About the Editor

Photo portrait of Sheryl Burgstahler

Dr. Sheryl Burgstahler directs DO-IT (Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology) at the University of Washington. DO-IT promotes the success of students with disabilities in postsecondary programs and careers. It sponsors projects that increase the use of assistive technology and promote the universal design of curriculum and instruction, facilities, computer labs, libraries, other student services, web pages, multimedia, and Internet-based distance learning programs. She directed DO-IT Prof, which created Building the Team: Faculty, Staff, and Students Working Together and DO-IT Admin, the project that created these materials. Both projects were funded by the U.S. Department of Education (grant #P333A990042 and #P333A020044, respectively). She also directs AccessCollege, which continues and expands the efforts of DO-IT Prof and DO-IT Admin to implement systemic change on postsecondary campuses (grant #P333A050064).

Dr. Burgstahler is also the director of the Alliance on Access to Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (AccessSTEM), which is funded by the National Science Foundation (cooperative agreement #HRD0227995) to increase the participation of people with disabilities in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) careers. She codirects the National Center on Accessible Information Technology in Education (AccessIT), funded by the National Institute on Rehabilitation Research of the U.S. Department of Education (grant #H133D010306), to coordinate a nationwide effort to promote the use of accessible information technology. She also codirects AccessComputing to increase the representation of people with disabilities in computing fields; this alliance is funded by the National Science Foundation.

Dr. Burgstahler has published dozens of articles and delivered presentations at national and international conferences that focus on the full inclusion of individuals with disabilities in postsecondary education, distance learning, work-based learning, and electronic communities. She is the author or coauthor of six books on using the Internet with precollege students. Dr. Burgstahler has extensive experience teaching at the precollege, community college, and university levels. She is the director of Accessible Technology Services and Outreach within Computing & Communications and an affiliate associate professor in the College of Education at the University of Washington.