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DIAS Update for FACT2 Campus Reps�November 14, 2025

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Electronic and Information Technology (EIT) Accessibility

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EIT Accessibility Advisory Committee�Upcoming Activities for 2025-2026

Standards Review/Update to align with new NYS and Federal laws

Five sub-committees working on each standard
Considering each standard to re-align with new regulations and laws
Potential for update to BOT policy

Establish Working Group on Digital Tools Compliance

Building on DLE tools dashboard and OLIS VPAT repository
Working toward a Jan. 1, 2026, deadline

Establish Working Group on Campus Plans and Reporting

Re-establish plan for collecting campus accessibility plans
Build template around an EIT Accessibility maturity model

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Support to Campuses for Title II Compliance

Monthly community of practice meetings
Wide range of professional development for faculty and staff from the SUNY Center for Professional Development
SUNY Accessibility Advocates & Allies Faculty Fellows
Direct funding to support campus initiatives
Learning management system accessibility tool (Ally)
Standard language for RFPs, Procurements, and Contracts
OGC Guidance Memo and Webinars
Seeking input from campuses on additional support needs

SUNY THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK

How is SUNY planning to provide support in ongoing efforts to bring existing course materials into compliance with Title 2? (Comps)

We have known about the changes to Title II of the ADA since spring of 2024, however, SUNY has had a policy on EIT Accessibility since 2019 and there has been much work over the past few years to support campuses in this space. Compliance with Title II and SUNY’s EIT Accessibility touches almost every aspect of our campuses and is everyone’s responsibility. As faculty, this includes your course content. In the past 18 months, our efforts have ramped up to help campuses prepare for the new Title II requirements, which go into effect next April. This work is a result of the collaboration across the offices of the Provost, Student Success, and General Counsel.

There is a very active SUNY Community of Practice for EIT Accessibility where we (SUNY System) share information, campuses can bring issues forward, and campuses can share information with each other. That includes:

Monthly meetings with campus EIT Accessibility Officers
A SUNY-wide ListServ for anyone interested or engaged in EIT Accessibility or the work around Title II compliance

The SUNY Offices of the Provost and Student Success provide a wide range of professional development opportunities through the SUNY Center for Professional Development designed to support:

Campus Leaders, faculty, and staff in understanding what is required for Title II compliance
Faculty and staff to remediate existing content and develop accessible content from the start

The SUNY Accessibility Advocates & Allies Faculty Fellows are a cohort of faculty leaders and champions across 11 campuses committed to promoting and growing digital accessibility practices in and out of the classroom on their campuses. This fellowship was created to help change culture at the campus level and provide more direct support to faculty across the campus. A second cohort for up to 12 more campuses will be launched next January.

We provide direct Funding to Campuses through two sources:

Thanks to the historic investment by Governor Hochul and the Legislature in SUNY’s operating budget, we have invested $10 million per year to support State-operated campuses in increasing support for students with disabilities. When developing the allowable uses for these funds, we strategically included approved uses to support compliance with SUNY’s EIT Accessibility policy. And we invited members of the EIT community to speak to the campuses about creative ways to use the funds to support their EIT programs.
Additionally, SUNY System oversees and allocates NYSED’s Enhancing Supports and Services for Students with Disabilities for Postsecondary Success (SWDPS) grant; available to both state operated campuses and community colleges. Again, allowable uses include supporting compliance in this space.

Learning Management System Accessibility Tool (Ally)

Ally is a tool available within the Learning Management System that checks the accessibility of your course content and lets you know if it needs to be remediated in some way. It also provides alternate versions of documents so that they can be consumed by learners via assistive technologies.

Standard RFP/Contract Language

The SUNY Offices of General Counsel and Procurement along with campus EIT Accessibility Officers have worked to put in place a set of standard language outlining SUNY’s requirements for EIT Accessibility for use in developing RFPs and in executing Procurements, or Contracts for digital tools and platforms. We hope this will streamline the process for any new procurements, including tools faculty may be using in their courses.

SUNY’s Office of General Counsel provided a detailed guidance memo on the Title II changes, along with specific requirements for campuses receiving funding from Heath and Human Services and a new NYS web accessibility law. That memo was shared with campus leaders in August and followed up by two webinars in September to walk through the guidance memo, address campus questions, and share all of the support and resources available to campuses.

Through all of these efforts, we are also seeking input from campuses on where else they may need support, where additional university-wide contracts or shared service may be helpful.

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Professional Development

Deque University: System-wide access for all SUNY faculty, staff, and students

Related tool – axe Assistant (AI accessibility ally): must be logged into Deque University to access via “Support/Help” tab

Office of Civil Rights (OCR) Video Series: Digital Access in Education
Online Teaching: Technology & Educational Resources (OTTER) Institute 2025: Digital Accessibility Edition (recordings)
SUNY Inclusion Quest 2025, includes:

Digital Accessibility Challenge
Webinar Recordings

Tea for Teaching Podcast, hosted by John Kane and Rebecca Mushtare from SUNY Oswego:

Universal Design for Learning at SUNY: Access for All Webinar Series

SUNY THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK

Lauren – We have been busy at work developing and maintaining professional development in this space throughout the years…

There were many questions received about how to create an accessible document, PDF, slide decks, best practices for alternative text for images, etc. and a few of the resources you have access to that will teach you these skills are… Deque University (system has offered since 2020 at no cost to campuses); which are the Self-guided online courses in digital accessibility that you can access to learn digital accessibility skills. The link will take you to a SUNY Center for Professional development form; you need to fill out/submit the form and SUNY CPD will create an account for you. Also on their website is a link to recommended courses based on roles.

I wanted to call out that within Deque University, they have a new tool call “axe assistant” – an “AI Accessibility Ally that gives quick answers to digital accessibility questions from our AI chatbot feature that has been expertly trained on Deque University content. It's more accurate and more reliable than general-purpose AI products, and laser-focused on digital accessibility.

https://cpd.suny.edu/deque/

Additional resources include a link to the Office of Civil Rights Video Series about Digital Access. These are shorter (5 mins) videos that go over how some people with disabilities use technology, fillable forms, color contrast, etc.

https://adata.org/ocr-videos

The 2025 SUNY OTTER Institute (which is the Online Teaching: Technology & Educational Resources) focused on digital accessibility this year, so we provided you with a link to the recorded sessions.

https://cpd.suny.edu/otter/

Earlier this year, we launched the SUNY Inclusion Quest, which is co-sponsored by the SUNY Office of Student Success in partnership with the Office of the Provost and supported by the Universal Design for Learning at SUNY project, SUNY Center for Professional Development, and SUNY Online. SUNY's Inclusion Quest: Increase Your Accessibility IQ and Learn How to Remove Barriers to Your Digital Content. Check out the website to learn more about the newly released digital accessibility challenge; there are three phases of the challenge: Knowledge Building, Assessment & Review, and Remediation. More information, including webinars, will be announced regarding the challenge. Additionally, if you go on the website, you can access previous webinar recordings if you missed them. Topics related to Title II changes included: overview and framework for higher ed presentation, ensuring compliance with technology purchases/procurement, implications for campus administrators, and implications for teaching faculty.

https://web.cvent.com/event/6bfd6d63-b443-4967-8b0a-832993a79737/summary

We also wanted to highlight the Teach for Teaching podcast, hosted by John Kane and Rebecca Mushtare from SUNY Oswego. They have two recent episodes addressing Title II/discussion of the new regulations and what they mean for colleges, as well as another about how to prepare for the changes.

https://teaforteaching.com/396-title-ii/

https://teaforteaching.com/402-preparing-for-title-ii/

Lastly, the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) at SUNY program has a variety of free resources about UDL and a webinar archive with recordings of related materials. This years upcoming Access for all Webinar Series, offered through this program will focus on digital accessibility. Topics for the fall include: designing accessible course documents, Creating Clear and Inclusive Presentations, Improving Accessibility in Audio and Video, and Developing Accessible and Inclusive PDFs. The registration for these webinars are live: https://www.suny.edu/udl/access-for-all/

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NEW: Title II EIT Accessibility Grants

Timeline

Call for proposals: Week of November 10, 2025

Proposals deadline: December 15, 2025

Estimated Awards: January 16, 2026

Project report: July 15, 2026

Funding

One application per campus; up to $10,000

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Title II EIT Accessibility Grants – Allowable Uses

Support for accessibility and/or remediation of web content and digital content
Website and mobile app redesign to meet WCAG standards
Accessibility audits of digital assets
Provide members of the campus community with training, professional development, and/or related EIT accessibility programming
Accessibility training workshops or certification programs
Procurement of tools for accessibility
Captioning of high visibility videos
Extra service or also “receives compensation” for faculty and/or staff to support compliance (must follow campus HR policies and procedures)
Fringe benefits associated with personnel are allowed only for community colleges
Other relevant items that support compliance with the new Title II Requirements under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA)

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Accessibility & SUNY Library Services

VPATs/Conformance reports: SLS has updated the VPAT Repository with current VPATs and has completed reviews for all SUNYConnect Core databases. Opt-in database reviews will be completed in September, and then we will work on updating other commonly used database reviews.

OLIS/SLS Web: the team is working on consolidating and updating documentation and web pages to create a smaller pool of content to make accessible. SLS will review Basecamp accessibility and provide accessibility best practice guidelines in the coming months.

Support Campuses: SLS staff are reviewing campus webpages for accessibility and providing training and support.

SortSite Review Offer: Contact info@sunyolis.libanswers.com if you'd like us to run your local LibGuides site through our accessibility checker. We'll send you the resulting report.

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Accessibility & Online Education

SUNY Online Course Quality Review Rubric (OSCQR) - https://oscqr.suny.edu/

SUNY Online Accessible Course Content Checklist - https://online.suny.edu/onlineteaching/2025/11/03/making-course-content-accessible/

https://online.suny.edu/onlineteaching/page/accessibility/

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What should campuses be doing?

Organizing – who is your team
Inventory assets
Planning
Prioritizing – address high impact, high visibility first
Connecting across SUNY
Communicating, Communicating, Communicating
Start somewhere
Execute your plan and monitor/document progress

Let us know how we can help!

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Policy and Legal References

SUNY Electronic and Information Technology (EIT) Accessibility Policy, and linked from the policy is the:

Final Report and Recommendations of the Electronic and Information Technology (EIT) Accessibility Committee, May 2019

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Related Resources

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Open Educational Resources

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Open Educational Resources�http://oer.suny.edu

Reminders that OERs available through SUNY OER Services:

Provide affordable first day access to course materials
Align with evidence-based teaching practices for student success
Meet EIT accessibility requirements, including changes to Title II
Come with support from:

SUNY OER Services
SUNY Online Help Desk
Lumen Learning for courses in the Ready-to-Adopt catalog
Carnegie Mellon University for OLI-based courses

OER Summit October 15-16, 2025

Recordings available

SUNY THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK

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Academic Innovation Grants

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AY 2026-2027 IITG & OER Impact Grants

Focus on AI, openness, and accessibility to advance affordable, innovative, and equitable education across SUNY.
Projects may:

Use AI to enhance teaching and learning through affordable, open, and flexible instructional approaches.
Advance accessibility and equity by reducing barriers for diverse learners.
Foster collaboration and sustainability across SUNY through innovative instructional models.

Key Dates

Nov–Dec 2025: Ideation site open to share and connect on project ideas.
Jan 4 – Mar 1, 2026: Request for Proposals open.
May 2026: Awards announced.

Website with application details

SUNY THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK

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Artificial Intelligence

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D2L Lumi

Three Priorities:

Provide efficiencies for Faculty in course development/content creation

Support students in achieving learning outcomes

Provide data-driven insights to faculty and campus leaders

Rolled out in the DLE for Fall 2025 to all campuses

Practice questions
Discussion prompts
Captions
Outcomes alignment
Module creation
…and more

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Lumi Advances�AI Feature

New Lumi offerings announced at Fusion:

Student

Lumi Tutor
Lumi Study Support
Lumi Practice
Lumi Feedback (AI Grading Support)

Faculty

Lumi Outcomes
Lumi Insights

Campus Admins

Lumi Outcomes
Lumi Insights

Full set of Lumi features/functionality

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Fall 2025 AI Tutor Pilots

Goals

Help both students and faculty to gain experience/awareness/comfort with the concept of an AI Tutor and see different types of deployment models
Increase our understanding/awareness of implementation and support across different deployment models
Refine/finalize our functional and technical requirements for the SUNY-wide AI Tutor platform

Pilot Platforms

D2L Brightspace/Lumi Tutor (Multiple campuses)
Google with IBL.AI (Multiple campuses)
Google with Nerdery (UAlbany)
QuadC (currently being used at Binghamton)
CircleIn (planned for use at Cobleskill, Oneonta, Geneseo, and Rockland)
UC Berkeley Open Adaptive Tutor (Brockport)

Responsible Use of AI Guidelines

SUNY Research “AI for the Public Good” guiding principles

Send questions to AITutor@suny.edu

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AI Tutor�Next Steps

Feedback from the pilots

Students and Faculty

Update/discussion with UUP
Engagement with Faculty around risks/concerns
Return to functional and technical requirements

Pilot feedback
FACT² Guide

Planning for procurement solicitation

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AI Advising Exploration�

EAB Navigate 360 AI Assistant - Snapshot of 90 days

5,000+ students
75% outside of business Hours

43% between 6pm and 11pm
32% between midnight and 7am

Five Insights

Students want to stay on track
Struggling students don’t know what actions they can take
Advising peaks when support is least available
Specialized student groups face extra barriers
Students use AI to ask for sensitive help they may not voice elsewhere

Forming Team
Solicitation of Interest - 27 responses
Pilots in Spring 2026

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AI Advising�

For Students:

Immediate responses to basic advising questions
Stigma free help with sensitive issues
Increased access to advising personnel for more complex advising questions
Better informed academic and career decisions
Shortened time and higher rates of degree/program completion

For Campuses:

Increased retention
Increased graduation rates
Data insights for advisors and campus administrators to inform resource allocation and decisions about advising interventions

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AI Advising: Questions/Need Input�

What do you all see as the greatest opportunities to leverage AI in Advising?
What concerns/risks should we be aware of?
Are any campuses piloting the use of AI in advising? Could we tap into for lessons learned?
How should we frame pilots of AI Advising tools/platforms?
Is anyone from this group interested in joining the project team?

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SUNY General Education and Faculty Fellows

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Implementation of New General Education Requirements

December 17, 2024, BOT Update to the SUNY General Education Framework (SUNY GE).

Information Literacy (AI Competency) Effective Fall 2026
Civic Discourse Effective Fall 2026

https://system.suny.edu/academic-affairs/academic-policies/general-education/suny-ge/

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SUNY Gen Ed Faculty Fellows

The Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice (DEISJ) Fellows support faculty in updating and developing courses that fulfill the DEISJ General Education requirement and grow a community of practice around the teaching of DEISJ topics.
The Civil Discourse and Civic Education and Engagement Fellows are faculty and staff who are working to advance SUNY’s commitment to increase civic education, civil discourse, and civic awareness across the system.
The AI for the Public Good Fellows offer resources and consultations to faculty, instructional designers, and librarians who are developing or seeking to update existing courses and create other learning activities to fulfill the artificial intelligence component of the Information Literacy core competency in the General Education Framework.
The Sustainability Faculty Fellows focus on supporting faculty in the development and incorporation of sustainability in courses and curricula across a wide range of disciplines

https://system.suny.edu/academic-affairs/fellows-programs/

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AI for the Public Good Fellows

Sam Abramovich

University at Buffalo�Associate Dean of Academic Affairs,, Graduate School of Education

Lauren deLaubell

Cortland �Librarian / Information Literacy and Instruction Coordinator

Daniel Fernandez

Nassau CC�Full-time Instructor, Humanities, �Fine and Performing Arts

Jonathon Little

Monroe CC�Professor, Chemistry and Geosciences

Renu Balyan�Old Westbury�Assistant Professor, Mathematics, Computer Information and Sciences

Babette Faehmel�Schenectady County CC�Professor, Liberal Arts

Dana Gavin�Dutchess CC�Director of the Writing Center Writing

Alexis Clifton�Geneseo �Director, Teaching and Learning Center

Jing Betty Feng�Farmingdale�Professor, Business Management

Allison Hosier�University at Albany�Librarian / Head of Information Literacy

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AI for the Public Good Fellows, cont.

Michelle Malinovsky

Onondaga CC�Associate Professor / Academic �Librarian

Rachel E. Rigolino

New Paltz�Lecturer, English

Diane Shichtman

Empire State University�Associate Professor, Computer �Science and Technology

Shawna Taylor�Oneonta�Associate Professor, Elementary Education and Reading

Shayan Mirzabeigi

ESF�Assistant Professor, Sustainable �Resources Management

Steven M. Schneider

SUNY Poly�Professor, Communications and �Humanities

Johnny Stein

Jamestown CC�Associate Professor, Humanities

Vikram Pagpatan �Downstate Health Science�Associate Professor, Occupational Therapy

Shyam Sharma�Stony Brook University�Associate Professor, Writing and Rhetoric

Mohammad H. Tajvarpour�Oswego �Associate Professor, Marketing and Management

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Diversity, Equity, Inclusion, and Social Justice Fellows

Jessica Best

Adirondack CC�Professor and Diversity �Initiatives Coordinator, English

Shahin Kachwala

Oneonta

Assistant Professor, Women’s and Gender Studies

Simone Sellstrom�Jamestown CC�Academic Chair and Assistant �Professor, Communication

Leo Wilton�Binghamton University

Professor, Human Development

Jaime Hartless

Farmingdale�Assistant Professor, Sociology and Anthropology

Stephen Santa-Ramirez

University at Buffalo�Assistant Professor, Educational Leadership and Policy

Amy Shore�SUNY Oswego

Professor, Cinema & Screen Studies

Shelton K. Johnson

New Paltz�Assistant Professor, Black Studies

Danica Savonick �Cortland

Assistant Professor, English

Shameika Williams

Old Westbury�Assistant Professor, Public Health

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Civil Discourse and Civic Education and Engagement Fellows

Karen Davis Lister

Cortland�Associate Professor, Psychology

Rumiz James "R.J." Haq�University at Buffalo�Assistant Director of Civic �Engagement

Serife Ilgu Ozler

New Paltz �Professor, Political Science

Amy Werbel�Fashion Institute of Technology

Professor, History of Art

Angela Graves

Alfred State�Associate Professor, Social and �Behavioral Sciences

Ashley Liegi

Stony Brook University�Assistant Director, Student Community Development

Peter R. Sawyer

Hudson Valley CC�Professor, Education and Social �Sciences

Shikha Gupta Joseph

Nassau CC�Assistant Professor and Emerging Technologies Librarian

Angela McGowan-Kirsch

Fredonia�Associate Professor, Communication

Jennifer K. Uleman

Purchase�Associate Professor, Philosophy and Critical Thought

SUNY THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK

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Sustainability Faculty Fellows

Whitney Crutchfield

Fashion Institute of Technology�Assistant Professor, Textile �Development and Marketing

Will Hong

New Paltz �Associate Professor, Digital Media �and Journalism

Orla Smyth LoPiccolo

Farmingdale�Professor, Architecture and �Construction Management

Jean Yang

ESF�Assistant Professor, Landscape Architecture

Neyda Gilman�Binghamton University�Associate Librarian / Assistant �Head of Sustainability and STEM Engagement

Jeremy Jiménez

Cortland�Associate Professor, Foundations and Social Advocacy

Jack Tessier

Delhi�Professor, Biology

Adam Charbeneau

Stony Brook University �Lecturer, Sustainability Studies

Nick Henshue

University at Buffalo�Associate Teaching Professor / Director of Undergraduate Studies, Environment and Sustainability

Rebecca A. Pinder

Columbia-Greene CC�Associate Professor, Biological Sciences

Augusta Williams�Upstate Medical�Assistant Professor, Public Health and Preventive Medicine

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Digital Innovation and Academic Services http://innovate.suny.edu

DIAS Units
DIAS Leadership Team
Shared Services
Resources for AI in Teaching and Learning
Impact Reports
Engagement Opportunities

SUNY THE STATE UNIVERSITY OF NEW YORK