Dear colleagues,
As we approach the start of a fresh academic year, we remain deeply committed to ensuring digital accessibility for all students to help create the inclusive university that reflects who we are and who we aspire to be.
We have made significant progress this year, and we appreciate all the attention and work that our faculty and colleagues across campus have contributed to this effort.
To continue this momentum, our expectation is that syllabi for all classes offered at UO this fall will be fully accessible to students, as we communicated to the Academic Unit Heads in April.
If you have not yet started on this work, the Teaching Engagement Program (TEP) and UO Online, in consultation with UO's Digital Accessibility Architect, have created tailored resources for faculty, including an overview of digital accessibility in teaching and specific guidance for making your syllabus accessible. The full suite of Fall Course Resources, including timely actions to take and the new syllabus essentials, is available to you now.
TEP and UO Online will also host two drop-in clinics next week to assist individual faculty members with this work at the Tykeson James Commons:
- Monday, September 14, 2 - 4 p.m.
- Thursday, September 17, 10 a.m. - Noon
There will be a drop-in opportunity on Zoom Thursday, September 24, 1 - 2 p.m. (meeting link).
Making steady progress on digital accessibility remains a university priority.
Improving the accessibility of your syllabi before fall term will also set you up for planned efforts later this academic year to improve the accessibility of our instructional Canvas websites.
We recognize that we are asking something of you during an already busy time of year. Creating courses that are accessible to every student is worth the effort, as it is one concrete way we can live up to our commitment to open access. Thank you for everything you do to support all of our students.
Sincerely,
Christopher P. Long
Provost and Senior Vice President 
Nicole Commissiong
Associate Vice President, Chief Civil Rights Officer & Title IX/ADA Coordinator