The McBurney Disability Resource Center’s mission is “Leading the campus community forward in access for students with disabilities.” The McBurney Center considers disability as a key facet of diversity on campus, and is dedicated to working with faculty, staff, students, and the community to provide an accessible educational experience. “We do not do this work alone,” said McBurney Center’s director Mari Magler. “So many people at UW-Madison are working to support disabled students and create an inclusive campus environment.”
In order to recognize some of those efforts, six faculty and staff members were presented with a Forward in Access Award from the McBurney Center for the 2022-2023 academic year. Learn more about these individuals:
Dr. Amanda Buchberger Jones and Dr. Pam Doolittle, Instructors, Department of Chemistry
Dr. Amanda Buchberger Jones and Dr. Pam Doolittle, both instructors in the The Department of Chemistry are prime examples of going above and beyond for students. Their efforts in creating an inclusive environment for students with disabilities do not go unrecognized, as the McBurney Center alone cannot make the university accessible. Dr. Buchberger Jones and Dr. Doolittle take an inclusive and supportive approach when working with students. They’re thoughtful about how they design their course, teach their curriculum, and assess student learning, spending significant time and effort organizing and implementing accommodations. They worked extensively with a student with unique disability-related needs and were very thoughtful and organized when establishing a flexibility plan. When a student had concerns about how they were assessed on a project, they met with the student and their access consultant to problem solve, and more importantly, ensure that the student felt heard.
Kim Mueller, Greater University Tutoring Services (GUTS)
The Greater University Tutoring Services (GUTS), represented by Kim Mueller, director of learning support, helps foster a comprehensive and caring environment for students. Over the years, GUTS has partnered with the McBurney Center on countless endeavors, working closely with us to ensure great thought, care, and insight goes into creating better tutoring systems, trainings, and events for GUTS staff and students, all resulting in better outcomes and increased engagement. The most significant collaboration has been the creation of the Study and Learning Skills program (SLSS). GUTS has continuously invested in and prioritized resources for ensuring SLSS’s success to meet the growing needs of disabled students. This has allowed SLSS to create the Study Buddies program, drop-in hours, and study days during finals week. It is rare that students have a resource for receiving personalized support for their coursework while managing disability symptoms, but that’s exactly what they can find here because of GUTS.
Heather Macheel and Mark Schappe, Wisconsin Union Technology Staff
The McBurney Disability Resource Center recognizes the Wisconsin Union Technology Staff, represented by Heather Macheel and Mark Schappe. Ever since UW-Madison shifted to a centralized funding model, the McBurney Center Deaf and Hard of Hearing team has experienced a significant increase in the number of departmental requests received. Many of these requests are held in Wisconsin Union spaces on campus. Mark, Lance, and Heather have been invaluable in coordinating the technology and logistics to display captions in those spaces, providing great audio to our captioners who work remotely. CART live captioning would be impossible for most of our events without this team and their ability to make the technology work on location. They work tirelessly with us to coordinate impactful and high profile events such as SOAR, Distinguished Lecture Series, the MLK Symposium, and more!
Carol Pope, Office Manager at the Office of Student Transition and Family Engagement
Carol Pope, Office Manager at the Office of Student Transition and Family Engagement (OSTFE), has been instrumental in ensuring that first-year students get what they need at SOAR. She manages early SOAR accommodations and has served as a liaison between the Office of Student Transition and Family Engagement and the McBurney Center’s Transition Services Team. Carol’s clear communication and collaborative approach has enabled the Transition Team to more sufficiently support incoming students. In addition to implementing early SOAR accommodations, Carol processes SOAR program accommodation requests to ensure students have an accessible and positive first experience as Badgers. She has referred several students to the McBurney Center, repeatedly connecting Transition Services staff to field a range of SOAR-related questions. To put it simply, Carol has been an invaluable campus partner.
Connect with the McBurney Center
The McBurney Disability Resource Center is the primary location on campus offering resources for students when it comes to disability and accommodations.
The McBurney Center works with UW–Madison students with physical, learning, hearing, vision, psychological, health, and other disabilities substantially affecting major life activities. The McBurney Center operates with a vision of a universally accessible educational community, fostering the full participation and contribution of every member, with individual accommodation needed in unique or uncommon situations.
If you are a student, or know of a student, who is interested in applying for accommodations, read more about the student accommodation process or contact the front desk for more information.
If you would like to support the work of the McBurney Center by being a notetaker in one of your courses, read more about becoming a peer notetaker .
The McBurney Center continues to move UW-Madison forward in access, with the help of campus members like the recipients of this year’s awards. Thank you for all you do.