Opportunities! 
for Des Moines Area Community College Students with Disabilities

April 2006

Dear Student,

You are receiving this correspondence from the Des Moines Area Community College Student Support Services and the office of Career & Transfer Resource Center in partnership with the DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology) program. The purpose is to inform you about many opportunities available to you. We invite you to review these and participate in activities that interest you.

There is information about assistive technology, how to participate in Networking Opportunities and on campus Career Events. On page three, there is information about national Internships and Networking Opportunities. Page four contains information about DO-IT, AccessComputing and AccessSTEM.

The Student Support Service Office, Career & Transfer Resource Center, and DO-IT staff sincerely wish you a successful and enjoyable college experience. 

Sincerely,
Sharon Bittner 
Supervisor, Student Support Services
Des Moines Area Community College
Building 6-10e
Ankeny, IA 50021-3993

Pamela J. Parker 
Coordinator, Special Needs
Des Moines Area Community College
Building 6-10e
Ankeny, IA 50021-3993

Sheryl Burgstahler
Director 
DO-IT 
3737 Brooklyn Ave NE
Seattle, WA 98105-5670 

To request this newsletter in an alternate format, contact Pamela Parker at 515-964-6850 or pjparket@dmacc.edu.

Meet the Student Support Services Staff at TRiO
Disability Service Providers

Sharon Bittner
Director, Academic Support Services
515-964-6857

Pamela J. Parker
Coordinator, Special Needs
515-964-6850

The disability services providers offer support services to students:
- Assistance in applying for accommodation services
- Coordination of granted services
- Referrals for academic support to tutoring, the Academic Achievement Center, 
counseling/advising, career development, and other supports, as needed.

The Federal TRiO Programs are educational opportunity outreach programs designed to motivate and support students from disadvantaged backgrounds. TRiO includes six outreach and support programs targeted to serve and assist low-income, first-generation college students, and students with disabilities to progress through the academic pipeline from middle school to postbaccalaureate programs. TRiO also includes a training program for directors and staff of TRiO projects and a dissemination partnership program to encourage the replication or adaptation of successful practices of TRiO projects at institutions and agencies that do not have TRiO grants.

To be eligible for TRiO services through the Student Support Service, you must be at least a half-time student at DMACC-Urban Campus (or have applied for enrollment). You may be eligible if you can answer "yes" to any of the following 
statement:
- Neither of my parents graduated from a four-year insitution.
- I am eligible for financial aid
- I am a student with a disability

Call Student Support Services at (515) 248-7216 or if you are in the DMACC-Urban area stop by the Student Life Area on campus and contact, Mary K. Moore at (515) 248-7211 or via email at mkmoore@dmacc.edu. 

Assistive Technology
DMACC has the following adaptive technology available for use by students with disabilities:
- Dragon Naturally Speaking
- Kurzweil 3000
- JAWS
- ZoomText
- PLATO
For further information contact the Special Needs Coordinator at 515-964-6850.

Career Services
Career Assessment (CTRC)
There are assessment tools that will help persons evaluate their interests, experiences, abilities and personalities. The assessment tools in the CTRC are:
- Self-Directed Search, an interest test booklet that suggests a career area;
- Skill Sort, to prioritize you most important skills;
- Myers-Briggs Personality Indicator, that clarifies four decision-making styles;
- Strong Interest Inventory (online) to determine a focus career area;
- Choices (a computerized guidance system), that offers interest, skills and values assessment that links to occupational and educational information.
An hour long appointment is required to allow time for taking the "test" and evaluating results to determine the next step in career planning. The results from these assessments will provide up-to-date information about careers and educational opportunities. It is essential to contact your home campus to make your appointment.

Career Employment
Our Student Employment Assistance staff can connect you with employment opportunities. An online job service, Iowacareer.net, is available to students and employers from DMACC and other Iowa community colleges. Students post their resume for Iowa employers to review. Employers post job openings for student review.

Internships, Scholarships for Students with Disabilities 
The Washington Center Scholarship Program for College Students with Disabilities
The Washington Center for Internships and Academic Seminars offers 50 scholarships to college students with disabilities interested in working in the executive, judicial, or legislative branches of the federal government. Applications are available at http://www.twc.edu/disability_about.shtml. Scholarships are available for Spring and Fall semesters only. The deadline for Fall is May 2, 2006. For more information please contact Jennifer Taransky at 202-457-0046 or email: jennyt@twc.edu.

Financial Assistance for Women with Physical Disabilities
The Ethel Louise Armstrong Foundation, Inc., (ELA) provides scholarships to women with physical disabilities who are enrolled in college. Awards are based on merit. Scholarships range from $500-$2000 per year. The application deadline is June 1, 2006. For more information, visit http://www.ela.org/. Scholarships are awarded in August.

The National Business & Disability Council National Resume Database (NBDC)
The NBDC will enter your resume into their National Resume Database! This is a free service for college students with disabilities who are approaching graduation. To register, visit http://www.business-disability.com/ and click on "job seekers" and "post resume," or fax resume to 1-877-634-7068.

The Youth to Work Coalition
The Youth to Work Coalition (YWC) was established to assist businesses in creating or enhancing internships and mentoring programs available for youth with disabilities. For more information on the YWC, please contact Joe Timmons at 612-624-5659 or timm0119@umn.edu or visit http://www.ncset.org/youthtowork/default.html.

MIUSA's List of Internships with International Exchange Organizations 
Mobility International USA, an organization devoted to empowering people with disabilities around the world to achieve their human rights through international exchange and international development, provides a web page which lists over 20 internship opportunities and list servs in international development and exchange. For more information, visit http://www.miusa.org/ncde.

Scholarships List at California State University Sacramento (CSUS)
CSUS web resources include a comprehensive list of disability-related Scholarships. The site is at http://www.csus.edu/sswd/services/scholarshipsdisabilityrelated.htm.

Entry Point! 2006 (AAAS)
Entry Point! is a program of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) offering Outstanding Internship Opportunities for Students with Disabilities in Science, Engineering, Mathematics, Computer Science, and some fields of Business. AAAS has developed unique partnerships with IBM, NASA, Merck, NOAA, Google and university science laboratories to meet their human resource needs. For more information visit http://ehrweb.aaas.org/entrypoint/. The deadline is April 30, 2006.

Career Opportunities for Students with Disabilities (COSD)
COSD is a unique consortium composed of large and small universities, national employers and US Government agencies focusd on the career employment of college graduates with disabilities. COSD is funded through a grant provided by tthe US Department of Labor's Office of Disability Employment Policy. For more information, visit http://www.cosdonline.org/index.shtml.

National Business Leadership Network (BLN)
The purpose of the BLN is to help employers understand the value of hiring and promoting people with disabilities. There is a national organization and a chapter in Washington State. For more information about networking through BLN, visit http://www.usbln.com/network/wa.html.

Visit the Student Lounge
Find out about accommodation strategies, legal issues, and resources for students with disabilities at the online resource called the Student Lounge at: http:/www.washington.edu/doit/Resources/postsec.html. At this site there are also resources for faculty (The Faculty Room), student services organizations (The Conference Room), and administrators (The Board Room).

About DO-IT(Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, Technology)
DO-IT serves to increase the participation of individuals with disabilities in challenging academic programs and careers. It promotes the use of computing and networking technologies to increase independence, productivity, and participation in education and employment. Based at the UW Seattle campus, DO-IT works with students preparing for college, in addition to those students currently attending a two- or four-year colleges or universities.

DO-IT, University of Washington
Sheryl Burgstahler, Director
Michael Richardson, Program Manager
Tami Tidwell, Project Coordinator 
Scott Bellman, Project Coordinator
3737 Brooklyn Avenue NE, Suite 12
Seattle, WA 98105

For more information about DO-IT, contact 206-685-DOIT (voice/TTY) doit@u.washington.edu http://www.washington.edu/doit/

Seeking Students with Disabilities for 
AccessComputing and AccessSTEM

The Department of Computer Science and Engineering at the University of Washington and DO-IT sponsor the AccessComputing Alliance for the purpose of increasing the participation of people with disabilities in computing careers nationwide. This Alliance provides a nationwide resource to help students with disabilities pursue computing fields and computing educators and employers, professional organizations, and other stakeholders develop more inclusive programs and share effective practices. Read more about AccessComputing online at http://www.washington.edu/accesscomputing/. Join the AccessComputing team in order to learn about interships, activities, and information resources.

DO-IT's Northwest Alliance for Access to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (AccessSTEM) provides opportunities for students with disabilities in Washington, Idaho, Oregon and Alaska to locate internships and other work experiences, participate in career preparation events, develop disability disclosure and accommodation strategies, and network with mentors and business professionals. To access the online application, go to http://www.washington.edu/doit/Stem/team_app.html.
If you are interested in arranging an internship in the fields of science, technology/computing, engineering or math, please contact Tami Tidwell at 206-616-
7850 or tamitha@u.washington.edu.

About this Publication
This publication is a joint venture between DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology) and the offices that serve students with disabilities at Des Moines Area Community College. Its purpose is to inform DMACC students with disabilities about some of the many opportunities available to them. It is printed periodically. Submit content suggestions to Tami Tidwell at 206-685-3648 (voice/TTY) or tamitha@u.washington.edu.

This publication was developed with funding from the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) grant #P333A50064 and continues with funding from the National Science Foundation (NSF) coopertive agreement #CN50540615. The contents do not necessarily represent the policy of the DOE or NSF, and you should not assume their endorsement.
University of Washington
College of Engineering
Computing & Communications
College of Education