In a continuing effort to improve Texas Tech's College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources' Online Education Support Program, officials today (Feb. 12) announced the creation of a new Accessibility Compliance Team. The three graduate students come from two of the college's departments, the Department of Agricultural Education & Communications and the Department of Plant & Soil Science.

"We are fortunate that the CASNR leadership is continually advancing in the support of accessibility compliance, and has recently created the CASNR Accessibility Compliance Team (ACTeam)," said Karissa Greathouse, CASNR's Distance Education Instructional Technologist. "The team's primary goals are to assist our faculty as they develop accessible course materials and ensure that their Blackboard courses utilize universal design principles."

The services offered by the team will include proofing and correcting the caption files for lecture videos, and ensuring that the syllabus, course schedule, and lecture PowerPoints are accessible. Team members are also available to demonstrate to faculty how they can use accessibility best practices when developing new course materials.

The graduate students who have joined CASNR's Accessibility Compliance Team are:

• Eduardo Escamilla of Spur, Texas. Escamilla received his bachelor's degree in in Plant and Soil Science from Texas Tech (2017), and is currently pursuing a master's degree in Plant and Soil Science with a specialization in soil science. He is particularly interested in soil properties and processes that control soil and water management within the soil-plant-atmosphere system.
• Adrian Smith of Lubbock, Texas. Smith received her bachelor's degree in Agricultural Communications with a double minor in Animal Science and Natural Resource Management from Texas Tech (2017), and is currently pursuing a master's degree in Agricultural Communications at Tech. In addition to her academic pursuits and employment at Texas Tech, she is a freelance photographer.
• Victoria Xiong of Guangzhou, China. Yedan (Victoria) Xiong is pursuing a forage agronomy doctorate degree in Tech's Department of Plant and Soil Science. Her research focuses on growth models of an introduced forage grass with limited resources input. In addition, her interests include promoting sustainable pasture and rangeland management nationwide and globally. Guangzhou is a port city 75 miles northwest of Hong Kong.

CONTACT: Karissa Greathouse, Distance Education Instructional Technologist, College of Agricultural Sciences and Natural Resources, Texas Tech University at (806) 834-3235 or casnr.de@ttu.edu

0212NM18 / PHOTO: (left to right) Eduardo Escamilla, Victoria Xiong, Karissa Greathouse and Adrian Smith

Editor's Note: For more information on CASNR Online Education Support, click here