regional and

national conferences, including American Psychological Association Annual Meetings,

National Black Graduate Students Association Conference; Association of Black

Psychologists Conference; Race, Roots, & Resistance Conference, National Latina/o

Psychological Association, etc. Five of these students have received the American

Psychological Association Minority Fellowship, and three others have won APA student

research awards. Fifty percent (50%) of these students have published in peer-reviewed

journals, remarkable given that only 5 of the 11 have completed qualifying exams.

I. Academic Achievement Programs and Activities

D. College of Engineering

1. Morrill Engineering Program

Formalized in 1973, the Morrill Engineering Program (MEP) was developed to attract

and retain qualified students from underrepresented groups in engineering. These include

African Americans, American Indians, Hispanics, and women of all ethnic groups.

Through MEP, students find academic support services and activities, financial

assistance, scholarships, work experience, and community.

The MEP approach is broad, encompassing pre-college, college, and graduate-level

students. Outreach activities are designed for students as young as elementary school-age,

seeking to spark their interest in science and introducing them to role models with field

trips to the annual Engineering Open House and the Museum of Science and Industry in

Chicago. In addition, the college’s student societies visit local schools for a science and

engineering “show and tell.”

The MEP summer internship program, IMPRINT, is designed to help the College of

Engineering recruit some of the top quality students who have an interest in the

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. It is basically a pre-college 8-week

internship program for students who have been accepted, and made a commitment, to

attend the University of Illinois. Also, the Summer Research Opportunity Program, a

cooperative effort among the Big Ten universities, brings prospective undergraduate and

graduate students from other universities to campus, as well as students currently enrolled

in the college, to work with a professor and learn about graduate study opportunities at

the University of Illinois.

A variety of awards, merit scholarships, fellowships, and programs provide financial

support for undergraduate and graduate study. The Support for Underrepresented Groups

in Engineering (SURGE) Fellowship targets students interested in doctoral degrees in

engineering and includes a recruitment component, Multicultural Engineering

Recruitment for Graduate Education (MERGE), to encourage qualified underrepresented

students to consider attending the University of Illinois.

Once students are on campus, a support system of counseling, tutoring, workshops, and

activities is available to help them adjust to campus life, succeed academically, and

obtain internships and jobs. Strong student organizations include the National

Organization for the Professional Advancement of Black Chemists and Chemical

Engineers, National Society of Black Engineers, Society of Hispanic Professional

Engineers, and Society of Women Engineers, to name a few.

Role models and mentors—fellow students, graduate assistants, faculty, and alumni—

encourage students and show by example the broad range of possibilities for engineering

careers.

Current MEP Participant Achievements

The National Society of Black Engineers (NSBE) - Illinois student chapter attended the

32nd Annual National Convention at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center in

Pittsburgh, PA from March 29 to April 2, 2006. Twenty-five Illinois students attended

and the chapter was nominated for “Website of the Year” and “Chapter of the Year”.

The 2005-2006 President Adrianne Wheeler was sworn into office as the new Region IV

Vice Chair for the 2006-2007 school year.

Nine Hispanic students attended the HENAAC conference in San Diego, CA on October

11 to 13, 2007. They participated in the College Bowl and received the 4

place award.

This event was a great opportunity for the undergraduates to interact and network with

Illinois alumni from the College of Engineering.

The National Society of Hispanic Professional Engineers conference (SHPE) was held in

Philadelphia, PA on October 31 – November 3, 2007. Fifteen students and six alumni

attended the fall conference. Students participated in the Academic Olympiad and placed

first and second in the technical bowl and student paper competition. The chapter also

ranked in the top three in the large chapter category.

2. Women in Engineering Program

The Women in Engineering (WIE) program addresses recruitment and retention of

women students. The WIE programs are designed to work together to recruit and retain

students. Our individualized approach to recruitment and our relentless efforts in reaching

out to the women in the College of Engineering provide a sense of community which

positively influences our recruitment and retention outcomes. In the sections below,

pipeline, recruitment and retention programs are listed and major programs (bolded) are

then described in more detail.

3. Intel Scholars Undergraduate Research Program (ISUR) (Fall & Spring

Semesters)

The Intel Scholars Undergraduate Research program provides research opportunities

during the school year to women and minority undergraduate students (African

American, Latino/a, Native American) in the Departments Electrical and Computer

Engineering (ECE), Chemical and Biomolecular Engineering (ChBE), Materials Science

and Engineering (MatSE), Mechanical Science and Engineering (MechSE), Computer

Science (CS), and Physics. Sponsored by Intel, Undergraduate Research Scholars spend a

semester or more working in a lab with a graduate mentor and a member of the faculty.

Over the years, ISUR has evolved into a larger research community. The goals of this

community are as follows:

• Introduce students to university research and to graduate school

• Involve students in the College of Engineering and Intel community,

particularly through the learning-by-apprenticeship model; and

• Expose students to semiconductor and information-technology research.

Intel Scholars are offered a unique opportunity to expand their academic experience

beyond the walls of the traditional classroom. As part of the ISUR learning community,

participating undergraduate students enroll in Intel Undergraduate Research Program

(ENG 199UGR) in both fall and spring semesters. This class includes formal lectures and

laboratory research time as the students explore the semiconductor and information

technology theme, the focus of the students’ year-long research projects.

To introduce students to research, small groups of students work closely with graduate

mentors and faculty on complex research projects. Through hands-on instruction and

collaboration, students become familiar with research methodologies and begin to master

them. The development of communication skills culminates in a research poster

presentation (the “Intel Research Expo”) in the spring semester.

Formal aspects of the class include seminars, presentations, and campus lab visits. To

foster closer relationships between graduate mentors and Intel Scholars, class

requirements include attendance at monthly luncheons with their individual graduate

mentors. To increase the sense of community, up to three undergraduate students are

grouped with one graduate mentor, with a maximum number of six undergraduates

assigned to one faculty sponsor. Students also work on teams (of up to three Scholars) on

their research projects. Graduate mentors also meet individually at least once a semester

with each student on his/her team.

One of the major advantages that the Intel learning community will offer to its Scholars is

the chance to get to know faculty, Intel representatives, and mentors in a way that will

integrate them into the university and increase the likelihood of their retention within

engineering and their interest in graduate schools. Approximately 30 undergraduate

students participate each year as Intel Undergraduate Research Scholars. Funding from

Lockheed Martin adds approximately five (5) undergraduate students to the group

overall.

Evidence of Success – To date, 100% of participating Intel students have been retained

in their technical studies, and approximately half of ISUR alumni will pursue graduate

school. Such a level of success has altered the structure of departmental research and has

become part of the fabric of research group formation in participating departments.

Faculty and graduate students rely on the Intel program as a means of incorporating

talented undergraduate students into their research group. Graduate students have

benefited greatly from the professional development opportunities afforded to them by

being allowed to teach, supervise and mentor undergraduate students. This experience

will help them become more effective professors, professionals, and researchers.

4. ENG 199W: Mentoring Class for Women

Since 1998, the College of Engineering has offered a mentoring class (ENG 199W) for

women. The purposes of the course are to increase the retention rate of women in

engineering, provide women with important professional skills, such as networking and

interviewing skills, and provide an opportunity for networking among undergraduate

students, graduate students, and faculty women.

The course instructor assigns women engineering students in their second, third, or fourth

year to mentor those women in their first year. Graduate student women serve as mentors

for the second, third and fourth year women. Mentees and mentors are matched by

engineering discipline. The class meets for two hours every other week where a member

of academia or industry addresses the group on professional and leadership skills. On the

alternate weeks, mentors and mentees meet and do assigned activities. In the fall of 2006,

100 students participated in the course.

A five-year longitudinal study of the mentoring program was conducted. After

controlling for ethnicity, program of study, academic achievement both before and after

admission, total terms enrolled, and time of attendance, the retention of 202 students who

had taken the course from 1999 to 2003 were compared to 202 female students who had

not taken the course. Additional comparisons were made between the retention rates of

mentors and their mentees. Both mentees (first-year women) and mentors (second, third,

and fourth year women) were three times more likely to remain in engineering than

women who did not participate in the mentoring program. A study of the past nine years

of the program is being conducted this summer.

5. Mentoring/Study Program for Freshmen College of Engineering

Students Struggling at Midterm

Beginning the second eight weeks of the fall 2006 semester, a Mentoring/Study Program

was initiated for freshmen who received at least one C- in a technical course at midterm.

The major goals of the program were to provide mentoring for first-year students who

were struggling and “survival skills” to first-year students

Two of the major target groups were minorities and females. Currently, 25% of minority

students and 56% of females graduate in engineering compared to 66% of males. In total,

371 out of 1307 total first-year students were eligible for the program (28.4%) with the

following breakdown of groups:

• 189 Caucasian males out of 706 first-year Caucasian males (26.8%)

• 75 minorities (African-American and Latino/a) out of 138 first-year minorities

(54.3%)

• 85 females out of 251 first-year females (33.9%)

The breakdown for participants in the program is below. These figures include students

who began in the program, but were not able to continue due to scheduling issues.

• 14 Caucasian males out of 189 Caucasian males eligible for the program (7.4%)

• 21 minorities out of 75 minorities eligible for the program (28.0%)

• 12 females out of 85 females eligible for the program (14.1%)

Juniors and seniors with a cumulative GPA greater than 3.0 serve as mentors for the

program. First-year students in the program are matched with student mentors from their

own departments. Participants in the program meet weekly for two hours. During the first

45 minutes of each session, speakers (students or faculty) lead discussions on topics such

as time management, study skills, preparing for finals, etc. During the remaining time,

mentees and mentors study in pairs. Tutors in the core subject areas are available.

Common threads from the evaluation done at the program’s conclusion included strong

endorsement of the mentoring relationship. First-year students cited discussion times and

study sessions with their mentors as the most beneficial components of the program.

Mentors also identified their times studying with their mentees as the most productive

aspect of the weekly meetings. That nearly every mentee indicated that s/he intended to

maintain contact with his/her mentor the following semester points to their assessment of

the value of these relationships.

6. Initiation of ICE and SAGE Retention Programs

From 2005-06 to 2006-07, the College of Engineering realized a 30 percent overall

increase in its number of underrepresented students as a result of its more aggressive

recruitment efforts. Successful recruitment of students, however, does not guarantee

successful retention. At the end of the fall 2006 semester, 33.3% of the African-American

freshmen and 17.3% of the Hispanic freshmen were on academic probation. Overall,

9.3% of engineering freshmen were on probation.

As such, new programs were initiated to provide further support for underrepresented

students upon their admission to the College of Engineering (COE). Illinois Connections

in Engineering (ICE) runs the summer before admitted students begin their first semester

while Student-Assisted Guidance in Engineering (SAGE) occurs during the students’ first

fall semester. These programs targeted students with one or more of the following

characteristics:

• ACT Math less than or equal to 27,

• ACT Comp less than or equal to 27,

• Attended a low-performing high school as defined by the State of Illinois,

• From a low-sending county, or

• Member of an underrepresented group in engineering.

Among the 1405 admitted students to the College of Engineering for the Fall 2007

semester, 140 students (10.0%) fit the criteria described above and were recruited for the

ICE and SAGE programs. While the Fall 2007 freshmen class had an average ACT-M

score of 32.3, the students recruited for these support programs had an average ACT-M

of 26.4. The following is a breakdown of different groups within the freshmen class who

were among the students recruited for ICE and SAGE:

• 87 out of 1128 (7.7%) first-year males admitted to College of Engineering for

2007-2008

• 53 out of 277 (19.1%) first-year females admitted to College of Engineering for

2007-2008

• 25 out of 43 (78.1%) African-American students admitted to College of

Engineering for 2007-2008

• 26 out of 56 (46.4%) Latino/a students admitted to College of Engineering for

2007-2008

Retention data at the end of Fall 2007 are more than encouraging. Of the 40 students in

the ICE program, none were dropped and only two were placed on academic probation.

Only four students of the 60 in the SAGE program were placed on probation and none

were dropped.

a) Illinois Connections in Engineering (ICE)

Illinois Connections in Engineering is a summer program designed to provide incoming

students valuable academic training for the rigors of the engineering curriculum at

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. ICE was held in two locations: ICE-Urbana

is a residential program on the UIUC campus; ICE-Chicago is a non-residential program

in Chicago. Students were strongly recommended to participate in ICE-Urbana.

ICE-Urbana

ICE-Urbana is a six-week residential program held on the UIUC campus. Recognizing

that the level of college preparation varies from school to school, ICE is a rigorous

program that is designed to assist students’ adjustment to college such that they can begin

the school year with a running start. Students take preparatory math and chemistry

courses as well as workshops in physics, CAD modeling and computer programming.

The courses and workshops are taught to give the students a sense of the level and pace

of university coursework. Students also participate in study sessions at night with tutors

available. Further, ICE-Urbana gives students the opportunity to become accustomed to

the campus (housing, student life, resources, etc.). Parent workshops at the start and end

of the program inform and involve parents in the students’ transition and adjustment.

The objectives of ICE-Urbana are as follows:

• To bridge the gap from high school to college for underrepresented students in

engineering;

• To provide the students a sense of the material and expectations of university

coursework;

• To develop a “skill set” of academic strategies;

• To connect the students to the engineering community at Illinois; and

• To increase the graduation rate of underrepresented populations in engineering.

The chart below summarizes the characteristics of the students who participated in ICE in

the summer of 2007.

ICE-Urbana Students, Summer 2007

Total Students N = 40

By Gender Male, N = 27 (67.5%)

Female, N = 13 (32.5%)

By Race/Ethnicity Asian, N = 3 (7.5%)

Black, N = 14 (35.0%)

Latino/a, N = 7 (17.5%)

White, N = 16 (40.0%)

By Location From the City of Chicago, N = 11 (27.5%)

Low-Sending Counties, N = 14 (35.0%)

ICE-Chicago

ICE Chicago was held to accommodate students who qualified for the ICE program but

were not able to spend six weeks on the Urbana-Champaign Campus. Three students

were enrolled in the program. These students fit the ICE profile in that they represented

underrepresented groups in engineering. All three had high GPA’s and high ACT scores.

ICE Chicago had two components. One was to enroll students in science or math classes

at a community college and the other was to assist in the transition to college. Two

current COE students, one ’04 graduate and the site director made up the advising team.

Weekly discussion topics focused on navigating the University website; learning about

the College of Engineering, how to register for classes; campus resources and dormitory

living.

One student was able to enroll in a math class and the remaining two enrolled in liberal

arts classes as their local community colleges did not offer the math or chemistry they

needed to take.

Outcomes

Preliminary results from the ICE programs have been encouraging. In focus groups at the

conclusion of the program, the ICE participants expressed the value of the connections

they had made with the faculty and administration of the college and more importantly

with one another. From the start of the semester, the students have implemented the study

strategies that had learned and cultivated during the summer program, such as studying

during the day, going to their instructors’ office hours, and studying in groups.

7. ENG 199M: Student Assisted Guidance in Engineering (SAGE)

ENG 199M is a three-hour course that includes mentoring, academic success skills

training and leadership development as the primary components. Each student is assigned

a mentor who is a sophomore, junior, or senior in the student’s home department. The

mentees and mentors build a relationship through informal activities, such as meeting

with a professor, attending a career fair, or exploring campus resources. The students

meet weekly in lecture to learn about academic and professional success strategies and

skills. The mentees also have weekly study sessions in various residence halls on campus.

Tutors are present and students are encouraged to study with one another.

The objectives of SAGE for mentees

are:

• To increase the retention of students, particularly underrepresented students in

engineering;

• To sharpen the students’ study skills;

• To connect the students to the engineering community at UIUC;

• To increase students’ understanding of “what an engineer does”;

• To build on students’ knowledge of resources (e.g., tutoring, career services) on

the UIUC campus; and

• To increase students’ GPA.

The objectives of SAGE for mentors

are:

• To increase retention;

• To cultivate communication and leadership skills;

• To build on students’ sense of being part of the engineering community at UIUC;

and

• To increase students’ understanding of “what an engineer does.”

ENG 199M is taught during both the fall and spring semesters, with each having its own

target population and purpose.

ENG 199M (Fall)

In addition to the students targeted from within the freshmen class, sophomores and

juniors on academic probation were also placed in the course. The emphasis of the fall

course is on cultivating strong academic and leadership skills as an engineering student.

Below is a summary of the students enrolled in Fall 2007.

ENG 199M Students, Fall 2007

Total students N = 57

By Year Freshmen, N = 53 (93.0%)

Sophomores and above, N = 4 (7.0%)

By Gender Male, N = 38 (66.7%)

Female, N = 19 (33.3%)

By Race/Ethnicity Asian, N = 9 (15.8%)

Black, N = 17 (29.8%)

Latino/a, N = 11 (19.3%)

White, N = 21 (36.8%)

By Location From the City of Chicago, N = 15

(26.3%)

ENG 199M (Spring)

The spring semester course enrolls students (again, primarily first-year students) who had

been placed on academic probation following the fall semester. The emphasis of the

course is on getting students back on their feet and helping them to recognize and

remediate those factors that may have contributed to their academic difficulties.

The course was taught during the spring 2007 semester, enrolling 70 students, all of

whom were on some form of academic probation. The following chart summarizes the

students enrolled in the course.

ENG 199M Students, Spring 2007

Total students N = 70

By Year Freshmen, N = 65 (92.3%)

Sophomores and above, N = 5 (7.7%)

By Gender Male, N = 51 (72.9%)

Female, N = 19 (27.1%)

By Race/Ethnicity Asian, N = 12 (17.1%)

Black, N = 17 (27.1%)

Latino/a, N = 11 (17.1%)

White, N = 21 (37.1%)

Outcomes

Student feedback identified the study sessions with mentors and tutors as the most

beneficial components of the course. Students also appreciated the demonstration of

support from the College of Engineering that the course communicated. Below are the

outcomes at the conclusion of the spring 2007 semester.

Total students N = 70

Clear status N = 28 (40.0 %)

Probation status N = 23 (32.9%)

Drop status N = 19 (27.1%)

I. Academic Achievement Programs and Activities

E. Graduate College

1. Program Evaluations

During the 2006-07 Academic Year the Graduate College conducted a review of its

Office of Educational Equity Programs (EEP), the locus of many of collegiate initiatives

designed to increase participation by underrepresented groups in graduate education at

the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. The EEP Review Committee was

charged with the following:

• Examine present strategies for recruiting and outreach employed by the Graduate

College, including off-campus recruitment and the Campus Visits project.

• Consider the effectiveness of Graduate College initiatives, including the Summer

Research Opportunities Program (SROP), the Summer Pre-Doctoral Institute, the

Graduate College Fellowship Program, and other areas of support for prospective

and continuing graduate students.

• Review the structure, functions, and operation of EEP Office in relation to its

support of College diversity initiatives.

Committee members included James Anderson (Educational Policy Studies), Adrian

Burgos (History), JoAnn Cameron (Biological Sciences), Alejandro Lugo

(Anthropology), Helen Neville (Educational Psychology), and Feniosky Peña-Mora

(Civil and Environmental Engineering) and were staffed by William Welburn (Graduate

College). The results of their review (see the attached report) offered suggestions to

improve existing programs while endorsing their role and function in serving the

university community. Although the focus of the review was the EEP Office and its

programs, attention was also given to Graduate College fellowship programs and the

leadership role of the college in addressing institutional concerns.

The Graduate College serves as the institutional home for a National Science Foundation

initiative designed to increase the success of underrepresented students seeking

doctorates in social science disciplines as a member of the Great Lakes Alliance for the

Social Sciences (GLASS) headquartered at Northwestern University and funded by the

NSF Alliance for Graduate Education and the Professoriate (AGEP). At the UIUC, four

graduate programs participated in the first two years of the grant – Anthropology,

Political Science, Psychology, and Sociology. Funding from AGEP enabled each

program to support student recruiting, student travel grants for conferences and research,

summer research fellowships, and support for tutorial assistance when needed. NSF has

renewed the grant for an additional three years, with Political Science replaced by the

doctoral program in the Graduate School of Library and Information Science.

The Graduate College continues to experience success in student applicants for

fellowship awards through Diversifying Higher Education Faculty in Illinois (DFI).

Presently, 34 graduate students receive funding from the DFI program, including 14 new

awardees.

2. Quantitative Data

The following tables summarize the success of the Graduate College in four key areas.

Table 1 summarizes 2006 and 2007 enrollment in the Summer Research Opportunities

Program (SROP), which provides underrepresented undergraduate students from the

UIUC and other colleges and universities across Illinois and the United States with an

opportunity to spend a summer working with UIUC faculty on research projects. Table 2

summarizes enrollment in the Summer Pre-Doctoral Institute (SPI), a competitive

program that invites selected students to the UIUC during the summer prior to their first

semester of graduate study. SPI encourages a strengthened relationship between students

and their faculty mentors, an opportunity to build community within the campus, and to

become acquainted with the Champaign-Urbana community-at-large.

Table 3 documents the number of Graduate College fellowship awards offered Master’s

and doctoral students over the past three years by area of study. Table 4 compares

funding managed by the Graduate College.

Table 1: Summer Research Opportunities Program (SROP)

SROP Participants, Summer 2006 and 2007, by Ethnicity

2006 2007

Latina/o 27 31

African American 22 26

Asian American 1 1

Native American 1 2

White 1 1

Multi-ethnic 3 0

Other 1 0

56 61

Table 2: Summer Pre-doctoral Institute (SPI)

SPI Participants, Summer 2006 and 2007, by Ethnicity

2006 2007

Latina/o 10 3

African American 16 15

Asian American 0 0

Native American 1 0

White 0 1

Multi-ethnic 0 1

Other 0 0

27 20

Table 3. Graduate College Fellowship Program

Accepted Offers and Yield (%) 2004-05 - 2007-08, by Area Group

2004/05 2005/06 2006/07 2007/08 Total

Area % % % % %

PhD 34 50.0 25 49.0 37 52.9 32 46.4 128 50.2

Master's 13 68.4 9 64.3 17 68.0 14 53.8 53 61.6

Engineering &

Physical

Sciences

PhD 8 50.0 7 43.8 3 18.8 4 50.0 18 37.5

Master's 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 0.0

Humanities &

Creative Arts

PhD 13 81.3 5 38.5 7 50.0 5 35.7 25 58.1

Master's 5 71.4 4 80.0 5 71.4 5 62.5 14 70.0

Behavioral &

Social Sciences

PhD 12 44.4 12 66.7 19 67.9 20 52.6 43 58.9

Master's 7 77.8 5 62.5 12 66.7 9 56.3 24 68.6

Biological &

Agricultural

Sciences

PhD 1 11.1 1 25.0 8 66.7 3 33.3 10 40.0

Master's 1 50.0 0 0.0 0 0.0 0 1 50.0

Table 4: Graduate College Current Fellowship Recipients, by Fellowship Name, Fall

2007

# Recipients %

Diversifying Higher Education Faculty in Illinois

(DFI) 34 30

Graduate College Fellowship for Undergraduate

Students 75 67

Graduate College McNair Fellowship 3 3

112 100

I. Academic Achievement Programs and Activities

F. College of Liberal Arts & Sciences (LAS)

Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS) Student Academic Affairs (SAA) has led the campus in

the recruitment and support of students from underrepresented groups since the 1970’s-

1980’s, and has increased its efforts once again during the period 2001 – 2007. LAS

serves the largest number and range of underrepresented students on campus. LAS

provides robust recruitment, wide access, and assistance to students in their efforts to

achieve academic success and degree completion at UIUC. Two special programs are

housed within the College office – the Access & Achievement Program (AAP) and the

Transition Program. In addition, the college works closely with programs that are

departmentally managed, such as the Merit Programs in Mathematics and Chemistry, and

the Academic Writing Program in English. Each is discussed below after the general

context of LAS trends has been established.

LAS admission policies reflect its commitment to serving underrepresented students:

LAS admits several hundred underrepresented freshmen each year whose original college

of application was not submitted for enrollment in LAS. LAS has generous re-entry

criteria for any students dismissed for poor academic performance, and has the lowest

inter-campus transfer admissions barrier on campus to permit students who began in

other colleges to complete their studies in LAS. All underrepresented students, not just

those admitted to special programs, are beneficiaries of these policies and practices which

help support multiple academic pathways to successful degree completion on our

campus.

Below is the quantitative data on outcomes of LAS general policies and practices

promoting access and academic success among underrepresented students, of which the

LAS Academic Achievement Programs (Education Opportunities Program - EOP and

PAP) and Transition students are a subset:

1. Access

In AY 2005-2006, LAS was home to the highest number of underrepresented students on

campus (Fall 2005 data):

Snapshot of undergraduate student body, self-identified by ethnicity and race

College of LAS

Undergraduates

Urbana-Champaign

Campus

Undergraduates

LAS % of all students

in minority cohort

Black 1,306 1,994 65.5%

Hispanic 1,021 1,941 52.6%

Native

American

60.9%

Total 2,380 4,022 59.2%

2005: 59.2 % of our campus undergraduate cohort of African-American, Latino/a, and

Native American students were affiliated with LAS (Fall 2005 data), exceeding the

proportion expected for LAS’ size of the undergraduate population by approximately 10

percentage points.

2. Degree Attainment

LAS admission policies and academic supports provided the opportunity for successful

pathways to degree completion for the majority of underrepresented students at

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign.

These trends were identified in a recent study of the cohort of undergraduate students

matriculating to Illinois between 1995 and 1999 who succeeded in earning degrees within

6 years of matriculation.

i. The majority of Latino/a (52%) students and Afro-American students

(56.5%) who completed degrees at Urbana-Champaign earned LAS

degrees.

ii. Underrepresented students who matriculated in other colleges at our

University often completed degrees in LAS rather than in their original

college:

• 3 in 10 degrees awarded to Latino students who began (respectively)

in the Colleges of Education, Engineering, Applied Life Sciences, or

Aviation eventually earned in LAS.

• Over half of the African-American student degree-earners who

matriculated in Education and 37% of the African-American degree

earners who matriculated in Engineering earned degrees by

transferring to LAS.

iii. For significant numbers of underrepresented students, LAS provided the

opportunity for successful inter-college transfer with completion of degrees at

other UIUC Colleges. In this way, LAS allowed students to achieve their

individual ambitions and helped to disperse underrepresented student degrees

more widely across the campus than would be predicted by underrepresented

distribution across colleges at the time of original matriculation. (Many of these

students began in LAS’ special academic support programs.)

For example, examination of the number the Latino/a students who matriculated

between 1996 – 1999 and who completed degrees in six years or less of

enrollment reveals that LAS was the starting place for:

o 88% who earned a degree in Communications

o 74% who earned a degree in Applied Life Sciences

o 68% who earned a degree in Education

o 49% who earned a degree in Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental

Sciences

o 31% who earned a degree in Fine Arts, and

o 23% who earned degrees in Business

Numbers of Latino/a Graduates

By Entry College and Graduation College

College of Completion (column)

ACES CBA ED ENG FAA COM LAS ALS VET AVI

ACES

22200014100

CBA

110000027000

0080116100

ENG

3 12 0 86 1 1 44 5 0 0 152

FAA

02013807000

LAS

27 35 17 12 18 35 437 31 0 2 614

ALS

11000034009

AVI

10010020026

Total

55 152 25 100 58 40 510 42 0 4 986

College of

En tr

110

(

row

)

Row

Totals

Numbers of African-American Graduates

By Entry College and Graduation College

College of Completion (column)

ACES CBA ED ENG FAA COM LAS ALS VET AVI

ACES

30010016110

CBA

177101110300

10600110000

EN G

220583040200

FAA

11001919000

LAS

36 28 7 8 18 64 614 142 0 1 918

ALS

00000231300

AVI

00000030025

Total

7110815664170695161 1 312

College of

Entry (row)

Row

Total s

107

3. Merit Programs in Math and Chemistry

a) Merit Program in Chemistry

The Merit Program in Chemistry is designed to attract and retain underrepresented

minority students in programs leading to a degree in the chemical sciences. In a broader

context, the program targets all minority students in science who take chemistry classes

as part of their curriculum with the intention of improving their academic performance.

Merit Program Description and Qualitative Evaluations

Since a major thrust of the program is to improve retention rates of minorities seeking

degrees in chemistry, a comparison of overall retention rates between minority students

enrolled in the program and those who are not provides a reasonable measure of the

program’s success. The data below provide this comparison over an eight year time span.

The data indicate that the Merit Program is successfully increasing minority retention

rates in programs leading to degrees in the chemical sciences.

Student Retention Rates (%) in Chemical Sciences for students graduating 1997-2005

Merit Non-Merit

Overall: 51% 38%

African American: 46% 23%

Hispanic American: 36% 23%

Quantitative (Descriptive) Data (Fall 2004 - Spring 2007)

The impact of the Merit Program on academic achievement was evaluated by comparing

the grades received in selected chemistry classes by minority students enrolled in the

Merit program and those of minorities students not enrolled in the Merit Program. The

data show that participation in the Merit program increases student performance by

increasing the number who receive a grade of “A” and by decreasing the number who

receive a grade of “F”.

Statistical Analysis of Grade Performance (Highest—Lowest)

Merit Minority Non-Merit Minority

A (%) F (%) A (%) F (%)

Chemistry 101 10.1 5.9 5.9 7.3

Chemistry 102 8.9 5.9 4.9 13.9

Chemistry 104 10.1 2.5 8.4 6.3

Chemistry 232 10.0 0.0 7.6 3.1

b) Merit Program in Mathematics

The Merit Workshop Program in the Department of Mathematics was designed to address

the issue of under representation in mathematics and science- based majors. The program

targets students with high potential who are members of underrepresented groups such as

ethnic minorities, women, and students from small/rural high schools. Students in these

groups have traditionally been high-risk for failure in calculus.

Program Description and Qualitative Evaluations

The program is evaluated yearly using an on-line survey. The response rate is over 50%.

Those students who responded were very positive and indicate that the program was well

received and valued.

Quantitative (Descriptive) Data

One of the main objectives of the Merit Program in Mathematics is to improve academic

performance in calculus, a foundation course for those pursuing degrees in mathematics

and science. A comparison of the average grade received in calculus courses by under-

represented minorities enrolled in the MERIT program with those not enrolled shows that

enrollment in the MERIT program has a positive effect on student performance.

Calculus I

Semester

Merit Underrepresented

Minorities

Non-Merit Underrepresented

Minorities

# of

students

GPA

Math

ACT

# of

students

GPA

Math

ACT

FA04 19 2.28 26.35 15 1.91 25.93

SP05 12 2.44 22.00 40 2.14 25.17

FA05 12 2.61 26.42 18 1.16 25.88

SP06 7 1.91 27.83 36 1.25 25.09

FA06 15 2.33 26.00 20 2.53 26.80

SP07 11 1.74 23.73 63 1.69 24.02

Calculus II

Semester

Merit Underrepresented

Minorities

Non-Merit Underrepresented

Minorities

# of

students

GPA

Math

ACT

# of

students

GPA

Math

ACT

FA04

2.11 25.56

1.19 29.46

SP05

2.00 28.83

1.77 28.13

FA05

3.05 29.71

1.85 28.81

SP06

1.92 29.25

2.02 28.51

FA06 17 2.43 29.38 52 2.23 28.04

SP07 24 2.06 27.58 12 2.09 29.25

Calculus III

Semester

Merit Underrepresented

Minorities

Non-Merit Underrepresented

Minorities

# of

students

GPA

Math

ACT

# of

students

GPA

Math

ACT

FA04

1.93 28.57

1.63 27.75

SP05

1.44 27.25

1.37 28.57

FA05

2.00 29.00

1.73 30.67

SP06

3.33 27.50

2.47 29.00

FA06 2 2.50 34.00 5 2.40 32.00

SP07 6 2.78 27.83 14 2.07 26.69

4. Bridge/Transition Program Description and Qualitative Evaluation

Established in 1986, the Transition Program is a campus-sponsored academic support

program housed in the College of LAS designed to provide assistance to a select group of

underrepresented students. The majority of students, but not all, are identified by the

Office of Admissions and Records (OAR) through the Educational Opportunities

Program (EOP). “Bridge” is a 6–week pre-enrollment summer program that provides 50

students per annum with intensive academic and career counseling, extensive academic

and personal support services, comprehensive developmental skills enhancement and

enrichment activities, and enrollment in skill-building and academic orientation curricula

specially designed for this cohort. The Transition Program is the AY component: a total

student cohort of approximately 200 students per annum are served through this program

-- 100 first-year and 100 continuing students. These students are recruited from the EOP

pool of applicants identified by OAR.

Academic Year Program components include intensive academic and career counseling

through weekly meetings with academic advisors (graduate students who work with the

program part-time), extensive academic and personal support services, comprehensive

developmental skills enhancement and enrichment activities, and opportunities to enroll

in support-based sections of existing UIUC courses. The goal of the Transition Program

is to provide students with a “home base” where they feel comfortable asking questions

and expressing their concerns. With a holistic approach, the staff seeks to ensures that

each student receives the needed support, advice, and encouragement to be academically

successful at, and to graduate from, the University of Illinois. Students are served until

they officially declare their major.

Bridge/Transition has served as a model for other colleges on the campus, as well as

other Universities across the Big Ten. Continuous evaluation has led to many

improvements in student recruitment activities and in program delivery. Students and

staff in the program complete survey evaluations on an annual basis.

Quantitative (Descriptive) Data for Bridge/Transition: Demographic Characteristics

BRIDGE

Year Male Female

African-

American Latina/o

Asian or

Pacific

Islander

White,

Non-

Hispanic Unknown

2000 50.0% 50.0% 62.0% 32.0% 2.0% 4.0% 0.0%

2001 46.0% 54.0% 66.0% 32.0% 0.0% 2.0% 0.0%

2002 41.9% 58.1% 83.7% 14.0% 0.0% 2.3% 0.0%

2003 35.4% 64.6% 77.1% 22.9% 0.0% 0.0% 0.0%

2004 48.9% 51.1% 60.0% 35.6% 2.2% 2.2% 0.0%

2005 53.8% 42.2% 75.0% 23.1% 1.9% 0.0% 0.0%

2006 48.9% 51.1% 62.2% 31.1% 6.7% 0.0% 0.0%

TRANSITION

Year Male Female

African-

American Latina/o

Asian or

Pacific

Islander

White,

Non-

Hispanic Unknown

2000 35.7% 64.3% 80.4% 10.7% 3.6% 5.4% 0.0%

2001 26.9% 73.1% 75.0% 19.2% 0.0% 5.8% 0.0%

2002 42.9% 57.1% 82.1% 7.1% 3.6% 7.1% 0.0%

2003 29.6% 70.4% 74.1% 11.1% 9.3% 5.6% 0.0%

2004 28.8% 71.2% 67.3% 23.1% 1.9% 3.8% 3.8%

2005 59.6% 40.4% 72.3% 19.1% 0.0% 4.3% 4.3%

2006 24.3% 75.7% 64.9% 27.0% 2.7% 5.4% 0.0%

See evaluation data below.

5. Academic Writing Program

Program Description and Qualitative Evaluations

The Academic Writing Program (AWP) offers a year-long alternative to Freshman

Rhetoric in which students receive more intensive writing instruction than in the standard

rhetoric course, Rhet 105. Successfully completing the first-year AWP rhetoric sequence

is one way to fulfill the Composition I requirement at the University of Illinois at Urbana-

Champaign.

There are two separate sequences for AWP Rhetoric. The sequence of Rhet 101/102 with

the weekly tutorial component, Rhet 100, or the sequence of Rhet 103/104 without the

tutorial component help students develop the same skills and writing techniques that

students learn in the one semester course of Rhetoric 105. As in Rhet 105, by the end of

the spring semester, the students must craft a source-based, argumentative research paper

with proper documentation.

Placement in the program is determined by ACT English scores. ACT scores of 19 and

below result in a Rhetoric 101/102 placement; ACT scores of 20 a Rhet 103/104

placement; and scores above 21 a Rhet 105 placement. Each semester, about 225 students

are served in Rhet 100/101/102, and about 150 are served in 103/104.

Quantitative (Descriptive) Data: Enrollments

Course Spring 2006 Fall 2005 Spring 2005 Fall 2004

RHET 100 229 241 226 236

RHET 101 12 222 16 226

RHET 102 216 16 208 17

RHET 103 9 155 13 115

RHET 104 142 12 105 12

6. Quantitative Data of Outcomes for AAP and Bridge/Transition

Data was used for all students matriculating between 1994 and 2000 who went on to earn

degrees within 6 years. Students were differentiated into select groups identified by

mutually exclusive admission/academic program affiliation cohorts: Bridge, Transition,

EOP, PAP, and all other students from support programs.

As noted above, with respect to student academic profiles at matriculation, all variables

(ACT comp, ACT English, ACT Math, SAT Verbal, SAT math, and HS percentile rank)

had a significant difference across the student groups.

What is surprising is that there is NO statistical difference between Bridge and Transition

students with respect to first semester GPA, overall GPA, and degree completion. This

means that, if an academic profile at admission is used as a reference, participation in the

Bridge summer component and Transition program helped to bring Bridge students “up

to a par” with the other Transition students, who were admitted with more competitive

admissions profiles.

Data reporting outcomes and actual impact of program (needs further analysis).

Differential outcomes for general population, EOP, PAP, and Bridge/Transition students

are to be expected given very different admission academic profiles of the group.

Multiple regression analyses need to be performed which factor in admissions profiles

(ACT, HSPR, HSGPR, Financials) in assessing academic performance and graduation

outcomes.

College of LAS: Snapshot of academic status by student group: Post- Fall 2006

Grade Audit Results

EOP (not B/T) PAP B/T or T Non-EOP/ PAP

SP07-10

Day SP07-10

Day

Good

Standing

700

(76%)

910

(85%)

118

(77%)

11335

(94%)

Probation

(or 1G)

128(14%)

94(9%) 20(13%)

474(4%)

GPA Pro-

other

(1H or 1C)

27(3%)

22(2%)

7(5%)

147(1.2%)

Probation

21(2%)

24(2%) 6(4%)

257(2%)

Probation

40(4%)

19(1%) 3(2%)

12(0%)

Totals

916 (100%) 1070 (100%) 154 (100%)

12061 (100%)

Note: Class status is assigned by credit hours, rather than by number of semesters

enrolled. Therefore, information for “freshmen” includes students with 0 – 29 earned

credit hours, most of whom matriculated in Fall 2006 but some of whom may have

matriculated earlier. Similarly, due to earned credit hours through Advanced Placement,

International Baccalaureate, or dual enrollment, some students who had only completed

one semester in LAS, matriculating in Fall 2006, might have accelerated (sophomore or

above) status.

Basic Guide to Probation Codes

1A - A beginning freshman who does not earn at least a 2.00 (C) University GPA in the

first semester is placed on a 2.00 probation for the next term in which that student is

registered.

1G - A continuing student whose cumulative University GPA is 2.00 or better and who

does not earn at least a 2.00 average in any semester or summer session is placed on a

2.00 probation for the next term.

1B and 1H A continuing student whose cumulative University GPA is 1.75–1.99,

inclusive, is placed on a 2.25

1C - A continuing student whose cumulative University GPA is less than 1.75 is placed

on 2.33 probation.

1P and 1T- College-determined probation levels: must earn a 2.5 or above in the next

semester of enrollment.

I. Academic Achievement Programs and Activities

G. College of Medicine

1. Program Evaluation:

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign College of Medicine has a well-regarded

college-wide Urban Health Program (UHP). The program began in 1973 and has been in

existence in Urbana for more than three decades. The goals of the UPH include:

• identify and nurture the development of qualified students from the targeted

groups (African Americans, Hispanics, American Indian);

• increase the admission and enrollment of students from the targeted groups;

• provide an environment that supports the graduation of underrepresented students;

• ultimately, train a cadre of culturally competent and sensitive physicians,

dedicated to health care delivery in medically underserved areas.

The UHP is administered in Chicago, but the UHP does provide funding for a UHP Study

Skills Specialist and programming in Urbana. UHP has hired a visiting Study Skills

Specialist in Urbana who reports to Chicago as well as an Associate Dean for Curriculum

Management in Urbana.

Annually, approximately thirty-five (approximately 15% of students within the College

of Medicine at the Illinois) are eligible for the Urban Health Program. These students

primarily receive academic support in the form of tutoring and library resource materials.

Student progress is carefully monitored and students are encouraged to take advantage of

the study skills offerings made by the Curriculum Management Office.

2. Quantitative Data

Students in the Urban Health Program, during the M-1 year performed very well during

AY 2006-07. Although 23 students required Makeup Examinations across the College,

only 1 Urban Health Program student required such an exam and that examination was

passed.

Upper class students performed well on the United States Medical Licensing

Examination (USMLE) in 2006-2007. USMLE is the 3-step examination required of all

U.S. and Canadian medical students for licensure. On USMLE Step 1 (covering the basic

medical sciences) all 5 underrepresented minority students passed on the first attempt

(national passing rate on first attempt is 93%). On USMLE Step 2 Clinical Knowledge,

which covers cognitive success on clinical information, all 3 underrepresented minority

students passed on their first attempt (national pass rate is 94% on the first attempt).

I. Academic Achievement Programs and Activities

H. Division of Disability Resources and Educational Services

1. Summary of AY06-07 Unit Goals & Objectives

In this, its 59th year of operation, the Division of Disability Resources (DRES) continued

to experience a significant increase in the number of registered students with disabilities

who qualified for and received support services. In FY07, the Division served a total of

1,027 students. This represented an increase of nearly 8.4 percent over FY06. Since

FY02, the number of DRES registered students has increased by 85 percent while the

FTE of state funded personnel has remained constant. Most of this increase in registered

students is attributable to a 114 percent increase in students with cognitive, learning, and

psychiatric disabilities from FY02 (n=346) to FY07 (n=739).

Students Registered with DRES (1966-2007)

200

400

600

800

1000

1200

Student n

Year

Figure 1: Students Registered with DRES with Cognitive, Sensory, and Mobility/Systemic Disabilities (1966-2007)

Cognitive/Psy ch Disability

Sensory Disability

M obility /Systemic

M obility/Systemic = 236

Blind/Low Vision=27

Deaf/Hard of Hearing=25

LD=198

ADHD=336

BI=25

Psych=180

In spite of this exacerbation in demand for DRES services, the Division has maintained

its stature as a leader in the delivery of postsecondary disability support services and

access. Indeed, our leadership in the support of students with severe physical and

psychiatric disabilities continues to be a key element of the NSF grant (along with the

University of Wisconsin and the University of Northern Iowa) to improve the enrollment,

graduation, and employment of students with disabilities in science, technology,

engineering and math fields.

Concomitantly, a recent doctoral dissertation by a student at the University of Missouri

entitled Factors that Predict Graduation Among College Students with Disabilities

(Pingry, 2007), reported that of the 738 inactive records of DRES students with

disabilities who were enrolled at Illinois between 2001 and 2005, 91 percent had

graduated. This is a rate that is nearly 10 percentage points higher than the graduation

rate of the campus at large. In contrast, the (551) students with disabilities from the other

two baccalaureate institutions that participated in the study exhibited graduation rates that

were, on average, 4 percentage points higher than the rates of all students at their

institutions. Such independent research findings serve to further validate the efficacious

impact of the Division’s “best practice” approach upon the outcomes experienced by

students with disabilities.

Sought to heighten excellence in academic programs and services for students with

disabilities

Enhanced retention programs for students with cognitive & psychological disabilities. As

noted earlier, DRES served 739 students with cognitive and psychiatric disabilities, which

represents an 8% increase from FY06. In spite of this growth, the Division increased contact

hours for students with learning disabilities (LD) with the Division learning disability

specialist as well as increasing contact hours for students with ADHD, brain injury, or

psychiatric disabilities to meet with the psychologist or members of her staff. DRES provided

direct instruction in learning strategies to Illinois students who have learning disabilities

based on each individual student’s strengths and weaknesses to assist them in accomplishing

their course work. DRES personnel met with 93 students (560 hours) in the fall and 67

students (258 hours) in the spring semester to provide these types of strategies. These

strategies included: reading comprehension, written language, test taking (including both

classroom tests and standardized tests, such as the LSAT, GRE, and GMAT), adapting for

students with co-morbid psychological disabilities or nonverbal learning disabilities,

organizational (including goal setting), time management and problem solving/crisis

management.

Many students with ADHD, acquired brain injury, Asperger’s, and various other psychiatric

disabilities have difficulty in executive functioning and require continual and repetitive

academic monitoring. To meet the needs of these students, the postdoctoral intern, pre-

doctoral intern, and several graduate assistants held weekly meetings for academic coaching.

The coaching sessions facilitated prioritizing deadlines, scheduling study time, organizing

academic stations, and monitored students’ progress in completing their goals. During the

academic year, 59 students were seen for 417 coaching sessions, which proved to be highly

successful for students in keeping them out of academic crises and helping them to negotiate

deadlines before crises arose. Due to increasing student numbers, we were unable to provide

services to 10 students each semester.

For students with ADHD, brain injury, or psychiatric disabilities, the Division continued to

offer long term therapeutic counseling. To help provide these students with the supports

necessary to stay in school, the coordinator supervised doctoral students in counseling

psychology who were placed at DRES to complete their advanced practicum. These three

graduate students, in addition to the postdoctoral fellow and pre-doctoral intern saw 21

DRES students for 195 hours of individual therapy sessions. However, due to the high

demand for service, we were unable to provide services to 12 students each semester.

An increasing number of students with cognitive disabilities are arriving at Illinois

without a prior diagnosis. This group is at considerable academic risk and needs

neuropsychological evaluations. However, the limited number of service providers and

high costs make it prohibitive for many students to obtain an evaluation. Students

experiencing academic difficulties may request a screening assessment at any of three

campus agencies (McKinley Mental Health, Counseling Center, or DRES) to assess these

difficulties and refer students for neuropsychological testing or to the appropriate service

agency on campus. During the past year, the coordinator and postdoctoral fellow

performed 74 (one to two hour) academic screenings. In this, our seventh year of

providing neuropsychological testing services, the Division managed a wait list of

approximately 20 students and 137 Illinois students underwent neuropsychological

testing. Outcome data continues to be positive with both quantitative and qualitative

benefits in GPA and retention from the testing and resulting accommodations and

treatment.

The Division also continued to serve as a key training site for doctoral students in counseling,

pre-doctoral interns in school psychology, and post-doctoral fellows. The Division continues

to provide these students a valuable training experience. The Division is the number one site

requested by students in the clinical and counseling psychology practicum, and has been

asked to increase the number of students trained. However, more physical space will need to

be identified in order to accommodate the instruction of more interns.

The Division also diligently sought to create ways to identify underrepresented minority

students at risk of academic failure due to underachievement resulting from undiagnosed and

un-accommodated disabilities. More specifically, our cognitive and psychological disability

services staff has worked to improve awareness within the Bridge Program and among the

Division of Intercollegiate Athletics academic advisors of the warning signs of undiagnosed

disabilities, and how to make a referral if an undiagnosed condition is suspected. In evidence

of the success of these initiatives, it bears noting that of the 198 students with learning

disabilities registered with DRES during the 2006-07 academic year, 23 percent were African

American. The number of African American students with learning disabilities nearly

doubled since 2006 as a result of the aforementioned initiatives.

Refined the Illinois Students Taking Effective Preparation (ISTEP) orientation program for

incoming students with disabilities. DRES revised the ISTEP format to include substantially

more online content in the 2006 ISTEP transition program for incoming freshmen with

disabilities. Twenty-eight students participated in two orientation programs that were held

on campus. Prior to attending these on-site orientation programs, students visited an online

website where they received educational information related to the disability support services

available and how they may be accessed. Students were also given a general overview of the

differences between the entitlement context of secondary education and the

nondiscrimination environment of higher education with regard to their changing personal

responsibilities and those of the educational institution in providing reasonable

accommodations for their disability-related limitations. They were also given the opportunity

to complete exercises that helped them rehearse self-advocacy and disability service

scenarios that they would likely experience in the university environment prior to coming to

campus. The highlight of the program included a lunch hour session in which current DRES

students participated in a panel discussion to answer questions regarding academic and social

aspects including strategies for the successful management of mitigating disability-related

issues and concerns that might undermine their transitional success. As part of the evaluation

of the ISTEP program, pre-test and post-test questionnaire data were collected from

participants. The results indicated that the students experienced significant improvement in

their perceived competency in successfully transitioning to the University. The coordinator is

continuing to collect longitudinal data on GPA, retention, and employment of students who

attend ISTEP which will be compared to the outcome data of nonparticipating students to

evaluate the program’s effectiveness and to support ongoing ISTEP program refinement.

Improved alternative media production. The Text Conversion Office again served a record

number of students while converting 174,462 pages into alternative formats. This total

exceeded the 2006 record by over 40,000 pages. It bears noting that this was accomplished

without additional personnel. This year, the unit was also able to save almost $7,000 by

requesting books from publishers or using alternate resources, such as the Division’s archives

or e-book repositories of which DRES is a member. DRES currently has over 500 books

listed on the AMX database, with more to be added from the most recent semester. The Text

Conversion Office also reduced its book procurement cost through a collaborative initiative

with the Illini Union Bookstore (IUB) in which DRES purchases the books to be converted to

alternative formats from the IUB as usual, but after cutting and scanning the books, they are

rebound and returned to the IUB for a full refund. The IUB subsequently resells the books as

used. Although books that are too large to rebind cannot be returned, this initiative saved

thousands of dollars in textbook purchases.

In an effort to address the emergent needs for captioned video resources on course websites,

the Division purchased hardware and software to allow the Text Conversion Office to begin

video captioning. The system was piloted by developing captioned Web videos for a student

with a hearing impairment who was enrolled in Molecular and Cellular Biology 252. With

the creation of the Global Campus and increasing use of Web-based audio and video content

in Illinois classes, the Division anticipates that demand for this service will grow rapidly over

the next five years.

I. Academic Achievement Programs and Activities

I. Office of Minority Student Affairs

Summary Information for Student Support Services Participants

Overview

Approximately 200 of students served by Office of Minority Student Affairs (OMSA) are

Student Support Services (SSS) participants. SSS is a TRIO program within the U.S.

Department of Education. TRIO programs are intended to facilitate access to higher

education for low-income and first-generation students. By federal law, 2/3 of

participants must be both low-income (their family income must be within 150% of the

federally-defined poverty level) and in the first generation of their family to attend

college. OMSA's SSS grant allows the department to provide more intensive OMSA

services than those provided to other students. This usually means more meetings and

follow-up with graduate counselors and full-time staff as well as more interaction with

academic services providers such as tutors.

●Although the federal government specifies that 2/3 of participants be from low-

income families, nearly all Illinois SSS participants are low-income. The vast majority

are Pell-eligible, as contrasted with only 17.1% of all undergraduates.

●98% of SSS students have an ACT composite of < 21. The mean campus score

is >27.

Cohort of 2000

●The SSS cohort of 2000 consisted of 48 students:

▪ 26 African-Americans; 22 Latino/a.

▪28 females, 20 males

▪First-year college distribution (N-48) Bachelor's degree distribution (N-

38):

24 LAS-general 20 LAS

13 LAS-declared 8 ACES

6 ACES 3 ALS

2 Education 2 Communications

2 FAA 2 Education

1 Business 1 Engineering

1 Business

1 FAA

Retention Data

●As of 2006, six years after matriculation, 38/48 of these students, or 79.2%, had

graduated.

▪ 18/24 LAS General students graduated (75%)

▪ 23/26 African American students graduated (88.5%); 2 were dropped; 1 left in

Except for SSS data, all numbers are from the Education Trust webpage for AY2005. See

http://www.collgeresults.org

good standing

▪ 15/22 Latino/a students graduated (68%); 4 were dropped; 2 left in good standing; 1 left on

probation

Six Year Graduation Rates

All-University vs. SSS Participants

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

88.5%

68.2%

82.9%

79.2%

66.8%

64.9%

65.7%

0.0%

10.0%

20.0%

30.0%

40.0%

50.0%

60.0%

70.0%

80.0%

90.0%

100.0%

ILOverall

ILU

der

Af-

mer

SSSAl

SSAfAm

SSSLat

IL statistics are

from the Education

Trust as of 2005;

SSS rates are from

OMSA records as

of 2006

The chart above compares the most recent six-year graduation rate of SSS participants

with the most recently available six year data from the Education Trust for all University

of Illinois at Urbana students. Given the fact that most SSS students are low income and

first college generation, and all are in at least one of those categories, and considering

that their mean composite ACT score is more than 6 points below the campus mean, it

seems apparent that these students are benefiting from services received through OMSA's

SSS program.

II. Institutional Effective Practice for Underrepresented Students’ Academic

Achievement: College of Liberal Arts and Sciences’ Access & Achievement Program

Program Description and Qualitative Evaluations

The Access & Achievement Program (AAP, formerly “Academic Assistance Program”) is under

the oversight of a director/assistant dean in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences (LAS); the

program is staffed and supported in cooperation with the Office of Minority Student Affairs

(OMSA). AAP was initially implemented in 1968 to monitor the academic and social

integration of the LAS Education Opportunities Program (EOP) for new freshmen. As presently

constituted, the program works with President’s Award Program (PAP) and EOP students

affiliated with LAS who have already declared a major; before AY 07- 08, the LAS census also

included PAP/EOP students who were undeclared in their major and provided services by the

General Curriculum Center. To maintain small counseling ratios for meeting bi-weekly with

students, direct services are provided only to first-year students admitted as EOP and/or PAP

participants and to upperclassmen on certain levels of academic probation.

Program Assessment and Continued Improvements

The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences annually examines the Access & Achievement

Program’s features to determine what, if any, adjustments would be beneficial. In recent years,

adjustments have been made in three areas: reporting of student academic progress by instructors

(an on-line system has been developed to facilitate this process), training for program counselors

(to complement more general OMSA training), and more systematic tracking of students. New

strategies are being considered: tri-semester contacts with freshmen earning a 3.0 or better

(Spring 2007) as well as student evaluations and focus groups (AY 07-08).

Quantitative (Descriptive) Data

Demographic census of students assigned to AAP (EOP/PAP) in LAS

2004 - 2005 2005 - 2006 2006- 2007

Ethnicity

Black 961 849 863

Hispanic 934 867 901

American Indian/Alaskan Native 43 41 40

Asian/Pacific Islander 0 37 56

White 18 29 47

Unknown 0 3 5

Disabled 0 0 0

Total 1964 1826 1912

Note: AAP student data overlaps with that of OMSA (for EOP students) and the President’s

Office (for PAP students). With regard to staffing and program cost reporting, however, we have

isolated LAS contributions

The programmatic reach of AAP can be gauged by number of direct student interactions with

staff (advising, regular consultations, probation intervention for sophomores, juniors, and

seniors, referrals to counseling, tutoring, etc.), as seen in the following figures for AY 2006 –

2007:

• Number of students seen by graduate counselors on a bi-weekly basis - 604

• Number of times (overall) graduate counselors met with students - 3,624

III. IBHE Web Accessibility Report: Evaluation, Plans for Improvement, and Annual Report

A. Standard

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign bases its web accessibility requirements on Section 508

Information Technology Accessibility Standards [1], the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web

Content Accessibility Guidelines (WCAG) Double-A requirements [2] and the Illinois Web Accessibility

Standards [3]. The Division of Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES) in the College of

Applied Health Sciences and the Campus Information Technologies and Educational Services (CITES)

have formed a partnership under the Provost Campus Technology Accessibility Initiative to create

policies, programs, tools and processes in support of Information Technology accessibility for people with

disabilities. For this report, the campus has used the iCITA Web Accessibility Best Practices [4] (web

best practices) and a software tool created at the University, the Functional Accessibility Evaluator (FAE)

[5] to estimate the use of the best practices. The web best practices are a statement of techniques for

implementation of the W3C Web Content Accessibility Guidelines Priority 1 and 2 requirements, United

States Federal Government Section 508 Information Technology Accessibility Standards, and the Illinois

Web Accessibility Standards. FAE is the primary tool used to measure adherence to the iCITA best

practice techniques.

B. Evaluations

1. Evaluation Method

During a two month period of time, from June to August 2007, over 380 campus web sites were

evaluated. The websites that were reviewed are considered “forward-looking” sites that serve as the unit’s

primary web presence and are usually the most up-to-date and well maintained web resources for a

department or unit.

Each unit’s default home page was examined based on the following seven criteria:

1. Functional Accessibility Evaluator compliance

2. HTML Standard code compliance

3. Design effort

4. Use of HTML tables for layout

5. Use of Cascading Style Sheets for styling content

6. Use of a DOCTYPE for validation to HTML standards

7. Compliance with Illinois Identity Standards

The home page of each web site was examined based on the reasoning that accessibility and standards

based coding techniques of the home page would be representative of the accessibility and the coding

practices used throughout the web site. The homepage assumption was validated by a detailed

examination of second level pages for several websites on campus that showed that the home page does

reflect the accessibility and coding practices of secondary pages.

The web sites selected for examination were based on the administrative units identified on the Campus

Units Directory web page (http://www.uiuc.edu/overview/info/directories.html

). The list includes 373

unique web sites, but approximately 100 of the links were either duplicates or broken.

2. Evaluation Methods

The Functional Accessibility Evaluator (FAE) was used to estimate the implementation of iCITA Web

Accessibility Best Practices [4] for conformance with the Illinois Web Accessibility Standards [3]. The

report was generated using the DHTML FAE Report feature available through the Firefox Accessibility

Extension, to ensure that dynamically generated content was also evaluated.

The “HTML Validator” is a Firefox Plug-in that was used to test conformance to HTML standards coding

standards. HTML Validator (based on Tidy and OpenSP) provides a snap shot of the page’s code

compliance and use of a Document Type Definition (DTD). In instances where a more detailed

assessment is needed pages were evaluated with the W3C Validation Service.

Each site was also checked for compliance with the Illinois Identity Standards which require:

1. University of Illinois be referenced in the page title

2. Use of the i-Mark favicon

3. UIUC text be visible in the masthead or above the fold of the page

4. iMark be visible in the masthead or above the fold of the page.

C. Evaluation outcomes

1. Administrative Web Resources

Appendix A includes a summary of the campus wide administrative review of 373 web sites on campus.

Through the evaluation process, three categories of non-compliance emerged:

Category 1: Category 1 sites were judged to be sufficiently dated or error-filled as to require complete

redesign

Category 2: Category 2 sites are the majority and have multiple FAE failures and code warnings which

require attention, however were not judged severe enough to significantly impact the

usability/accessibility of the site and the coding just needs to be modified to improve accessibility.

Category 3: Category 3 sites had minor FAE failures and/or code violations which could be readily

repaired with a few hours of attention.

Category 1 and some category 2 sites typically do not have a dedicated web staff. Many of these sites are

either past or nearing the end of their life cycle. Category 3 sites usually have a dedicated web staff of one

or more knowledgeable people who regularly update the site.

At the time of the review (June-August 2007):

• slightly less than 2% of the total number of sites were ranked as 100% code and FAE compliant,

• 5% were completely compliant when evaluated by FAE,

• 18.5% were considered Category 1 sites requiring redesign,

• 95% of the evaluated sites had some type of issue with FAE compliance. Of these issues, 54.3% were

medium to minor and 45.7% were judged to be major FAE failures,

• Approximately 69% of the sites had 6 or more code compliancy warnings. 7% were completely code

compliant with respect to their DTD.

Since September 2007, Tim Offenstein (Campus Accessibility Liaison) has met with over 30 units in one-

on-one sessions on accessibility improvements. The sessions consist of an in-depth accessibility analysis

of the unit’s web resources, a detailed written report for reference after the meeting and training on the

campus web accessibility evaluation methods for developers to use to verify improvements in

accessibility as they improve the resources. Follow up meetings are used to insure any questions or

problems are identified and resolved.

The Campus Accessibility Liaison is also producing a monthly article written to address various

accessibility issues, explaining how units can easily improve their web sites and offering helpful tips on

best practices. Articles are posted on the UIUC Webmasters listserv which goes out to over 600 web

developers on campus. A web master brown bag lunch session (with others to follow) with an

accessibility emphasis has been offered to the campus. This initial brown bag explained the historical

context of accessibility and issues facing Illinois Higher Educational institutions.

2. Collaborations with 3

Party Web Services

One of the major IT accessibility issues on campus if the use of purchased and open source software

packages on campus to deliver web based services to students, faculty and staff on campus. The

accessibility of these resources can be achieved only through changes made by the company or through

participation in the open source development community. Current collaborations include the evaluation

of web applications for accessibility issues using the best practices as the basis for evaluation and the

Firefox and FAE tools. The evaluation information is organized into an itemized issues list of

accessibility issues. This information is then communicated to the company through teleconference

meetings. The Firefox Accessibility Extension in combination with the Functional Accessibility

Evaluator provides a means to test web applications for the use of the best practices. The use of the

Firefox extension and FAE allow human testing resources to focus on usability issues, rather than on the

basic accessibility issues like labels for form controls, the use of headers and text equivalents for images.

a) List of Current Third Party Software Collaborations

• Illinois Compass Course Management System (WebCT)

• Library EBSCO bibliographic database

• Library Elsivier bibliographic database

• exLibris electronic library cataloging system

• CITES Express E-mail Service (Mirapoint)

D. Plans for Improvement

1. Plans for correcting problems identified in evaluation

In May of 2007 Provost Linda Katehi sent out notification of her decision to implement the Campus

Technology Accessibility Initiative. This initiative included resources to support four new full time

academic professional positions to improve the accessibility of administrative websites and campus wide

web resources developed or supported by Campus Information Technologies and Education Services.

E. Plans for evaluating additional web pages

1. Administrative Web Resources

The goal of the first year of the Campus Technology Accessibility Initiative (CTAI) is to improve the

accessibility of administrative web sites and campus wide web resources supported by CITES. This

includes working with category 3 web sites to bring them to 100% accessibility and standards

compliance. Category 2 sites will improve as resources permit to increase their compliance to campus

web accessibility requirements. Web developers who manage both Category 1 and 2 sites are being

referred to training resources to learn more about accessible design techniques.

Many campus web site designs are contracted vendors outside the university and these vendors have little

or no knowledge of accessibility or code compliance issues. A checklist of accessibility best practices will

be included as part of future contracts based on iCITA Web Accessibility Best Practices and information

on the web accessibility evaluation methods that are used to evaluate compliance to campus requirements.

The checklist will be made available to campus units considering hiring an outside vendor to insure best

practices are included in the design of the website.

The CITES Campus Accessibility Liaison is working with DRES Web Accessibility Training Coordinator

to gather information on what types of training is needed to help both technical and non-technical staff

improve the accessibility of the web resources they create and maintain. Training and evaluation tools are

especially needed for clerical, students and other less technical staff who have little or no technical

background in HTML and Adobe coding practices, but have responsibility to maintain a web site for their

unit. This creates situations where web pages may initially be compliant, but fall out of compliance as

people edit them with inaccessible markup. Training included as a part of the CTAI will help reduce this

problem.

2. Collaborations with 3

Party Web Services

Collaborations will continue from the past year. New collaborations will be developed as part of the

campus web accessibility initiative and with the support of the new accessibility specialist position in

CITES as a part of the initiative.

F. Campus policies and procedures to ensure web accessibility

A collaboration of CITES and DRES has drafted two documents: “University of Illinois at Urbana-

Champaign, Advancing Disability Access in an Electronic Age: A Statement of Commitment” and

“University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Advancing Disability Access in an Electronic Age: An

Implementation Plan” (see Appendix B). These documents were developed to promote accessibility of

digital resources across a wide range of users including those with disabilities. The goal is to create a

process that integrates accessibility in the development and implementation of web resources on campus.

The Provost Office has committed resources to the Campus Technology Accessibility Initiative and

organized the initiative to review administrative and campus wide web services supported by CITES for

accessibility and provide training support for staff to learn about accessible design. The Provost is also

supporting the development of the Functional Accessibility Evaluator (FAE) for use by developers to

evaluate their web resources for accessibility.

G. Training and Support for Web Developers and Instructors

1. Leading the IBHE Web Accessibility Consortium

The University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign is leading a consortium of 12 higher education and

community colleges in Illinois to improve the accessibility of web resources across the state. The goal of

the consortium is to build local expertise in web accessibility in all the institutions of higher education in

Illinois. Currently the following institutions of higher education are participating in the consortium:

a) 4 Year Universities

• Eastern Illinois University

• Governors State University

• Northern Illinois University

• Northeastern Illinois University

• Southern Illinois University at Carbondale

• Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville

• University of Illinois at Urbana/Champaign

• University of Illinois at Chicago

• Western Illinois University

b) Community Colleges

• City Colleges of Chicago

• College of DuPage

• Harper College

• Heartland Community College

• Illinois Central Community College

• Joliet Junior College

• Kishwaukee Community College

• Spoon River Community College

In addition to this list of educational institutions participating in the consortium, Patrick Beard and Mike

Scott represent state government web accessibility efforts on the new Illinois Information Technology

Accessibility Act.

Bimonthly teleconferences and periodic face-to-face meetings coordinate activities of the IBHE Web

Accessibility Consortium. Planned activities of the consortium for 2008 include:

• Development of an accessibility awareness website for administrators and developers

• Development of Evaluation Tools

• Integrating accessible design practices into main stream web development teaching materials and

courses

• Provide training on specific accessibility issues

• Contribute to the dissemination of information on the Illinois Information Accessibility Act

requirements

More information about the IBHE Web Accessibility Consortium can be found at:

http://www.cita.uiuc.edu/collaborate/illinois/.

2. Leading the Formation of a CIC IT Accessibility Interest Group

The University of Illinois is leading efforts within the Committee on Institutional Cooperation

(CIC)

universities to work cooperatively among those schools. The efforts are focused on sharing best practices

and evaluation techniques, developing common IT accessibility purchasing policies, and partnering with

other CIC committees to improve accessibility of information technologies within higher education. The

group became an official CIC working group in June 2007 with the support of member institution Chief

Information Officers.

More information on the CIC IT Accessibility Interest Group can be found at

http://www.cic.net/groups/ITAccessibilityAndUsability/index.shtml

3. Workshops, Tutorials and Webinars

One of the key elements to a successful implementation of the accessibility policy, and widespread uptake

of the best practices is an effective information campaign, a training program and a support network for

web practitioners.

The Illinois campus has two organizations that provide leadership in web accessibility. These are the

Illinois Center for Instructional Technology Accessibility (iCITA), which creates software tools, provides

training on web accessibility best practices, provides training on assistive technologies, and performs

accessibility research. The DRES/CITES partnership provides access to the campus web practitioners

(over 400 members) and includes a yearly conference, monthly brown bags, a listserv and collaborative

efforts among campus web practitioners.

The schedules of training past and future events can be found on the iCITA website:

http://www.cita.uiuc.edu

4. Tools for Web Developers, Instructors and Staff

The software tools developed by iCITA are widely distributed via the Web. FAE and the Mozilla/Firefox

Accessibility Extension are available free of charge.

a) Functional Accessibility Evaluator (http://fae.cita.uiuc.edu )

The Functional Accessibility Evaluation (FAE) Tool provides a means to estimate the functional

accessibility of web resources by analyzing web pages and estimating their use of the iCITA Web

Accessibility Best Practices. The tool does not determine if a resource or a collection of resources is

accessible or not, but provides a summary and detailed reports on the use of accessible markup

categorized by the web accessibility best practices principles. FAE uses rules for testing each of the

functional accessibility features of navigation, text descriptions, styling, scripting and the use of

standards. The best practices are basically proven techniques for implementing the Section 508 and W3C

Web Content Accessibility Guidelines. The test results are linked to the iCITA best practices resources

The CIC Member Universities are University of Chicago, University of Illinois, Indiana University, University of Iowa,

University of Michigan, Michigan State University, University of Minnesota, Northwestern University, Ohio State University,

Penn State University, Purdue University, University of Wisconsin-Madison

for web developers to find out more information about the evaluation results. FAE is being extended to

test for DHTML accessibility features.

FAE works similar to other web based accessibility evaluation tools. Users go to the website and enter a

URL they want to check and the depth of checking of the web site. Users then request the resources be

checked for accessibility based on the techniques outlines in the iCITA best practices. This is where FAE

differs from current evaluation tools. Other tools do code matching to determine known accessibility

problems, like missing ALT text from an image, and report that as a known accessibility problem. For

other accessibility issues, like proper use of headers, current tools tell the user that they need to perform a

manual check. The number of manual checks is based on the types of tags found in the resource. There is

only a small set of accessibility problems that can absolutely identified in this current approach and the

reports usually require between 20 – 30 manual checks. These manual checks are quite tedious and

therefore ignored by many web developers due to limitations in time or understanding of the

requirements. Since FAE is looking for best practices, items like missing headers or resources not being

properly titled can be reported as errors, not as part of some list of manual checks. Developers want to

eliminate known errors so that the report shows that they are highly accessible. The power of FAE

therefore is automating these manual checks reported by current evaluation tools and therefore

encouraging web developers to use more accessible web design techniques. FAE is free service of the

University of Illinois and anyone can request an evaluation using the web interface. FAE can only check

HTML based resources, but other formats may be supported in the future.

b) Mozilla/Firefox Accessibility Extension http://firefox.cita.uiuc.edu/

Web browsers can play a critical role in testing web accessibility if they can highlight the accessibility

features of a web resource to developers. The Mozilla/Firefox Accessibility Extension provides

navigation, styling and conditional rendering features that are important in improving access to web

content for people with disabilities and testing web resources for functional accessibility by developers.

The value of the Mozilla/Firefox Accessibility Extension is the ability to make information that is hidden

in a graphical rendering of content visible to developers and people with disabilities. For example, when

developers use headers (h1-h6) or use labels for form controls, the graphical rendering typically does not

disclose this information. The accessibility extension provides information on headers, labels and many

other types of structural information by querying the Document Object Model (DOM) of the resource and

extracting structural information and displaying it in dialog boxes or by providing keyboard navigation

commands. People with disabilities and developers can then use this information to access and

functionally test the structural markup of web resources. Other features include the ability to test for the

inclusion and functional use of text equivalents for non-text content like images, audio and video. The

extension provides the ability to disable author supplied CSS styling, in-line tag styling and tables used

for layout. Users can apply user style sheets and includes two built-in options for high contrast style

sheets. The extension also implements features to support the new Dynamic HTML accessibility features

[8] being developed by the W3C Protocols and Formats group.

Downloads of the Firefox Toolbar form January 2006 to December 2006: 12,758

c) Illinois Accessible Web Publishing Wizard for Microsoft Office

http://www.accessiblewizards.uiuc.edu

The Web Accessibility Wizard for Microsoft Office [9] provides a means to create accessible HTML

versions of Office documents without the author having knowledge of web technologies or web

accessibility guidelines. The Wizard automatically generates accessible markup by default and prompts

the users for additional information only when information is needed to generate proper text equivalents.

The Wizard supports the automatic creation of text equivalents for common Office objects like pie and

bar charts. Currently the tool supports both Power Point and Word documents. The HTML markup

generated exceeds current Section 508 requirements and meets W3C Web Content Accessibility

Requirements Double-A conformance. The Wizard was licensed to a local company for further

development and distribution in December 2007. Accessible Web Publishing Wizard is available at

CITES Webstore (http://webstore.uiuc.edu/) without charge to students, faculty and staff at the University

of Illinois.

H. Evaluators and Authors

Individuals Responsible for Conducting Evaluation of Institutions’ Web Pages

Tim Offenstein

Campus Accessibility Liaison

CITES Departmental Services

Individuals responsible for writing the web accessibility component of the URG report

Jon Gunderson

Coordinator, Assistive Communications and Information Technologies

Disability Resources and Education Services

Tim Offenstein

Campus Accessibility Liaison

CITES Departmental Services

I. References

[1] Section 508 Electronic and Information Technology Accessibility Standards

http://www.access-board.gov/sec508/standards.htm

[2] Web Content Accessibility Guidelines 1.0

http://www.w3.org/TR/WAI-WEBCONTENT/

[3] Illinois Web Accessibility Standards

http://www.illinois.gov/iwas/

[4] iCITA Web Accessibility Best Practices

http://html.cita.uiuc.edu/

[5] Functional Accessibility Evaluator

http://fae.cita.uiuc.edu

[6] Mozilla/Firefox Accessibility Extension

http://firefox.cita.uiuc.edu

[7] Illinois Information Technology Accessibility Act

http://www.dhs.state.il.us/iitaa

[8] Roadmap for Accessible Rich Internet Applications (WAI-ARIA Roadmap)

http://www.w3.org/TR/2006/WD-aria-roadmap-20061220/

[9] Illinois Accessible Web Publishing Wizards

http://www.accessiblewizards.uiuc.edu

J. Appendix A: Evaluation Details

TABLE 1. Summary Table of Campus Web Accessibility Audit

Description Number of Home Pages

Total departmental and unit home

pages evaluated

373

100% Compliant with accessibility

requirements

10 (2%)

Category 3 websites (Minor

accessibility problems)

69 (18.5%)

Category 2 websites (Accessibility

problems, but could probably be fixed

without total redesign)

155 (41%)

Category 1 websites (Needs total

redesign to improve accessibility)

139 (38.5%)

TABLE 2. University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign web home pages evaluated for accessibility:

Academic Affairs, Office of the Vice-President for

Academic Affairs, Provost and Vice-Chancellor for

Academic Outreach, Division of

Academic Human Resources, Office of

Accountancy, Department of

Accounting and Financial Services, University Office of

Accounting Research, Office of

ACES, College of

Administration and Human Resources, University Office of

Administrative Information Technology Services (AITS)

Admissions and Records, Office of

Advertising, Department of

Aerospace Engineering, Department of

Affirmative Action (Equal Opportunity and Access)

Affirmative Action - Student (Dean of Students, Office of)

African Studies, Center for

African-American Cultural Center

Afro-American Studies and Research Program

Agricultural and Consumer Economics, Department of

Agricultural Communications Documentation Center

Agricultural Education

Agricultural and Biological Engineering, Department of

Agricultural Experiment Station (ACES, College of)

Agronomy (see: Department of Crop Sciences)

Air Conditioning & Refrigeration Center

Allerton Park and Conference Center (OCE)

Alumni Association

Ancient Technologies and Archaeological Materials

Animal Biology, Department of

Animal Resources, Division of

Animal Sciences, Department of

Anthropology, Department of

Applied Health Sciences, College of

Arboretum

Architecture, School of

Archives, University

Arms Control, Disarmament, and International Security

Army ROTC, Department of Military Science

Art and Design, School of

Art History Program

Asian American Cultural Center

Asian American Studies Program

Astronomy, Department of

Atmospheric Sciences, Department of

Audits, Office of University

Aviation, Institute of

Bands, University

Banking Research, Office of (CBA, College of)

Beckman Institute for Advanced Science and Technology

Benefits Center

Bioacoustics Research Lab

Biochemistry, Department of

Bioengineering, Department of

Biology (School of Molecular and Cellular Biology)

Biology (School of Integrative Biology)

Biology Masters Program

Biophysics and Computational Biology, Center for

Biotechnology Center

Board of Examiners

Board of Trustees, Secretary of the

Bookstore, Illini Union

Broadcasting, Division of (WILL-AM, -FM, -TV)

Building Research Council (Architecture, School of)

Bureau of Economic and Business Research

Bureau of Educational Research

Business, College of

Business Administration, Department of

Business and Financial Services, University Office of

Business and Financial Services, (Campus) Office of

Campus Honors Program

Campus I. D. Center (Illini Union)

Campus Information Technologies and Educational Services

Campus Legal Counsel, Office of

Campus Parking and Transportation, Division of

Campus Recreation, Division of

Campus Stores, Mail, and Receiving (CSMR)

Car Pool (Operation and Maintenance, Department of)

Career Center

Career Services

Cashiers (Student Accounts)

CCSP (Computer Consultant Support Program)

Cell and Developmental Biology, Department of

Center for Advanced Study (CAS)

Center for Cement Composite Materials

Center for Global Studies

Center for Instructional Research and Curriculum Evaluation

Center for International Business Education and Research

Center for International Education and Research in Accounting

Center for Library Initiatives - CIC

Center for Reproductive Biology

Center for Teaching Excellence

Center on Democracy in a Multiracial Society

Certified Housing (Housing Division)

Chancellor, Office of the

Chemical Engineering, Department of

Chemical Sciences, School of

Chemistry, Department of

Chief Information Officer, Office of

Child Care Resource Service

Child Development Lab Preschool

Children and Family Research Center

Children's Books, The Center for

Chimes, University

Choral Office

CIC (Committee on Institutional Cooperation)

Cinema Studies, Unit for

CITES Educational Technologies

CITES Departmental Services

Civil and Environmental Engineering, Department of

Claims Management Office (University Counsel)

Classics, Department of the

Climatology (State Weather Survey)

Commencement

Communications, College of

Communications Research, Institute of

Community Health, Department of

Comparative Literature, Program in

Complex Systems Research, Center for

Computational Science and Engineering

Computer Science, Department of

Conferences and Institutes (Continuing Education, Office of)

Consumer Sciences, Division of (See ACES above)

Continuing Education, Office of

Continuing Engineering Education

Cooperative Extension Service

Coordinated Science Lab

Copy Division, Quick

Corporate Relations, Office of

Correspondence Courses (Continuing Education, Office of)

Council of Academic Professionals (CAP)

Council on Teacher Education

Counsel, Office of the University

Counseling Center

Creative Services (Public Affairs)

Criticism and Interpretive Theory, Unit for

Crop Sciences, Department of

Curriculum and Instruction, Department of (Education)

Dad's Association (Dean of Students, Office of)

Dance, Department of

Dean of the Graduate College

Dean of Students, Office of the

Development, Office of Campus

Disability Resources and Educational Services, Division of

Dixon Springs Agricultural Center (ACES, College of)

East Asian and Pacific Studies, Center for

East Asian Languages and Cultures, Department of

East St. Louis Action Research Project (ESLARP)

Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, Program in

Ecology, Ethology, and Evolution, Department of

Economic Development and Corporate Relations

Economics, Department of

Education, College of

Educational Career Services (Education, College of)

Educational Opportunities Program (Education, College of)

Educational Organization and Leadership, Department of

Educational Policy Studies, Department of (Education)

Educational Psychology, Department of (Education)

Educational Research, Bureau of (Education, College of)

Elderhostel

Electron Paramagnetic Resonance Research Center, Illinois

Electrical and Computer Engineering, Department of

Emergency Dean (Dean of Students, Office of)

Employee Assistance Program (Faculty/Staff Assistance)

Engineering, College of

English, Department of

English as an International Language, Division of

Entomology, Department of

Environmental Council

Environmental Engineering and Science

Environmental Health and Safety

Equal Opportunity and Access, Office of

Ethics Officer, University

European Union Center

Executive Development Center

Extension, University of Illinois

Facilities and Services

Facilities Planning and Programs, University Office for

Facility Management and Scheduling, Office of

Faculty Advisory Committee

Faculty/Staff Assistance Program

FAST3 (Faculty and Staff Training Technology Team)

Finance, Department of

Financial Aid, Office of

Fine and Applied Arts, College of

Fire Service Institute

Food Science and Human Nutrition, Department of

Foreign Language Building Business Office

Forestry (see: Natural Resources and Environmental Sci)

Foundation, University of Illinois

Fracture Control Program

Fraternity and Sorority Programs (Dean of Students)

French, Department of

Garage (Operation and Maintenance, Division of)

Gender and Women's Studies Program

Gay, Lesbian, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns

Genetic Engineering Facility (Biotechnology Center)

Genomic Biology, Institute for

Geographic Modeling Systems Lab

Geography, Department of

Geological Survey, State

Geology, Department of

Germanic Languages and Literatures, Department of

Global Studies, Center for

Government and Public Affairs, Institute of

Graduate College

Grants and Contracts Office (post-award)

Guided Individual Study (Continuing Education, Office of)

Hazardous Materials Training Program (ILIR)

Health & Wellness

Health Careers House (Career Center)

Health Center (McKinley Health Center)

Herbarium (Plant Biology, Department of)

History, Department of

Horticulture (Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences)

Housing Division

Human and Community Development, Department of

Human Development and Family Studies, Division of

Human Factors Division, Institute of Aviation

Human Relations and University Equal Opportunity

Administration and Human Resources, University Office of

Human Resource Education, Department of

Human Resources, University Office of

i-card programs

IDEALS - Illinois Digital Environment for Access to Learning and Scholarship

Illini Center

Illini Union

Illinois Business Consulting

Illinois Fire Service Institute

Illinois Leadership

Illinois Program for Research in the Humanities

Illinois Researcher Information Service (IRIS)

Illinois Statistics Office (Consulting Services)

Illinois Student Senate (ISG)

Illinois Summer Youth Music (Music, OCE)

Imaging Technology Group

Industrial and Enterprise Systems Engineering

Information Management, Office for

Information Researchers

Information Systems & Technology Management

Inform. Tech. and Communication Services (ACES)

Information Trust Institute (ITI)

Inside Illinois (News Bureau)

Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (IACUC)

Institutional and Faculty International Collaboration (IFIC)

Institutional Cooperation, Committee on (CIC)

Institutional Review Board - Human Subjects in Research

Instructional Programs, Office of (Education, College of)

Instructional Resources, Office of

Insurance (Benefits Center)

Integrative Biology, School of

Intensive English Institute

International Business Education & Research, Center for

International Faculty and Staff Affairs, Office of

International Programs and Studies

International Programs in Engineering

International Strategic Management, Office of

International Student & Scholar Services, Office of

International Study Abroad Office

International Trade Center

International Water Resources Association

Intramural-Physical Education Building (IMPE)

INTSOY (International Soybean Program)

Investments, Office of Cash Management and

IRRA (Industrial Relations Research Association)

I space Gallery

Japan House

Jewish Culture and Society, Committee on

Journalism, Department of

Department of Kinesiology and Community Health

Krannert Art Museum and Kinkead Pavilion

Krannert Center for the Performing Arts

La Casa Cultural Latina

Laboratory for Fluorescence Dynamics

Labor and Industrial Relations, Institute of

Landscape Architecture, Department of

Language Learning Lab

Large Animal Hospital (Veterinary Clinical Medicine)

Latina/Latino Studies Program

Latin American and Caribbean Studies, Center for

Law, College of

Legal Service, Student

Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Concerns, Office of

Levis Faculty Center

Liberal Arts and Sciences, College of

Library, Undergraduate

Library, University

Library and Information Science, Graduate School of

Library Research Center

Life Sciences (Molecular and Cellular Biology, School of)

Linguistics, Department of

Loans, Student (Financial Aid or Cashiers)

Machine Tool Systems Research, Center for

Mail Services, Office of (Campus Stores)

Maize Genetics Cooperation/Stock Center

Management Information, Division of

Materials Computation Center

Materials Research Laboratory

Materials Science and Engineering, Department of

Mathematics, Department of

Mathematics, Science, and Technology Education (MSTE)

MBA Program

Mechanical Science and Engineering, Department of

Medicine at Urbana-Champaign, College of

Medieval Studies, Program in

Merriam Lab for Analytic Political Research

Micro Order Center (Campus Stores)

Microanalysis of Materials, Center for

Microbiology, Department of

Micro & Nanotechnology Laboratory

Microscopic Imaging, Center for

Military Science, Department of

MillerComm (Center for Advanced Study)

Minority Student Affairs, Office of

Molecular and Cellular Biology

Molecular and Integrative Physiology, Department of

Mother's Association (Dean of Students, Office of)

Motorcycle Rider Training Program

MT-AMRI: Machine-Tool Agile Mnfctr. Research Institute

Multidisciplinary University Research Initiative (MURI)

Museum of Natural History (Spurlock Museum)

Music, Continuing Education and Public Service in

Music, School of

Native American House

Natural Areas, Committee on

National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA)

National Soybean Research Laboratory (ACES, College of)

Natural History Survey, Illinois

Natural Resources and Environmental Sciences, Department of

Naval Science, Department of

NESSIE

Neuroscience Program

News Bureau

North Central Association

NovaNet

Nuclear, Plasma and Radiological Engineering, Department of

Nursing Institute Urbana Regional Program

Nutritional Sciences Interdisciplinary Graduate Program

Office Machine Repair

Office of School-University Research Relations (OSURR)

Operation and Maintenance Division

Orientation and First Year Programs (ODOS)

Overseas Projects and Foreign Visitors

Parent Programs

Parking and Transportation, Division of Campus

Pathobiology, Department of

Payroll Services (Accounting Division)

Peace Corps

Personnel Services (Staff Human Resources)

Philosophy, Department of

Physics, Department of

Physiological and Molecular Plant Biology Program

Planning and Budgeting, University Office for

Planning Design and Construction, Office for

Plant Biology, Department of

Plant Pathology, Department of (Crop Sciences, Department of)

Plasma Material Interactions, Center for

Police, Campus

Police Training Institute

Political Science, Department of

Press, University of Illinois

Printing Department (Facilities & Services, Division of)

Professional Advisory Committee (Council of AP)

Programs for Older Adults

Project Planning and Facility Management

Provost and Vice-chancellor for Academic Affairs, Office of

Psychology, Department of

Public Affairs, Office of

Public Affairs, University Office of

Public Engagement

Public Safety, Division of

Purchasing Division

Reading, Center for the Study of

Real Estate Planning and Services, University Office of

Real Estate Research, Office of

Recreation, Division of Campus

Recreation, Sport and Tourism, Department of

Recycling Office, Campus (Operation and Maintenance)

Regional Economics Applications Lab (Geography, Department of)

Regional Science Association International (Geography)

Religion, Program for the Study of

Reproductive Biology, Center for

Research, Office of the Vice-chancellor for

Research Administration, Office of

Research Board

Research Office, College Business

Research Safety, Division of

Residence Hall Association (Housing, Division of)

Reviews of Modern Physics

Risk Management, Campus Office of

Robert Allerton Park and Conference Center (OCE)

Rural Sociological Society

Russian, East European, and Eurasian Center

Safety and Compliance, Division of

Scholars' Travel Fund

Scholarships for International Study, Office of

Senate, Urbana-Champaign

Sinfonia da Camera

SLATE (Second Language Acquisition and Teacher Education)

Slavic Languages and Literatures, Department of

Slavic Review (LAS, College of)

Sloan Ctr for Asynchronous Learning Env. (CITES Ed Tech)

Small Homes Council - Building Research Council (Architecture)

Social Work, School of

Sociology, Department of

SORF (Illini Union)

Sousa Archives for Band Research

South Asian and Middle Eastern Studies

Space Reservations (Facilities Officer)

Spanish, Italian, and Portuguese, Department of

Special Education, Department of (Education, College of)

Spectrum (Assoc. of Students for Bisexual, Gay, Lesbian, & Trans.)

Speech and Hearing Science, Department of

Speech Communication, Department of

Sponsored Programs and Research Administration

Staff Advisory Council

Staff Human Resources

Stat. Laboratory for Educational and Psychological Measurement

Statistics, Department of

Student Accounts and Cashiers

Student Affairs, Office of the Vice Chancellor for

Student Conflict Resolution, Office for

Student Disability Services

Student Financial Aid, Office of

Student Senate (Illinois Student Government)

Student Insurance Office (Benefits Center)

Student Legal Service

Student Line

Student Loans

Student Organizations Office, Registered

Study Abroad Office

Summer Session

Tax School

Technology & Management Program

Technology Management, Office of

Telecommunications, Office of (CITES)

Television Station (WILL-TV)

Tenant Union

Testing Services (Dean of Students, Office of)

Theatre, Department of

Theoretical and Applied Mechanics, Department of

Ticket Office, Krannert

Trio/Student Support Services

Trustees, Board of

UI-Integrate

UI-OnLine

UI-7

Undergraduate Library

Unit One

University Accounting and Financial Reporting

University Counsel, Office of

University of Illinois Extension

University of Illinois Foundation

University Laboratory High School

University Outreach and Public Service

University Payables

University Primary School

University Relations, Office for

University Senates Conference

University-wide Student Programs

Upward Bound, Project

Urban and Regional Planning, Department of

Veterans Affairs

Veterinary Biosciences, Department of

Veterinary Clinical Medicine, Department of

Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory

Veterinary Medicine College of

Veterinary Teaching Hospital

Visitors Center, Campus

Vocational Agriculture Service (Info. Tech. and Com. Services)

Vocational and Technical Education, Dept. of (HR Ed, Dept. of)

Volunteer Programs, Office of

Waste Management and Research Center

Water Resources Center

Water Survey, State

WBML Cable-FM Radio Station (Office)

WBML Cable-FM Radio Station (Station)

Webmasters

Webstore - CITES

Women and Gender in Global Perspectives, Office of

Women in Engineering, Office of:

Women's Programs, Office of (Dean of Students, Office of)

Writing Studies, Center for

Writers' Workshop

K. Appendix B: Advancing Disability Access in an Electronic Age

Statement of Commitment

1. Purpose

The University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign is committed to serving a diverse population of students,

faculty and staff. For nearly six decades, Illinois has been a nationally and internationally recognized

leader in promoting the inclusion and participation of persons with disabilities, but timely, decisive action

is needed if we are to sustain this legacy of pre-eminence in the rapidly growing domain of digital

information resources.

The Advancing Disability Access in an Electronic Age Statement of Commitment was developed to

promote the creation and/or procurement of digital resources that are accessible to persons with

disabilities and compliant with University, state and federal policies prohibiting discrimination on the

basis of disability. In addition, the enactment of the plan based on this commitment will improve the

usability of the university's digital resources across a wide range of users, platforms and devices, and will

reduce the future development and maintenance cost of such resources.

2. Scope

This commitment is applicable to all official web pages, electronic communications and web-based

services deployed by a college, department, program or unit of the University, including educational

resources.

Individual digital resources and services published by students, faculty, staff, or non-University

organizations that are hosted by the University, but do not conduct University-related business, are

encouraged to adopt the University's standards, but fall outside its jurisdiction.

3. Standards

The University will adhere to the digital resources accessibility standards of Section 508 of the

Rehabilitation Act, and the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C) Web Content Accessibility Guidelines

1.0 (WCAG) Double-A requirements.

These standards will be implemented for web resources as outlined in the Illinois Web Accessibility Best

Practices (web best practices). The web best practices are a statement of techniques for implementation

of the aforementioned 508 and W3C standards.

These standards will be implemented for electronic resources as outlined in the Illinois Electronic

Communications Best Practices (e-comm best practices)

4. Implementation

The Division of Disability Resources and Educational Services (DRES) and Campus Information

Technologies and Educational Services (CITES) will be responsible for development, testing and

implementation of the standards. They will conduct a pilot of the implementation plan with

administrative and technical personnel from the colleges and administrative units in the fall of 2006 to

validate the plan. Specifics of the plan may be reviewed at http://www.cita.uiuc.edu/accessibilityplan.html.

5. Review

The Illinois Board of Higher Education (IBHE) requires the University to submit an annual Web

Accessibility Report evaluating its compliance to accessibility standards, and outlining plans for

improvement. In support of this requirement, each unit will be responsible for preparing such a report.

CITES and DRES will be responsible for preparing the template for these reports, and synthesizing them

to create the campus report.

6. Governance and Compliance

Each dean/director of a unit represented on the Council of Deans will be responsible for compliance

within his or her college, school or institute. The chancellor and associate chancellors will be responsible

for compliance within the administrative units that report to them. CITES and DRES will monitor

compliance with the plan and report problems to the appropriate Dean and to the Provost’s office for

immediate remediation. Each year DRES and CITES will publish a set of guidelines and tool

recommendations which will aid in compliance with the standards.

7. Exceptions

Where compliance is not technically possible or may require extraordinary measures due to the nature of

the information and the intent of the digital resource, exceptions to this statement of commitment may be

granted by the ADA Coordinator's Office. Request for such exceptions must be made in writing and

generally must be based on issues other than cost alone.