Director, Disability Services

Title: Director, Disability Services

Number of Positions: 1

Anticipated Closing Date: June 19, 2022

Position #: 100910

Type of Appointment: Full-Time

FLSA Status: Exempt

Required Documents Needed to Upload at Time of Application:

· Resume

· Unofficial Transcripts

· Three Professional References (See below)

Reference check requirements:

· Supervisory roles: two (2) current or former supervisors and one (1) current or former direct report

· Personal references (friends, co-workers, clergy, customers, relatives) are not considered acceptable references

About Pellissippi State Community College

Pellissippi State Community College is one of 40 institutions in the Tennessee Board of Regents system. TBR is the governing board of the College System of Tennessee, offering more than 400 programs of study at the state’s 13 community colleges, 27 colleges of applied technology and the online TN eCampus. The college serves an average of 10,000 students, making it the largest community college in Tennessee by enrollment. Pellissippi State Community College offers eligible employees a comprehensive benefits package that includes health, dental, vision, life insurance, retirement programs, time off including annual and sick leave, and much more.

In 2018, Pellissippi State became a member of an Achieve the Dream (ATD) three-year cohort adopting a theme of Start Strong, Stay Strong, Finish Strong for our work. Achieve the Dream has partnered with the program Integrated Student Experience at Pellissippi State (Insteps) to improve the fall-to-fall retention rates for full-time and part-time students by 13% in the next five years. Our vision is to ensure every student who attends Pellissippi State will develop a sense of belonging and confidence in their ability to succeed academically, grow intellectually, and make timely progress towards achieving their educational and vocational goals. If this is something that aligns with your values, we encourage you to apply.

Culture and Diversity

Knoxville claims a wide range of forward thinking national and international talents. The scholarly influence on the Knoxville metropolitan area bred literary greats including James Agee, Cormac McCarthy, and Nikki Giovanni. Knoxville is home to one of the largest sculptures dedicated to an African American in the country. Located in Haley Heritage Square is a 13-foot high bronze statue of author and Pulitzer Prize winner Alex Haley who chose to spend the last several years of his life in Knoxville. Renowned artists Beauford Delaney and Joseph Delaney hailed from Knoxville. Musicians Roy Acuff, Chet Atkins, the Everly Brothers, and RB Morris called Knoxville home during their careers. Women’s suffragist Lizzie Crozier French was active in the ratification of the 19^th amendment and was born and raised in Knoxville.

The lasting influence of these artists and activists leaves the Knoxville area as a welcoming area to live and work. More about the area and support groups can be found at Visit Knoxville https://www.visitknoxville.com , the Beck Cultural Exchange Center https://www.beckcenter.net , the Knoxville Urban League https://thekaul.org , Knoxville City https://knoxvilletn.gov , Knox County https://knoxcounty.org , My Knox Village http://myknoxvillage.com/business-directory/wpbdp_category/special-needsdisability-services/ , Knox Pride https://knoxpride.com/equality , Centro Hispano de East TN https://www.centrohispanotn.org , and Knoxville chamber https://www.knoxvillechamber.com

Position Summary: The overall purpose of this job is to determine eligibility for accommodations for students with disabilities and see that students with disabilities receive appropriate accommodations and equal access to the college’s programs under federal law. The person oversees all facets of the office of Disability Services including assigning work, supervising employees, managing the departmental budget and being able to fill-in for the full-time administrative personnel in the office when necessary. In addition, the employee oversees a case load of 100-150 students with disabilities, arranging and managing their accommodations, writing accommodation plans, doing intake interviews with new students and advising students for registration in classes for their first semester at the College.

Essential Functions:

30% Provide strategic direction and direct supervision and evaluation of the work of Disability Office staff (full and part-time) and management of the Disability Services office, Evaluate documentation of disabilities with regard to the college’s documentation policies, make decisions regarding the reasonableness of accommodations requested by students and assign work to full and part-time employees, manage the departmental budget; set and managing departmental goals, write required reports and policy for disability issues, develop programming and office procedures, attending administrative meetings

25% Respond to and investigate complaints and requests for assistance with accommodations and services for students with disabilities from students, parents, faculty members, Disability Office staff and other college employees; collaborate with college Executive Director of Equity and Compliance, Vice Presidents, Tennessee Board of Regents (TBR) legal staff, U.S. Department of Education Office for Civil Rights and Department of Justice personnel in responding to official complaints from those agencies that involve students with disabilities, develop and implement policies for the Disabilities Services department and other college policies that impact the College as a whole including service animals on campus, emergency procedures for students who need them and other policies as directed by the college’s upper level administration

25% In support of student success and retention, provide direct services to students in arranging accommodations and services such as alternate format requests, training in assistive technology, registration for classes, working directly with faculty members, departmental deans, and other college offices and employees regarding arranging access for students with disabilities and assisting with resolving conflicts between students with disabilities and college offices and employees.

10% Consult, advise, and train campus groups and university departments, including students, faculty and staff on policies and procedures in accordance with the Americans with Disabilities Act and Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act and reasonable academic accommodations through an interactive process.

5% Serve as the college’s liaison to local agencies on disability issues such as Vocational Rehabilitation, technology agencies, home school, private and public schools on transition to college issues for students with disabilities, other postsecondary institutions, and local public and private providers of disability documentation; serve as the college’s representative in the community when requested to participate in local events such as transition fairs, Vocational Rehabilitation events and collaborative meetings and trainings; serve as the college’s representative to TBR level meetings and trainings for disability services officers; attend professional development related to duties of this position

5% Other duties as necessary and assigned

Key Result Areas:

Resolution of complaints and problem solving of issues with accommodations and services to students before they reach the level of lawsuits or official complaints to the College, state and/or government agencies;

Provision of appropriate accommodations and services to students with disabilities in a timely manner; Successful outcome of internal audit of office and services; Successful outcome of responses to federal agencies (Office for Civil Rights) regarding complaints made by persons with disabilities

Note: The College reserves the right to change or reassign job duties, or combine positions at any time.

Job Requirements:

· Bachelor’s degree in education, special education; teaching experience and experience determining accommodations in an educational setting for persons with disabilities, training in understanding diagnoses of a wide range of disabling conditions.

· Five years of directly related experience in working with persons with a wide range of disabling conditions in an educational setting; familiarity with psycho-educational evaluations and other types of documentation and an understanding of how to determine reasonable accommodations for persons with disabilities based on documentation; an expertise in being able determine the appropriateness of documentation submitted by students with disabilities; experience supervising others

Part-time work experience is calculated at 50% credit of full-time work experience

Skills and Abilities:

Requires a broad knowledge/understanding of organizations, businesses, governmental agencies (local, state and

Complexity & Creativity:

This position requires a great deal of analytical, technical and creative thinking in order to problem solve daily issues with providing accommodations and services to a wide variety of functional limitations experienced by students with disabilities. The changing nature of technology and its effect on the right of equal access for students with various types of disabilities makes for a challenging work situation, as does the changing nature of federal case law related to providing equal access to persons with disabilities to all of the college’s programs. The person in this position must have an understanding of the college’s legal responsibility to provide equal access to all of its programs and must be able to come up with solutions to access issues in a timely manner in order to meet students’ legal rights to access to the college’s programs. In order to do this the person in this job must be able to understand the requirements of the curriculum in all college areas, must be able to creatively address the access issues in a timely manner that is effective for the student and takes into account the essential requirements of all of the classes offered by the college. The person must have a working understanding of the technology available to assist students as well as ways for students to obtain access to the technology the college uses that may not be accessible to all persons with disabilities. The person must have an understanding of how to teach persons with a wide range of disabilities and how to use that knowledge to assist faculty and others in meeting the college’s legal requirements to provide equal access for students with disabilities in its courses and other programs.

Nature of Contacts:

This position interacts with all departments within the college related to equal access to the college’s programs for persons with disabilities. This interaction occurs with the members of the President’s senior staff at Pellissippi State when this employee discusses complaints made against the college on the status of the college’s responses that involve Disability Services to Office for Civil Rights (OCR) complaints and other complaints; she updates President’s staff members on the status of her portion of writing and responding to TBR Legal staff in preparing documentation and required written responses for the college regarding requirements made of the college by OCR; she also is instrumental in planning and implementing training for staff and faculty mandated by OCR as part of Compliance Resolutions between Pellissippi State and OCR. This employee interacts directly with all of the President’s direct report staff, including Vice Presidents, Executive Directors, and the Director of Internal Audit in providing information and data regarding students with disabilities and providing expertise on issues that impact equal access to the college’s programming with regard to students with disabilities when requested by President’s direct report staff within the purview of their job responsibilities.

The interactions with the Deans, faculty and Directors in Academic Affairs is in providing information regarding the college’s responsibilities to students with disabilities, discuss and seek understanding from them regarding their responsibilities to accommodate and provide equal access and to negotiate and resolve conflicts between students and faculty regarding disability issues.

The interactions with the Student Affairs and Information Services areas are similar to those related to Academic Affairs. The employee provides information to the various offices regarding the need of students with disabilities and works to discuss and seek understanding of their roles in providing equal access to students with disabilities. While assisting students with disabilities in navigating the offices within the college it is this employee’s role to persuade and to assist in negotiating and resolving conflicts related to students with disabilities issues in receiving services and working with the college’s technology. Within the areas of College Advancement and the Foundation the employee works with grant writing staff; in the area of Marketing and Communications the employee works with staff in developing publications and web authoring for the Disability Services web page as well as consulting with staff on equal access to the college’s catalog and other communications for students with disabilities; the employee is a member of the Access & Diversity committee in this division and works with that office in developing programs and grant requests for persons with disabilities; the employee works closely with the office of Human Resources and provides technical assistance to the ADA Coordinator on disability issues and complaint investigations related to students with disabilities and complaints of discrimination. The employee interacts with the Business and Community Services in arranging for equal access to programs provided by that office to the public and providing technical advice regarding equal access to the college’s programs when requested.

The employee interacts on a regular basis with persons outside of the college in the areas of serving as contact person for the Tennessee Department of Vocational Rehabilitation, private and public providers of educational documentation in the form of public and private school counselors, school psychologists; licensed mental health providers in public and private practice who provide documentation of disabilities for students, i.e. clinical psychologists, licensed professional counselors, Licensed Clinical Social Workers, Masters in Social Work practitioners; licensed medical health providers such as M.D.s, Physician’s Assistants, Nurse Practitioners, and others. The employee is also in contact with teachers, principals, parents of students with disabilities, representatives from local school districts and high schools, contacts from Tennessee Career Centers, Directors of Home School programs, lawyers’ offices with respect to requests for documentation of students’ disabilities, and the Social Security Administration in requests for information on students’ disabilities. This person is also contacted by various vendors of technology for persons with disabilities.

Leadership: This position supervises 3 Coordinators, one technology specialist, one information processing specialist

Physical Demands: There are few physical demands required of the job aside from normal necessities of remaining stationary, moving throughout the office and buildings, traveling and lifting/moving objects in an office job.

Hazards: This is very little possibility for injury or illness occurring as part of the job requirements (other than any type of accident or illness that would affect any college employee working primarily in an office or classroom environment).

Full-time Employment Benefits:

• Insurance Options Health, dental, vision, life, short/long-term disability, FSA/HSA Wellness Incentive Program, if enrolled in health plan

• Educational Assistance Fee Waiver Spouse/Dependent discounts Audit/Non-Credit Reimbursement Program

• Employee Assistance Program

• Retirement options Tennessee traditional pension plan option (TCRS) 401k with $50 company match/457/403b

• Employee Discount program with over 900+companies

• 13 Paid Holidays/Year Includes paid days off the last week of December

• Sick Leave Bank

• Longevity Pay

• Many opportunities for professional development

Pay Rate: $64,580 - $81,190.00/per year. Pay will be determined based on related work experience above required. To be considered in determining pay, all related work experience must be listed on the application.

Special Instructions to Applicants: To be considered for a position at Pellissippi State, you must create an on-line application. Your skills, abilities, qualifications, and years of experience will be evaluated using only what is recorded on your application. Work experience that is not listed on the application will not be considered towards compensation. Please note: attaching a resume does not substitute for completion of the application form. Part-time work experience is calculated at 50% of full-time experience. Please note: to scan, upload, or attach documents, a computer and scanner are available at the Hardin Valley Campus Educational Resources Center, if needed.

Pellissippi State Community College is an EEO/AA/Title VI/Title IX/Section 504/ADA employer

If you have any problems or questions please contact Human Resources at Pellissippi State Community College’s Human Resource Office at 865-694-6607 or by email at recruiting@pstcc.edu .

If you are interested in this position, click on the link to the left to apply.

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