ADA team earns Focus Award

The Instructional Material System Project team has been honored with a 2026 Special Recognition Focus Award for its sustained, systemwide work to help Purdue instructors prepare for the Department of Justice’s updated digital accessibility requirements under ADA Title II. The award recognizes the team’s focus on practical support, steady communication, and cross-campus coordination as Purdue moves toward the April 24, 2026, compliance deadline. 

Over the past academic year, the team from Indianapolis and West Lafayette, Northwest, and Fort Wayne campuses built a support ecosystem designed for busy instructors and course materials, which includes the Instructional Material ADA Readiness website, the Digital Instructional Materials – Accessibility Checklist, and ADA Title II Compliance FAQs. The team delivered a series of synchronous workshops to introduce requirements and demonstrate efficient, repeatable fixes; hosted daily drop-in help sessions where instructors could bring questions and receive real-time guidance; and developed an asynchronous ADA Title II training course to provide on-demand, step-by-step instruction for improving accessibility in documents, media, and Brightspace content. 

The project team is engaging in a digital content remediation tool RFP—working through procurement requirements, vendor engagement, and implementation planning to roll out a solution that can scale across courses and campuses.  

This work matters because accessibility is not only a legal expectation—it is a direct investment in student success. By helping instructors identify what to prioritize, how to remediate common issues, and where to get help fast, the team is reducing barriers for students who use assistive technologies and improving the learning experience for everyone. The Special Recognition Focus Award celebrates this commitment to inclusive teaching and the steady progress being made toward April 2026 readiness. Details on the award and other awardees can be found on the Current Year Focus Awards Recipients | Office for Civil Rights. 

Representatives of the Instructional Material System Project team who were present at the 2026 Focus Award ceremony are (l-R): Molly Kremer, Casey Wright, Sarah Reifel, Kevin O’Shea, Karen Neubauer, David Schwarte, Kristen Hamby, Ben Holmes, Deb Steffen, and Jenny Monarch McGuire.

Need support? Instructors are encouraged to take advantage of available workshops, drop-ins, and the self-paced training course, and to use the Instructional Material ADA Readiness resources as they update course content.  

For further questions and support at your campus, contact: 

Purdue West Lafayette and Indianapolis: Innovative Learning, InnovativeLearningTeam@purdue.edu 

Purdue Fort Wayne:  

  • For questions about this Purdue system project: Center for the Enhancement of Learning and Teaching, celt@pfw.edu 
  • For compliance questions about the regulation: Contact the Office for Civil Rights Compliance at civilrights@pfw.edu  

Purdue Northwest:  

  • For questions: Center for the Faculty Excellence, cfe@pnw.edu  

Purdue Global: Center for Teaching and Learning, askctl@purdueglobal.edu