About Me
Vision
My vision is that all e-learning and web-based content for Penn State faculty, staff, students be created with accessibility in mind from the beginning so that accessible practice just becomes good practice and informs the way everything is done.
Role
I am the lead accessibility consultant for Penn State World Campus Learning Design. I lead the accessibility team and provide information and resources to help staff and faculty create accessible content by providing consultation, training, documentation, and other resources. I also test third-party websites and technologies with assistive technology such as screen readers and magnification software, and am constantly learning to find new and better accessible solutions. I co-lead the Accessibility Users Group with an amazing team to provide a community of practice for sharing accessibility knowledge across various design shops and units at Penn State.
Career Goals
I enjoy combining my expertise in accessible web design with the skills I learned while earning a master’s degree in the Organization Development and Change program through Penn State’s College of Education, to consult on how best to expand and improve University services for students with disabilities, as well as improving the design process for online educational resources so that they are born accessible.
Bio
I grew up in Huntington Beach, California two miles from the beach, and lived in Hong Kong for a couple of years as a child. I earned a degree in Sociology from the University of California, Irvine. I met my husband, Stephen, in California and we moved to Iowa, and Idaho before settling in State College in 2002 with our three children.
Before discovering accessibility, I worked in the accounting field, putting my husband through school. Once he graduated, we started a family and became a stay-at-home mom, re-entering the workforce when our youngest child started school. In 2008, I went on a quest for meaningful work at Penn State that began with technical editing and proofreading online course content for the John A. Dutton e-Education Institute, and then doing course production work and academic advising for the Turfgrass Management Science program in the College of Ag, and finally joining World Campus Learning Design as a production specialist in 2011. In that role, I helped develop in-house documentation on accessible practice and became a full-time accessibility consultant in 2013, ending my quest and starting a new chapter.
My career in accessibility has included several opportunities for continued growth and development. For example, I completed the Penn State Emerging Leaders program in 2017, and earned a Masters of Professional Studies degree in organization development and change through Penn State World Campus in 2020.
I am a follower of Jesus and my faith informs everything I do. He loved the poor and marginalized and I believe He led me into this work and that by doing it, I am collaborating with Him and His purposes in this world. When not at work, I enjoy any activity that allows for in-depth conversations, such as eating out, hiking, and long drives; shows, movies, and books about people solving problems: murder mysteries, diagnostic puzzles, detective shows; and reading about the intersection of work and faith. I am a personality theory junkie.
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