Effective February 28, 2012, the Assistive Technology Services office became the Access Technology Center. This name change reflects our new philosophy of providing access to information, technology, software; and serving as a resource for faculty, staff, students, and community members with disabilities.

The Access Technology Center (ATC) staff believes that In order for the ATC office to lead a paradigm shift at MSU and beyond, it is important that ATC reflect the values we strive toward in our office name and in the language we use.  “Assistive” Technology “Services” is a medical model term.  It implies that students with disabilities need to be “Assisted” and provided “services”. This name keeps the focus on students with disabilities as the problem rather than placing the focus on environmental barriers and our goal for universal design.

“It has been a concern that having “services” in the name of the office leads to others believing that our office has a sole primary responsibility to serve those with disabilities. We want to remove this assumption and continue to promote the idea that creating inclusive learning environments is a responsibility of everyone; not just our office,” said Megan O’Rourke, Coordinator of ATC

This department was created over a decade ago to provide book conversions, classroom accommodations, and accessible work stations around campus for faculty, staff, and students with disabilities. With the advancements in technology and the availability of textbooks in accessible formats directly from book publishers, the department has been able to expand services such as workshops on universal design and hands-on experiences with assistive technology for special education students.

The Access Technology Center is located on the second floor of Meyer Library and has accessible work stations in the Bear CLAW and computer labs in Glass, Strong, and Cheek.

For more information, visit the website.