On Campus - with CITI Program

Katy Washington serves as the Director in the Office of Disability Access at the University of North Texas. She has spent over sixteen years working with faculty and staff to facilitate an inclusive campus environment for disabled students in various educational settings to promote diversity, intersectionality, and access. Katy currently serves on the Board of Directors President-Elect for the Association on Higher Education and Disability (AHEAD). She advocates for equity, inclusion, and belongingness of all individuals across their identities. Katy believes that no one should have their experiences “othered” because they do not come from a place of privilege.

While the Americans with Disabilities Act or ADA was passed in 1990, the topic of accessibility, accommodations, and inclusion in higher education continues to be a current and necessary topic of discussion. Students with disabilities face unique barriers to access, equity, and inclusion at colleges and universities, while institutions have an obligation under Section 504 and Title II to make their programming accessible. According to a report from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), in the 2015-2016 academic year, the most recent data available, 19% of all enrolled undergraduate students reported having a disability. Currently, several resources are available to learn more about ADA, accommodations, and access in higher education, including CITI Program’s A 21st Century Approach to ADA Compliance: Equity and Access webinar.

Learn more about CITI Program: https://about.citiprogram.org/ 

Amy Gatto is interested in the relationship between health and education. Blending together her experiences as a former high school teacher, higher education health educator, and young adult health researcher, she has found a niche in working to improve adolescent and young adult mental health at Active Minds. Amy is a doctoral candidate at the University of South Florida in the College of Public Health, holds a Master of Public Health from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill and a Bachelor of Arts in Human Services from Elon University.

Student mental health remains a top priority for college and university administrators, faculty, and staff. Since prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, many administrators, faculty, and staff members have been seeking to identify ways to better support students at their institutions. A May 2022 survey by the Gallup and Lumina Foundation found that nearly three-fourths of students in a bachelor’s degree program considered taking a break from their academic studies due to emotional distress. Currently, multiple resources are available to learn more about the current state of student mental health, including CITI Program’s Understanding and Addressing Mental Health on Campus: Opportunities and Challenges in Higher Education | CITI Program webinar.

Learn more about CITI Program: https://about.citiprogram.org/

Lorna Fink, is an experienced education administrator and consultant focused on providing solutions to compliance, risk management, and equity challenges. She regularly speaks at national conferences on topics related to education compliance, risk management, business process optimization, policy development, and Title IX compliance, and has designed and presented workshops for ICUF, Academic Impressions, ACUPA, WACUBO, URMIA, and for the National Conference on Law and Higher Education. She holds a Juris Doctor from the University of South Carolina School of Law and a Bachelor of Arts in Political Science from Furman University.

As a consumer protection law, which aims to provide transparency around campus safety and security, the Clery Act provides students and parents with information to make informed decisions. The Clery Act provides students and parents with information ranging from how to file a report, disciplinary procedures, to crime statistics at a higher education institution. Under the Clery Act students are also able to advocate for specific rights protected by law and engage with their campus community through ongoing awareness and prevention programs.

Learn more about CITI Program: https://about.citiprogram.org/

Amber Grove, the Director of Title IX and Clery Compliance at the University of North Carolina Wilmington spoke to On Campus with CITI Program about the overlap between Title IX and the Clery Act. Amber has served in her role at University of North Carolina Wilmington since January 2016. She initially got her start in higher education in residence life at Duquesne University. In her role as resident director, Amber became involved in Title IX investigations, which transitioned her focus in the field to Title IX. She went on to serve as the Director of Student Engagement and Responsibility at Bethany College, where she oversaw conduct and served as Title IX coordinator.

To date, the Department of Education has not identified any conflicts between the Clery Act and Title IX. However, it is necessary to understand the reporting requirements for both the Clery Act and Title, with special consideration given to cases of sexual violence and concerns about both federal requirements. Points of consideration between the Clery Act and Title IX include: type of incident, geographic location, and confidentiality among other topics.

Learn more about CITI Program: https://about.citiprogram.org/ 
To learn more about our guest speaker visit: Amber Grove, Esq | CITI Program

Negar Shekarabi, Psy.D is the Coordinator of Faculty and Staff Support Services at University of California, Irvine. In her role, Negar provides oversight and oversees mental health support services for both faculty and staff. She has worked in university settings providing mental health services since 2006, including University of California, Riverside Counseling Center and most recently the University of California, Irvine Counseling Center. Negar has coordinated the CalMHSA Mental Health Services grant from 2012-2014, where her work focused on mental health training and stigma reduction efforts.

According to a recent 2021 report from Boston University’s School of Public Health, faculty members are experiencing similar mental health needs as their students. Faculty and staff members often feel a sense of responsibility to support students who are in emotional or mental distress. Even prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, student level data indicated increased levels of anxiety, depression, and suicidal thoughts.

Learn more about CITI Program: https://about.citiprogram.org/ 
To learn more about our guest speaker visit: Negar Shekarabi, PsyD | CITI Program

Title IX is a federal law that was part of the Education Amendments of 1972. While Title IX is centered around prohibiting sex-based discrimination at educational institutions that receive federal financial assistance, it has undergone many regulatory changes throughout the years. In 2020, the Trump administration made a rule change to Title IX, which brought changes to the enforcement of Title IX at higher education institutions. It is widely anticipated that the Biden-Harris administration will announce proposed rule changes to Title IX in 2022. Amber Grove discusses the importance of Title IX and what a proposed change to Title IX from the Biden-Harris administration might look like in 2022. 

Amber Grove, an adjunct faculty member and the Director of Title IX and Clery Compliance at the University of North Carolina Wilmington spoke to On Campus with CITI Program about the overlap between Title IX and the Clery Act. Amber has served in her role at University of North Carolina Wilmington since January 2016. She initially got her start in higher education in residence life at Duquesne University. In her role as resident director, Amber became involved in Title IX investigations, which transitioned her focus in the field to Title IX. She went on to serve as the Director of Student Engagement and Responsibility at Bethany College, where she oversaw conduct and served as Title IX coordinator.

Learn more about CITI Program: https://about.citiprogram.org/

Abigail Ogden leads the Clery compliance program at the University of California – Berkeley. As the first person to hold this position, she is passionate about creating a university-wide culture of cooperation that models compliance and promotes campus safety. Abigail specializes in practical applications of the Clery Act on campus with attention to policy and procedure development, data analysis, records management, and crisis communications. Additionally, she brings a decade of experience in Big Ten and Pac-12 institutions to her consulting at Two Lynchpin Road, which provides clients with services at the intersection of emergency management and the Clery Act.

The Jeanne Clery Act requires institutions to release an Annual Security Report on or before October 1st annually. An institution’s Annual Security Report, under the Clery Act, must include statistics on campus crime for the previous three years, along with information about programming to enhance campus safety. Colleges and universities in the United States must include policy statements and crime statistics for on-campus, in on-campus housing, on unobstructed public areas immediately adjacent to the campus, and on non-campus properties owned and/or controlled by the institution in their Annual Security Report.

Learn more about CITI Program: https://about.citiprogram.org/
To learn more about our guest speaker visit: Abigail Ogden, BA | CITI Program

Dr. Inika Pierre Williams, the Statewide Director of Pre-Collegiate Programs and Mentoring Initiatives with the Florida Department of Education spoke to On Campus with CITI Program about supporting nontraditional students in higher education institutions. In her role at the Florida Department of Education, Inika manages $132 million in state appropriations for programs that seek to prepare economically disadvantaged students for postsecondary education. Previously, Inika served as the Director of Pre-Collegiate Programs at Florida State University.

Nontraditional students in the United States make up a large portion of college and university students. According to a 2015 study conducted by the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), nearly 74% of students today are considered to be nontraditional students. While the definition of nontraditional students is more fluid than static, often nontraditional students include adult, first-gen, low-income learners.

Learn More about CITI Program by visiting: https://about.citiprogram.org/
To learn more about our guest speaker visit: Inika Williams, EdD, EdS, MS, BS | CITI Program

Ed Purchase, the Public Safety Operations and Clery Act Training Coordinator at the University of North Carolina system spoke to On Campus with CITI Program about campus safety and collaboration. In his role at the UNC system, Ed is primarily responsible for providing training, guidance, support, and technical assistance to the sixteen campus Clery Compliance Officers in the UNC system.

Campus safety and collaboration go hand in hand. Collaboration with different disciplines and divisions across a campus can allow for greater compliance with the Clery Act. Collaboration across an institution’s campus can take place in a variety of different forms. An important aspect of developing collaborative action across a campus is to ensure stakeholders are having the necessary conversations to make their campus safe.

Learn more about CITI Program: about.citiprogram.org
To learn more about our guest speaker visit: Ed Purchase, MPA | CITI Program

Philip A. Chan, MD, MS, an Associate Professor in the Department of Medicine and School of Public Health at Brown University and infectious diseases physician spoke to On Campus with CITI Program about COVID-19, variants, and implications for higher education institutions. Dr. Chan also serves as Consultant Medical Director for the Rhode Island Department of Health Division of Preparedness, Response, Infectious Disease and EMS (PRIDEMS).

COVID-19 is caused by a coronavirus called SARS-CoV-2. Since March 2020, more than 53 million cases have been reported in the United States alone. Throughout the course of the COVID-19 pandemic, multiple variants of concern have become the dominant strain of the virus, such as Delta and Omicron. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the Omicron variant is likely to spread more easily than the original strain of SARS-CoV-2. More data is needed on the Omicron variant to form a better understanding of how it compared to the Delta variant, vaccine protection, spread of the variant, and the severity of illness caused by the variant.

Learn more about CITI Program: https://about.citiprogram.org/
To learn more about our guest speaker visit: Philip Chan, MD, MS | CITI Program