Current Year Focus Awards Recipients

FACULTY

Dr. Naomi Gurevich

Dr. Naomi Gurevich is an Associate Professor of Communication Sciences and Disorders in the Department of Communication Sciences and Disorders at Purdue Fort Wayne. She received three separate nominations for this Focus Award – one from a fellow faculty member, one from a student, and one from an alumnus.

According to one nominator, “Dr. Gurevich is a prolific researcher whose commitment to disability accessibility has been longstanding, with outstanding contributions that are consistently recognized by clinicians using the resources she has developed.” Her research has applications for assistive technologies for people with disabilities (including making speech-activated devices more accessible), that have been game-changers for clinicians who had not had anything similar previously and who attest to the quality of their contributions to their work with patients.

Dr. Gurevich also founded the “Disability Friendly Fort Wayne” initiative, which was a multi-year project in which Dr. Gurevich took students into the community to provide education on strategies for how best to communicate with individuals who have communication disorders, later focusing on dementia and dementia caregivers in the local community. Several sessions were held throughout the community, including several at the Allen County Libraries and in commercial businesses, with one held for the managers of Costco. Dr. Gurevich led students in developing customized resources to share with these venues and later shifted her attention to making online media more accessible to people with communication disorders.

Dr. Gurevich has also demonstrated a commitment to disability accessibility through her current project: “Making media aphasia-friendly and accessible.” She initiated the project after attending an online aphasia conference through an organization called Just ASK. When care-partners reported that their loved ones with aphasia had difficulty watching the conference videos, Gurevich decided to experiment with ways to make audio and captioning more aphasia-friendly. Though her project focuses mainly on aphasia, the overall protocol can be used for many other cognitive-communication difficulties. Her nominator shared:

While there are existing resources to help people compensate for some of the communication difficulties, the specific limitations of aphasia that include processing difficulties reduce the utility of many existing resources. For example, auto-captioning videos can help those with auditory comprehension difficulties but they rely on reading comprehension which is also difficult. As is often the case, help is offered for one skill that relies on another skill that is also affected. Dr. Gurevich’s innovative project aims to make online media more accessible by developing linguistically and clinically informed edits such as reducing the speed, adding time to each captioned frame to react and control the media, and providing captions that control the amount of information presented at once but do not break up syntactic units.

In doing so, Dr. Gurevich’s project improves the ability of people with disorders to participate and engage with the media online and reduces the impact of their disability on their lives. Notably, this project is not a part of Dr. Gurevich’s main research, but what she described as a “satellite of [her] interest in language loss, and a consequence of [her] doing professional service to more directly help the community that [her] research is mean to help.”

Pitparnee Stompor

Pitparnee Stompor is a Clinical Professor of Hospitality and Tourism Management in the White Lodging School of Hospitality and Tourism Management at Purdue Northwest. Professor Stompor has been exploring innovative ways of connecting her students to material for years, going above and beyond the technical subject matter. Currently, Professor Stompor is leading a team in her HTM 291 Quantity Food Production and Service course, which prepares and serves lunches at Purdue Northwest and has become a beacon of accessibility and collaboration.
In what her nominator called a “remarkable initiative,” Professor Stompor invited individuals with disabilities from a Merrillville, Indiana organization, TradeWinds, which provides services for individuals of all abilities and special needs, to participate in a series of lunches. Professor Stompor has set the stage for her students to work with TradeWinds clients in gaining invaluable hands-on experience in a restaurant environment, performing tasks such as hosting, preparing for dining room guests, and bussing tables. In doing so, she has also benefitted her students by helping them develop essential skills in addressing diverse abilities and fostering an inclusive workspace. This experience has profoundly impacted the students, teaching assistants, and kitchen manager involved, promoting a culture of empathy, respect, and inclusivity.
During the early days of COVID, Professor Stompor thought outside the box to adapt a course focusing on managing PNW’s in-house restaurant for a virtual environment. In doing so, she shifted the same Quantity Food Production and Service course I described earlier from a face-to-face learning experience to a hybrid in-classroom/virtual format covering everything from bookkeeping to gauging customer needs. At the time, Professor Stompor noted, “different students learn differently.” “Some understand materials right away just from reading a textbook while others need more support. My job is to make sure all learners can understand the materials.”
From what we can see, Professor Stompor is doing that and more. In the words of her nominator, Professor Stompor has “created a model of accessibility and inclusion that aligns perfectly with Purdue University’s values” – exemplifying the spirit of the Focus Awards.
Purdue is proud to have Professor Stompor as member of the faculty and to honor Professor Stompor with a 2025 Focus Award.

STUDENT

Chorong Park

Chorong Park is a PhD candidate at Purdue with a focus on Human-Computer Interaction, disability justice, and joyful technology design. Ms. Park is being recognized for her work in developing a Tech Support Program serving disabled older adults throughout the Greater Lafayette Area. Chorong began volunteering 3 years ago at the Northend Community Center supporting older adults during its senior programming. On a weekly basis, Ms. Park spent three (or often more) hours helping older adults one-on-one with their personal devices, including providing support with applying for benefits and services when online forms were inaccessible to them.

Her nominator noted that, during those sessions, they “personally witnessed Chorong’s kindness, patience, and authentic caring for people who experience civic, social, and familial isolation as a consequence of inaccessible technologies.”

Ms. Park went on to expand her support program to 5 other centers throughout the Greater Lafayette Area, serving residents at Westminster and University Place, among others.
Even though some of the people that Chorong helps do not identify as disabled, most acknowledged conditions that would meet the level considered to be a disability under the law, and all experienced some level of inaccessibility in technology, society, and daily life.

Writing about Ms. Park’s impact on these individuals, the nominator stated, “in addition to supporting older adults in learning how accessibility features on technologies could support them, Chorong also taught them that their struggles with technology were not an inherent aspect of their aging, but a failure of technology design. Participants in Chorong’s sessions developed new self-respect and self-confidence in technology use because of her care and attention.”

Purdue is proud to have Chorong Park as a student and to honor her with a 2025 Focus Award.

STAFF

Rebecca Richardson

Rebecca Richardson is the Associate Dean for Collections and Access at Purdue University. In that role, she has consistently prioritized the needs of students in the libraries, going above and beyond to bring increased awareness about the needs of all students in our spaces.

Rebecca directed a team of library staff to conduct an audit of library physical spaces, which led to updates and fixes for various physical facilities issues. Recently, she has focused on adapting spaces for neurodiversity and the needs of students who require and/or would benefit from spaces that better meet their study and learning needs. She is consistently looking for ways to make library spaces more accessible. A donor recently expressed a potential willingness to support creating a space or spaces available for students with neurodiverse accessibility issues. Not only did Rebecca embrace this idea, but she also is moving forward with those projects even without confirmed donor support.

Rebecca was described as a “terrific role model for library staff in this area, always looking for ways to meet students where they are, to meet their needs, and whenever possible to make it seamless and comfortable for those with these needs.”

Purdue is proud to have Rebecca Richardson as a staff member and to honor her with a 2025 Focus Award.

ORGANIZATION

Assistive Technology Lab

Members of the Assistive Technology Lab work with members of the University Community in creating and integrating various assistive technologies, which, in turn, promotes accessibility. Some examples of the support they provide include creating and integrating various assistive technologies, including screen readers, voice recognition software, and alternative input devices, all of which help users access digital content and perform tasks more independently. They also ensure that digital platforms and tools adhere to accessibility standards, through regular audits and updates to maintain compliance.

While it may seem like the work, they are being honored for is simply part of their “job,” those who have worked with – or benefited from the work of – the Assistive Technology Lab know that these individuals are going above and beyond the letter of their work. Earlier this year, the DRC’s braille embosser went down right before finals and the ATL helped to ensure that they were able to process all the braille materials needed so that students were not delayed in their access. This was extremely important as 2 braille readers were graduating in December and needed to get their material turned around in a very short amount of time.

The Assistive Technology Lab works closely with users to design and test technologies that meet their unique needs, ensuring that the solutions are practical and effective. They also provide essential training and support to both users and staff, offering resources and hands-on guidance.

Through continuous research and innovation, IT professionals in AT Labs strive to develop new technologies and refine existing ones, further enhancing the usability and inclusivity of assistive technologies. These efforts collectively help create a more accessible and inclusive digital environment. The Director of the Disability Resource Center, Mandie Greiwe, shared: “David and his team are frequently updating the DRC on the most recent and cutting-edge types of technology that might support students, as well as our own needs within the office as we work with students. The ATL is always willing to find out more about software and technology and be the guinea pigs on the usability of the product versus just what the product says it has with accessibility features.”

Their nominator stated that “this lab has played a vital part in assisting people on campus with all sorts of disabilities and deserves to be recognized for their dedication.” We cannot agree more!

It is our honor to recognize the Assistive Technology Lab with a 2025 Focus Award for its efforts to make our campus more inclusive.