Augustana College welcomed the new coordinator of accessibility services Rachael Souhrada on March 24. Souhrada fills the position of the former Jason Stalides, who left the college on Feb. 25.
Stalides previously served as both the coordinator of accessibility services and the director of TRIO student support services, splitting his time between the two roles. However, Souhrada will only serve as coordinator, allowing her to fulfill the role full-time.
Associate Vice President of Retention and Student Success Kristin Douglas said having a full-time faculty member in the position will improve the availability of services provided by the Office of Disability Services (ODS). During the hiring process, Douglas served as the Interim Director of accessibility services.
“We don’t want it to be transactional; to have a student request accommodations, receive an accommodation letter and then not ever have another interaction with the office,” Douglas said. “The hope is that there will be additional time that Rachael can actually make connections with the students who are working with her.”
Before coming to Augustana, Souhrada worked at Eastern Iowa Community College in Records and Registration. Souhrada has an Advanced Certificate in disability services for higher education from the City University of New York (CUNY) and said she is also currently pursuing a master’s degree in disability services in higher education at CUNY.
Souhrada is also a second generation American Sign Language interpreter and said she has lots of experience working with the deaf community. She said she first applied in December and went through two rounds of interviews before she was offered the position in February.
“It doesn’t take long when you’re talking with her to realize that disability services is her passion, and she wants to do everything that she can to help students at Augustana be successful,” Douglas said. “She notices things right away that might be some kind of impairment for someone.”
Throughout the hiring process, Souhrada met with many members of the Augustana community, including Civil Rights Director and Title IX Coordinator Steve Wehling and Assistant Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders Catherine Webb. She said she also had lunch with a student who works with the ODS.
Wehling said he was invited to participate in a stakeholder interview with Souhrada and one other candidate for the position. He said he was very impressed with Souhrada’s expertise and that students and faculty should feel encouraged by her selection.
“I think that students and departments that are interested in learning more should invite Rachael to present about her work to their groups,” Wehling said. “I also think Rachael is excited to learn about any opportunities to improve the environment around disability services, so the community should feel free to share their thoughts with her around the process for supporting students with disabilities.”
As Coordinator of Accessibility Services, Souhrada said one of her primary responsibilities would be to work with students and faculty to implement accommodations. She said she is also hoping to develop trainings and workshops for students and faculty to help them better understand accommodations.
“Accommodations don’t lower the academic standards at all,” Souhrada said. “They just reduce the barriers that students with disabilities face, and so my role is to facilitate that.”
Souhrada said that coming from a small historic liberal arts college prepared her for being able to identify accessibility problems on Augustana’s campus, as Augustana’s historic nature and unique geography create some challenges for students with physical disabilities. She said she approaches accessibility issues using the social model of disability, which emphasizes the ways in which a person’s environment creates disabling conditions.
“My main goal really is to bring more disability visibility and awareness to the campus,” Souhrada said. “I’ve been told, and I have noticed, that it is something that Augustana struggles with.”