[Ucrfacultyandstaff] Provost’s Spring Quarter Update: Digital Accessibility

[UCR Provost]

Dear Colleagues,


My spring quarter update focuses on digital accessibility
<https://accessibility.ucr.edu/digital-accessibility>. If you have been
monitoring your inbox, you have undoubtedly received the weekly newsletters
<https://accessibility.ucr.edu/announcements> informing us about the many
ways we can improve the accessibility of the digital content we produce.
This is not only good for our students, colleagues, and community members,
but it is also required by federal law and UC policy
<https://accessibility.ucr.edu/digital-accessibility/policies-and-guidelines>
.

Our collective work to implement these changes to our digital interaction
is a long-term project – a marathon, not a sprint. It’s important that each
of us can identify progress in our own areas of responsibility that
collectively demonstrate UCR’s institutional commitment to meeting these
new standards.

I recently received a memo from the Academic Senate UCR UC Adaptation to
Disruption (UCR-UCAD) committee asking several questions about how we are
educating the campus about the new digital accessibility requirements and
supporting faculty and staff who must do this work. I asked the Digital
Accessibility Advisory Committee
<https://accessibility.ucr.edu/digital-accessibility> to respond to these
questions. Rather than sending their responses only to UCR-UCAD, I am
sharing the questions (paraphrased) and responses with the campus for
everyone’s benefit.


   1.
*What are the key issues? *The key issues were summarized in the January
   29, 2026, campus message
   <https://accessibility.ucr.edu/announcements/2026/01/29/important-federal-and-systemwide-requirements-affecting-digital-content>
from
   Chancellor Hu and me. The federal government has established new
   requirements to ensure that digital content produced by public agencies is
   sufficiently accessible to all potential users. The UC system has responded
   by revising its digital accessibility policy. These accessibility goals
   also align with the University’s commitment to inclusivity.



Because digital content is produced and managed broadly across the
university, almost all of us at UCR will need to change our work habits.
The January 29 message
<https://accessibility.ucr.edu/announcements/2026/01/29/important-federal-and-systemwide-requirements-affecting-digital-content>
goes
into additional detail, including a section for instructors who use Canvas.



   2.
*What supportive resources are being provided, especially for
instructors? *Information,
   resources, and access to training is available on the Digital
   Accessibility website
   <https://accessibility.ucr.edu/digital-accessibility/policies-and-guidelines>.
   Everyone should review the sections titled “Does This Apply to Me?” and
   “Where Do I Start?”, which includes a link to a training module titled
   “Accessibility for Everyone.” Further down the page, under “What Do I Need
   To Do?”, resources are organized by task: for example, writing and
   formatting, audio and video, websites, and courses. Some important
   resources include:

●       SiteImprove <https://websites.ucr.edu/accessibility/siteimprove>:
helps website managers identify and resolve accessibility issues with their
webpages.

●       UDOIT <https://teaching.ucr.edu/udoit-guide>: integrated with
Canvas, helps instructors identify and resolve accessibility issues with their
Canvas courses.

●       Accessibility Guidance for Faculty
<https://teaching.ucr.edu/accessibility-guidance-faculty>: provided by
XCITE, includes links to workshops and trainings, FAQs, and other resources
for specific use cases.

●       Course remediation support <https://teaching.ucr.edu/a-team>:
funded by the Provost’s Office and provided by XCITE, this service prioritizes
upcoming courses but will be offered for an entire year.

●       UCR website archive <https://webarchive.ucr.edu/>: many UCR
websites have been archived by ITS, making it easier for site owners to
delete content instead of remediating it (with the option to retrieve it
from the archive and remediate later, if needed).

●       Slack channel
<https://ucriverside.enterprise.slack.com/archives/C0AP17UCM62>: ITS has
organized a “digital accessibility community of practice” on Slack that now
includes 90+ members to help answer questions. New members are welcome to
join.

●       Department meetings: members from the Advisory Committee have
contacted all department chairs and offered to attend faculty meetings to
provide an overview of the digital accessibility requirements and answer
questions.

●       Webmaster & content owner meetings: hosted by ITS, these recurring
sessions provide a collaborative space for organizational liaisons and
other stakeholders. Topics have included: digital accessibility strategy
and policy, performance tracking, deep dives into new tools, technical
support channels, available training, and critical program updates.



   3. *What is the timeframe for compliance? **How do I prioritize?*

You may hear that the Department of Justice earlier this week extended its
compliance deadline for regulations under the ADA (pushing it back a year
to April 26, 2027). However, public institutions like UCR are also subject
to regulation under a different law (Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act)
which has a compliance deadline of May 11, 2026. Though the timelines vary
for different aspects of federal law, UCR continues to focus on remediation
and compliance for Spring 2026 (*May 11, 2026*).



Remediation efforts should be prioritized based on these criteria:

●       Public-facing and/or high traffic content

●       Content required to access UC services (including instruction and
research)

●       Content with known users with disabilities

●       Content including critical features with known accessibility defects

●       Content provided by a third party without an accessibility standard
in the contract

●       Content undergoing material alteration



   4.
*Is there a central body that can receive and answer questions? *The Digital
   Accessibility Advisory Committee includes faculty members nominated by
   the Academic Senate, the ADA/504 Coordinator, and representatives from
   Legal Affairs, Procurement, SDRC, Disability Management, Communications,
   and XCITE. Questions may be emailed to the members of the Advisory
   Committee <https://accessibility.ucr.edu/digital-accessibility> or
   submitted to the Slack channel
   <https://ucriverside.enterprise.slack.com/archives/C0AP17UCM62>.



   5.
*How can faculty receive guidance on particularly challenging issues,
   including the use of images, graphs, and other visual materials in STEM
   fields? What if the guidance requires input from different types of
   experts? *Questions may be submitted to the Advisory Committee or the
   Slack Channel. However, UCR is just one of many universities striving to
   comply with the new regulations and best practices are still being
   developed. Questions that are specific to an academic discipline may be
   best answered by members of that discipline, such as leaders of an
   affiliated professional association.



   6.
*How are the SDRC and University Library involved? *The SDRC director is a
   member of the Digital Accessibility Advisory Committee. The Library has
   established its own accessibility team that is focusing on the Library’s
   web resources and engaging with the California Digital Library. The team
   hosted a town hall meeting and the team chair joined the Slack channel to
   help answer questions. The Library is also collaborating with SDRC, ITS,
   and XCITE to develop best practices and assisting faculty with identifying
   accessible versions of journals and other course content.



My thanks to the Advisory Committee for all their work and to everyone at
UCR for all your work to help make our campus more accessible.  If you have
not yet reviewed the resources and trainings
<https://accessibility.ucr.edu/digital-accessibility> or read the weekly
newsletters, I recommend that you review them on the announcements page of
the accessibility website <https://accessibility.ucr.edu/announcements> and
begin putting these practices to work.

Sincerely,

Liz


*Elizabeth Watkins, PhD*
*Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor*
*Professor of History*University of California, Riverside
951.827.1129 | Elizabeth.Watkins at UCR.edu
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