Thank you to all who participated in the FSVA and AAUP meetings on Saturday, April 8th, at the University of Mary Washington. Click here for a summary from the Faculty Senate of Virginia meeting. Here is a recording of our special session on faculty with disabilities:

FSVA and AAUP Session on Faculty with Disabilities from Anand Rao on Vimeo.

Special Session on Faculty With Disabilities (co-sponsored by the Virginia AAUP Conference)

On all our campuses we know there is an Office of Disability Services for students.  But what is there for faculty with disabilities?  This will be the main topic of our April 8 joint meeting of the Virginia AAUP Conference with the Faculty Senate of Virginia at University of Mary Washington. Join us to hear the story of Regina Root, associate professor of Spanish at William and Mary.  In 2014 Regina was diagnosed with a brain tumor; treatment required two dozen surgeries, and the case is sufficiently dramatic that a film has been made about it: Regina’s Gift can be viewed on Kanopy.com if your institution subscribes.  Regina returned to the classroom this academic year and has been leading efforts to raise awareness about the need for accommodations for faculty at W&M and throughout the Commonwealth.  She will join us to share her account of her experiences.  Also joining us will be Tim Schulte, a founding partner of Shelley, Cupp, Schulte, P.C., a law firm with offices in Richmond and Harrisonburg that represents employees in federal and state court. Tim is very familiar with Regina’s situation and with disability law in Virginia. We especially encourage faculty with disabilities to join us this spring, to come up to speed on recent developments and to bring their experience into the state-wide conversation.

Tentative Schedule

• 8:30-9am – Morning registration; coffee available
• 9am-noon – FSVA Meeting
• Noon – Lunch with AAUP
• 12:30-2:30pm – Special Session on Support for Faculty with Disabilities

Tentative Meeting Agenda

• Legislative Update from Brian Turner
• Discussion of faculty responses to the immigration executive order (http://facultysenateofvirginia.org/immigration-executive-order/)
• Planning for Virginia Higher Education Day 2018
• Updates from Members