<div dir="ltr"><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:12pt">Dear Colleagues,</span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span lang="EN"><br><span style="font-size:12pt">My spring quarter update focuses on </span><a href="https://accessibility.ucr.edu/digital-accessibility" target="_blank" style="color:blue;font-size:12pt"><span style="color:rgb(70,120,134)">digital accessibility</span></a><span style="font-size:12pt">. If you have been monitoring your inbox, you have undoubtedly received the </span><a href="https://accessibility.ucr.edu/announcements" target="_blank" style="color:blue;font-size:12pt"><span style="color:rgb(70,120,134)">weekly newsletters</span></a><span style="font-size:12pt"> 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 </span><a href="https://accessibility.ucr.edu/digital-accessibility/policies-and-guidelines" target="_blank" style="color:blue;font-size:12pt"><span style="color:rgb(70,120,134)">federal law and UC policy</span></a><span style="font-size:12pt">.<br><br></span><span style="font-size:12pt">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.<br><br></span><span style="font-size:12pt">I recently received a </span><span style="font-size:12pt;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial">memo from the Academic Senate UCR UC Adaptation to Disruption (UCR-UCAD) committee </span><span style="font-size:12pt">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 </span><a href="https://accessibility.ucr.edu/digital-accessibility" target="_blank" style="color:blue;font-size:12pt"><span style="color:rgb(70,120,134)">the Digital Accessibility Advisory Committee</span></a><span style="font-size:12pt"> 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.<br><br></span><span style="font-size:12pt"></span></span></p><ol start="1" type="1" style="margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:0in"><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;color:black;border-width:medium;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><b><span lang="EN">What are the key issues?<br></span></b><span lang="EN">The key issues were summarized in the </span><span lang="EN" style="color:windowtext"><a href="https://accessibility.ucr.edu/announcements/2026/01/29/important-federal-and-systemwide-requirements-affecting-digital-content" target="_blank" style="color:blue"><span style="color:rgb(70,120,134)">January 29, 2026, campus message</span></a></span><span lang="EN"> from Chancellor Hu and </span><span lang="EN" style="color:windowtext">me</span><span lang="EN">. 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. </span><span lang="EN" style="color:windowtext">These accessibility goals also align with the University’s commitment to inclusivity.</span><b><span lang="EN"></span></b></li></ol><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 0.5in;border-width:medium;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span lang="EN"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 0.5in;border-width:medium;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span lang="EN" style="color:black">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 </span><span lang="EN"><a href="https://accessibility.ucr.edu/announcements/2026/01/29/important-federal-and-systemwide-requirements-affecting-digital-content" target="_blank" style="color:blue"><span style="color:rgb(70,120,134)">January 29 message</span></a><span style="color:black"> goes into additional detail, including a section for instructors who use Canvas.</span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 0.5in;border-width:medium;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span lang="EN"> </span></p><ol start="2" type="1" style="margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:0in"><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;color:black;border-width:medium;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><b><span lang="EN">What supportive resources are being provided, especially for instructors?<br></span></b><span lang="EN">Information, resources, and access to training is available on the </span><span lang="EN" style="color:windowtext"><a href="https://accessibility.ucr.edu/digital-accessibility/policies-and-guidelines" target="_blank" style="color:blue"><span style="color:rgb(70,120,134)">Digital Accessibility website</span></a></span><span lang="EN">. 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:<b></b></span></li></ol><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 1in;border-width:medium;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Noto Sans Symbols";color:black">●<span style="font-variant:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-feature-settings:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">       </span></span><span lang="EN"><a href="https://websites.ucr.edu/accessibility/siteimprove" target="_blank" style="color:blue"><span style="color:rgb(70,120,134)">SiteImprove</span></a><span style="color:black">: helps web</span>site manager<span style="color:black">s identify and resolve accessibility issues with the</span>ir webpages<span style="color:black">.<b></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 1in;border-width:medium;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Noto Sans Symbols";color:black">●<span style="font-variant:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-feature-settings:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">       </span></span><span lang="EN"><a href="https://teaching.ucr.edu/udoit-guide" target="_blank" style="color:blue"><span style="color:rgb(70,120,134)">UDOIT</span></a><span style="color:black">: integrated with Canvas, helps instructors identify and resolve accessibility issues </span>with <span style="color:black">their Canvas courses.<b></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 1in;border-width:medium;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Noto Sans Symbols";color:black">●<span style="font-variant:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-feature-settings:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">       </span></span><span lang="EN"><a href="https://teaching.ucr.edu/accessibility-guidance-faculty" target="_blank" style="color:blue"><span style="color:rgb(70,120,134)">Accessibility Guidance for Faculty</span></a><span style="color:black">: provided by XCITE, includes links to workshops and trainings, FAQs, and other resources for specific use cases.<b></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 1in;border-width:medium;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Noto Sans Symbols";color:black">●<span style="font-variant:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-feature-settings:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">       </span></span><span lang="EN"><a href="https://teaching.ucr.edu/a-team" target="_blank" style="color:blue"><span style="color:rgb(70,120,134)">Course remediation support</span></a><span style="color:black">: funded by the Provost’s Office and provided by XCITE, this service prio</span>ritizes upcoming courses but will be offered for an entire year.<b><span style="color:black"></span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 1in;border-width:medium;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Noto Sans Symbols";color:black">●<span style="font-variant:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-feature-settings:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">       </span></span><span lang="EN"><a href="https://webarchive.ucr.edu/" target="_blank" style="color:blue"><span style="color:rgb(70,120,134)">UCR website archive</span></a><span style="color:black">: 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).<b></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 1in;border-width:medium;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Noto Sans Symbols";color:black">●<span style="font-variant:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-feature-settings:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">       </span></span><span lang="EN"><a href="https://ucriverside.enterprise.slack.com/archives/C0AP17UCM62" target="_blank" style="color:blue"><span style="color:rgb(70,120,134)">Slack channel</span></a><span style="color:black">: ITS has organized a “digital</span> <span style="color:black">accessibility</span> <span style="color:black">community</span> <span style="color:black">of</span> <span style="color:black">practice” on Slack that now includes 90+ members to help answer questions. New members are welcome to join.<b></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 1in;border-width:medium;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Noto Sans Symbols";color:black">●<span style="font-variant:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-feature-settings:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">       </span></span><span lang="EN" style="color:black">Department meetings: members from the </span><span lang="EN">Advisory <span style="color:black">Committee have contacted all department chairs and offered to attend faculty meetings to provide an overview of the digital accessibility requirements and answer questions.<b></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 1in;border-width:medium;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Noto Sans Symbols";color:black">●<span style="font-variant:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-feature-settings:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">       </span></span><span lang="EN">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.<b><span style="color:black"></span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 1in;border-width:medium;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span lang="EN"> </span></p><ol start="3" type="1" style="margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:0in"><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;color:black;border-width:medium;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><b><span lang="EN">What is the timeframe for compliance? </span></b><b><span lang="EN" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:windowtext">How do I prioritize?</span><span lang="EN"></span></b></li></ol><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 0.5in;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">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. </span><span lang="EN" style="color:black">Though the timelines vary for different aspects of federal law, UCR continues to focus on remediation and compliance for Spring 2026 (<b>May 11, 2026</b>).</span><span lang="EN" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 0.5in;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 0.5in;background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:black">Remediation efforts should be prioritized based on these criteria:</span><span lang="EN" style="color:black"><b></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 1in;border-width:medium;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Noto Sans Symbols";color:black">●<span style="font-variant:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-feature-settings:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">       </span></span><span lang="EN">P<span style="color:black">ublic-facing and/or </span>high traffic content<b><span style="color:black"></span></b></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 1in;border-width:medium;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Noto Sans Symbols";color:black">●<span style="font-variant:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-feature-settings:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">       </span></span><span lang="EN">C<span style="color:black">ontent required to access UC services (including instruction and research)<b></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 1in;border-width:medium;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Noto Sans Symbols";color:black">●<span style="font-variant:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-feature-settings:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">       </span></span><span lang="EN">Content with<span style="color:black"> known users with disabilities<b></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 1in;border-width:medium;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Noto Sans Symbols";color:black">●<span style="font-variant:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-feature-settings:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">       </span></span><span lang="EN">C<span style="color:black">ontent </span>including<span style="color:black"> critical features with known accessibility defects<b></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 1in;border-width:medium;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Noto Sans Symbols";color:black">●<span style="font-variant:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-feature-settings:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">       </span></span><span lang="EN">C<span style="color:black">ontent provided by a third party without an accessibility standard in the contract<b></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 1in;border-width:medium;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span lang="EN" style="font-family:"Noto Sans Symbols";color:black">●<span style="font-variant:normal;font-size-adjust:none;font-kerning:auto;font-feature-settings:normal;font-stretch:normal;font-size:7pt;line-height:normal;font-family:"Times New Roman"">       </span></span><span lang="EN">C<span style="color:black">ontent undergoing material alteration<b></b></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 1in;border-width:medium;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span lang="EN"> </span></p><ol start="4" type="1" style="margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:0in"><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;color:black;border-width:medium;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><b><span lang="EN">Is there a central body that can receive and answer questions?<br></span></b><span lang="EN">The </span><span lang="EN" style="color:windowtext">Digital Accessibility Advisory</span><span lang="EN"> Committee includes faculty members </span><span lang="EN" style="color:windowtext">nominated by the Academic Senate, the ADA/504 Coordinator,</span><span lang="EN"> and representatives from Legal Affairs, Procurement, SDRC, Disability Management, Communications, and XCITE. Questions may be </span><span lang="EN" style="color:windowtext">emailed </span><span lang="EN">to the </span><span lang="EN" style="color:windowtext"><a href="https://accessibility.ucr.edu/digital-accessibility" target="_blank" style="color:blue"><span style="color:rgb(17,85,204)">members of the Advisory Committee</span></a></span><span lang="EN"> or submitted to the </span><span lang="EN" style="color:windowtext"><a href="https://ucriverside.enterprise.slack.com/archives/C0AP17UCM62" target="_blank" style="color:blue"><span style="color:rgb(70,120,134)">Slack channel</span></a></span><span lang="EN">.<b></b></span></li></ol><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 0.5in;border-width:medium;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span lang="EN"> </span></p><ol start="5" type="1" style="margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:0in"><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;color:black;border-width:medium;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><b><span lang="EN">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?<br></span></b><span lang="EN" style="color:windowtext">Questions may be submitted to the Advisory Committee or the Slack Channel. However, </span><span lang="EN">UCR is just one of many universities striving to comply with the new regulations</span><span lang="EN" style="color:windowtext"> and b</span><span lang="EN">est practices are still being developed. Questions that are specific to an academic discipline may be best answered by members of that discipline</span><span lang="EN" style="color:windowtext">, such as leaders of</span><span lang="EN"> an affiliated professional association.<b></b></span></li></ol><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 0.5in;border-width:medium;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span lang="EN"> </span></p><ol start="6" type="1" style="margin-top:0in;margin-bottom:0in"><li class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in;color:black;border-width:medium;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><b><span lang="EN">How are the SDRC and University Library involved?<br></span></b><span lang="EN">The SDRC director is a member of the </span><span lang="EN" style="color:windowtext">Digital Accessibility Advisory</span><span lang="EN"> 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 </span><span lang="EN" style="color:windowtext">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.</span><b><span lang="EN"></span></b></li></ol><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 0in 0.5in;border-width:medium;border-style:none;border-color:currentcolor;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span lang="EN"> </span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0in 0in 8pt;line-height:18.4px;font-size:12pt;font-family:Aptos,sans-serif"><span lang="EN">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 <a href="https://accessibility.ucr.edu/digital-accessibility" target="_blank" style="color:blue"><span style="color:rgb(17,85,204)">resources and trainings</span></a> or read the weekly newsletters, I recommend that you review them on the <a href="https://accessibility.ucr.edu/announcements" target="_blank" style="color:blue"><span style="color:rgb(70,120,134)">announcements page of the accessibility website</span></a> and begin putting these practices to work.<br><br><span style="font-size:12pt">Sincerely,<br><br></span><span style="font-size:12pt">Liz<br><br></span><b style="font-size:12pt">Elizabeth Watkins, PhD<br></b><i style="font-size:12pt">Provost and Executive Vice Chancellor<br></i><i style="font-size:12pt">Professor of History<br></i><span style="font-size:12pt">University of California, Riverside<br></span><span lang="EN" style="font-size:12pt">951.827.1129 | <a href="mailto:Elizabeth.Watkins@UCR.edu" target="_blank" style="color:blue">Elizabeth.Watkins@UCR.edu</a> </span><span style="font-family:Arial,sans-serif;font-size:11pt"> </span><span style="font-size:12pt"></span></span></p></div><div><div dir="ltr" class="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:11pt;font-family:Arial,sans-serif;color:rgb(31,73,125)"><img border="0" width="198" height="61" src="cid:image001.png@01DB719C.EFF85DB0" class="gmail-CToWUd" style="width: 2.0625in; height: 0.6354in;"></span></p></div></div></div></div>