Maureen Eke said she understands the issues diversity encompasses and is
willing to take on a new challenge to meet the needs of all CMU students.

Eke, associate vice president for institutional diversity and international
education, was appointed coordinator of the Disabilities, Adaptive Technology,
and Accommodations Steering Committee earlier this month.

“I am interested in expanding the ways we think of diversity at CMU,”
Eke said. “And part of that is helping people to realize that they can’t
talk about diversity without paying attention to disability issues.”

The coordinator’s job is to see that CMU is in compliance with American Disabilities Act requirements.

Eke said her position correlates with her new job because student disabilities are a part of the diversity concern at CMU.

“Coordinating this is a new journey,” Eke said. “It is quite different from everything else I do.”

Executive Vice President of Academic Affairs and Provost Thomas Storch
said Eke possesses the qualities needed to be successful at this job.

“Maureen has the background, the drive and the ability to oversee these responsibilities for the whole campus,” Storch said.

The steering committee is sponsoring the 2003 Campus ADA Conference entitled,
“So Each May Learn: Creating Positive Learning Environments,” Tuesday and
Wednesday.  

The committee usually meets three times a year or as needed.

Through this position, Eke said she hopes to improve the academic success of CMU students.

“Apart from making sure CMU is in compliance with ADA regulation, I hope
at the end of the day, that we can begin to talk about how people’s disabilities,
visible and invisible ones, affect their learning experience and success
as students or employees of CMU,” Eke said.

Storch said he has confidence Eke will accomplish the responsibilities of her newly acquired position.

“I believe under her guidance, we will be able to address the broad area of diversity on our campus,” Storch said.

But with the click of the mouse at CMU, students can receive assistance
from the Charles V. Park Library through an online service called “chat reference.”

Students can interact with a reference librarian through the library’s
“Ask a Librarian” page, www.lib.cmich.edu/forms/libref.htm, which is available
from 3 to 8 p.m. Monday through Thursday.

“This service allows patrons to receive help from reference librarians
without having to visit the library,” said Michael Lorenzen, head of reference
services.

“Ask a Librarian” allows real chat time with a librarian. Through these
chats the librarian and students can browse Web sites together.

“(It is) a way to get advice on how to get started with research,” Lorenzen said.

Librarians can help students through their searches.

“We can browse together (and) show them while we explain it,” said Krista Graham, reference librarian.

Graham said she sees many advantages to this service.

“(The) main benefit is students get answers right away,” Graham said.

She said it helps direct students on how to do it themselves.

The service, provided through software vendor Tutor.com, has been available at CMU for three years.

There has not been a lot of use of this service yet, but Graham said they
have started to really market it and let students know the resources available
to them.

The library provides many other services to students as well.

“This isn’t replacing any of our other services … it’s just another option,” Graham said.

Another service students can take advantage of is e-mailing the library at libref@cmich.edu.

Questions are normally responded to within 24 hours during the week. On weekends, there may not be a response until Monday.

Students can also call for assistance or ask for help in person.