Opportunities! for Washington State University Students with Disabilities March 2006 Dear Student, You are receiving this correspondence from Washington State University (WSU) Disability Resource Center (DRC) and the office of Career Services in partnership with 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 how to participate in networking opportunities, career and on campus events. On page three, there is information about Internships and Scholarships. Page four contains information about DO-IT, AccessSTEM and AccessComputing; these programs offer useful information and activities that might interest you. DRC, Career Services, and DO-IT staff sincerely wish you a successful and enjoyable college experience. Sincerely, Susan Schaeffer Director Disability Resource Center AD Annex 205 Pullman, WA 99164 Janina Robbins Career Counselor Career Services Lighty Student Services Building PO Box 641061 Pullman, WA 99164 Sheryl Burgstahler Director DO-IT 3737 Brooklyn Ave NE Seattle, WA 98105 To request this newsletter in an alternate format, contact Susan Schaeffer at 509-335-1566 or schaeff@wsu.edu. New Career Counselor, Emphasis: Multicultural Students and Diversity Greetings from Janina Robbins! I am a new Career Counselor, emphasis multicultural students and diversity at WSU Career Services. I am originally from Panama and enjoy traveling and meeting people from different backgrounds. I had the opportunity to live in the country of Greece for three and a half years and spent time in New York, New Mexico, Tacoma and Seattle. I graduated from WSU with a masters of arts in communication. My degree focused on organizational communication, which some aspects of this degree looked at organization culture, how people communicate and interact with the workplace. My thesis compared traditional workers to telecommuters/teleworkers (those who work from home or in a remote location) while utilizing technology. I compared these two groups by assessing several variables: job satisfaction, job attitude, social solidarity and social isolation. I am very interested in assisting all students, including multicultural students and diverse student organizations. Therefore, I will be working with the Office of Mulitcultural Student Services, Student Support Services Program, DR Center, DO-IT, Gender Identity/Expression and Sexual Orientation Resource Center & other underrepresented student groups by providing career related workshops, outreaches, and presentations. I will help students with identifying resources to aid in their search for a particular career or graduate school. My goal is to assist students with preparing a strategy for them to be successful in transitioning from college to the workplace or going onto graduate school. In addition, my hope is that students who are interested in finding a job actually find a career that they will enjoy early in life; or a graduate school and program that is suitable for them. In the end, those of us at Career Services will feel gratified knowing that the information and resources we provide to students will assist them in achieving a high level of satisfaction about their particular career, organization, and graduate school choice. I hope to see you at one of the workshops, outreaches or stop by Career Services for our assistance. You may contact me directly, if you have any career or graduate school questions at 509-335-9549 or jrobbins@wsu. Assistive Technology Assistive technology is often very helpful academically. At WSU, assistive technology is provided on a personal basis. Please contact the Disability Resource Center at 509-335-1566 V/TTY to discuss possible solutions. Disability Awareness Association Please call 509-335-7730 for information on Disability Awareness Association meetings. On-Campus Career Events The following events are open to all students. Consult www.careers.wsu.edu for more upcoming events. Career Services Open House Lightly 180 Monday to Friday Drop-In hours from 2-4PM Job Search Strategies CUE Building, Room 512 Wednesday, March 29, 2006 4:00-5:00 PM Successful Interviewing CUE Building, Room 512 Thursday, April 6, 2006 4:00-5:00PM Engineering Open House Thursday April 20-21, 2005 For information contact: Janice Davidson 509-335-0348 janiceD@wsu.edu 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 Òjob seekersÓ and Òpost resume,Ó 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. MIUSAÕs 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 Out¥standing 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/. 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 LaborÕs 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 network¥ing through BLN, visit http://www.usbln.com/network/wa.html. 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 two- or four-year colleges or universities. DO-IT, University of Washington Sheryl Burgstahler, Director Michael Richardson, Program Manager Tami Tidwell, 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 AccessSTEM and AccessComputing DO-ITÕs 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. Join the AccessComputing team in order to learn about internships, activities, and information resources. 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/. If you are interested in arranging an internship in the fields of science, technology/computing, engineering or math, please contact Tami Tidwell at 206-685-3648 (voice/TTY) 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 on all three UW campuses. Its purpose is to inform UW 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) cooperative agreement #HRD-0227995. 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