By Elaine Bonilla/se news editor
SE disabilities support services recently received an expansion to better assist students and staff.
The DSS office received a long-awaited remodel where three former office spaces were used in the expansion, said president’s assistant Mike Cinatl.
Student office assistant Katie Williams said the renovations were started in the summer and are almost finished.
“The office has always been too small, and we needed to create more space for the new staff,” Cinatl said.
The DSS office didn’t have any privacy for an office, and the documents and files were used as a wall separating parts of the DSS areas, disabilities support services coordinator Kaleb Cameron said.
“Our administrative assistant gets an office now,” Cameron said. “Before, they just used a table.”
A storage closet across the hall is now used for assisted technology equipment and software programs.
“Some of the equipment gives access to materials like closed-caption TV or to enlarge text on a document,” Cameron said.
Prior to the renovations, the equipment was spread all around the office. Now, it is all in one place, he said.
The room students previously used for testing allowed only one student to test at a time without any privacy, which was an issue for students with attention deficit, psychological and cognitive disorders. The room was still used even though it didn’t seal off sound, he said.
Now, three cubicles are in an enclosed room.
“Before, people in the office and in the halls could be heard when the students were testing,” he said. “It was just hard for them to concentrate. The new testing room is more private and less distracting.”
Cameron said the assisted technology room will be used for overflow testing and the administrative assistant’s office will double for group testing around midterms and finals when the office is the busiest.
Williams said a computer station was also created.
“Students now have a place where they can come in and use computers to work on homework and classwork,” she said.
