Equal Opportunity Forum Recap
"When you know better, do better." - Maya Angelou
The Office of Equal Opportunity (OEO) hosted an informative and impactful Equal Opportunity Forum on Nov. 18. The attendees experienced a combination of presentations, interactive workshops and panel discussions throughout the day. This helps OEO fulfill a key element of our mission — education and awareness of equal opportunity principles.
It also firmly aligns with Goal 4 of Wolfpack 2030: Powering the Extraordinary, NC State’s strategic plan: “Champion a culture of equality, belonging and well-being in all we do.” The Equal Opportunity Forum aimed to promote awareness of resources and tools related to equal opportunity and provide practical skills that will help the campus community meet compliance requirements related to understanding accommodations, preventing discrimination and harassment, and implementing digital accessibility. The event’s goal to provide applicable skills proved successful according to numerous attendees who remarked that they would be implementing various resources and practices highlighted at the forum, such as using digital accessibility checkers or adding alt text to images. One attendee exclaimed, “It is so easy to add alt-text! I always thought it was super technical!”
To kick off the event, lightning presentations were shared by experts from across campus on the following topics:
- The Deaf* Experience at NC State – Meg Day, Associate Professor of English and Creative Writing, with a poetry reading by graduate student Sam Rush
- Cultivating a Sense of Belonging and Well-being – Jamila Simpson, Associate Dean for College Success and Well-being, College of Sciences
- Data, AI and Information Access – Ray Levy, Executive Director, Data Science and AI Academy
- Mission First, People Always: Supporting a Thriving Student Service Member and Veteran Community – Nick Drake, Director, Military and Veteran Services
David Elrod, associate vice provost for Equal Opportunity, moderated an interactive panel discussion with presenters so attendees could learn from their experience. Presenters were asked to share “one thing that attendees could do to make a difference on campus,” which provided insights such as considering ways to better include our veteran and military-affiliated campus members and to proactively identify the challenges that exist for campus members with a disability, which would in turn make campus more accessible for all. One example that could help anyone seeking accommodations or assistance came from Drake, who said, “When students come here and you are their first entry point…that affects their overall experience here at the university. If you are the first point of contact, just listen to what have to say. It’s always us having a conversation to understand and unpack their experience.” He went on to say that by listening to and deciphering their needs, it’s possible to get them exactly where they need to go instead of being bounced around campus, not knowing if they got a warm hand-off or if their needs were met. Simpson agreed, saying, “I think a smoother way to connect people without them feeling like they are getting passed around would be wonderful.”
Attendees were also provided with policy updates and a briefing on NC State’s institutional mission from Vice Provost Sheri Schwab, who shared that equal opportunity is not a bureaucratic hurdle, but an essential framework for a thriving, high-performing university like NC State. In her remarks, Schwab stressed that, “Equal opportunity and civil rights laws are more than legal frameworks to us. They are the guiding principles of our daily work. They shape how we build access, how we design fairness and justice, and how we extend opportunity—every day, in every corner of our organization.” In upholding the procedures and mandates of the ADA, Title IX, and so much more, our work today is helping to shape a better, more equitable tomorrow.
The EO Forum’s highlight was the keynote presentation, “Demystifying Digital Access: Small changes that make a big impact” presented by nationally-renowned speaker, Ann Knettler, vice president of consulting at GrackleDocs. GrackleDocs makes a tool for Google that can be used to check digital accessibility on documents, slides and more, and is available free of charge at NC State. (Want to know how? From a Google file: Extensions → add-ons, then type “Grackle” in the search bar and install the GrackleDocs add-on.)
Knettler defined digital accessibility as “the practice of removing barriers that prevent interaction with or access to websites, digital tools and technologies for people with disabilities.” These are barriers that have likely been in place for decades that many without disabilities simply didn’t know existed.
Knettler suggested that digital accessibility is a marathon, not a sprint, and we can all learn and take these steps together. She shared that about 20% of the U.S. population, or one in five people, identifies as having a disability. The vast majority of disabilities are invisible, and many disabilities change over time. We don’t need to know what all these disabilities are — we simply need to know how to make things proactively accessible. And making things more accessible benefits us all.
Rebecca Sitton, the Office for Information Technology’s (OIT) digital accessibility coordinator, then led a hands-on workshop on digital accessibility titled, “Learn It, Audit It, Improve It,” showing attendees how to run Grackle’s accessibility checker on a Google Doc. OIT has a wealth of information, resources and training available on their digital accessibility website, including information about the ADA federal requirements related to web content accessibility (WCAG) 2.1 that go into effect on April 24, 2026.
A recording of the forum’s dynamic keynote presentation and plenary session showcasing practical applications for increasing your digital accessibility, is now available.
Attendees also participated in one of three workshops to explore a topic and gain applicable skills with expert facilitators from across campus. Workshop options included:
- Supporting Neurodivergent Learners and Leaders: Strategies for Collective Success – Jai Jackson, Assistant Vice Provost, Office of Faculty Excellence
- Fundamentals of Equal Opportunity – April Baer, Director of Investigations, and Veronica Bylund, Equal Opportunity Officer, Office of Equal Opportunity
- Strategies to Lead Yourself Well – Jameco McKenzie, Director of Multicultural Student Affairs, Charla Blumell, director of the LGBTQ Pride Center, and angela gay-audre, Director of the African American Cultural Center
Throughout the event, OEO modeled practices to increase overall accessibility by doing the following:
- Including a ramp to the stage
- Providing American Sign Language (ASL) interpreters
- Providing live captioning
- Offering large-print agendas
- Providing food and drink varieties that cover various dietary restrictions
- Identifying nearby restrooms, exits and lactation spaces
- Displaying business cards with large print and/or braille
- Providing reserved seating for deaf/hard of hearing/deafblind individuals
- Arranging widely spaced tables with reduced seating at each table
- Including accessibility/accommodations statements on the event registration form
If you missed the EO Forum, or if you are interested in more events and resources from the Office of Equal Opportunity and its partners, subscribe to our newsletter and check out the links below!
Thank you to all our vendors for handling the many moving parts of the day: Rave! Catering, Talley Student Union, WolfBytes, The CART Connection and 321 Coffee. Special thanks to all our speakers, volunteers, staff and attendees for helping to make the event a success!
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