From: Sean Pierce, Interim Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs
Greetings from the Office for Student Affairs and happy New Year!
As the Spring 2025 semester is about to begin, we have a few updates to share with you regarding the Office of Special Services. During the past six weeks, Gail Reischer and Mirian Detres-Hickey both retired from Queens College after a collective 60+ years of service to our campus! We hope you will join us in celebrating them both on this achievement and wishing them well as they embark on their next chapter.
The office will be undergoing a restructuring, including staffing changes. I will be serving as the point person and day-to-day supervisor for the Office of Special Services team as we recruit and hire new staff to support our students. If you have any questions or requests, please email the office at qc.spsv@qc.cuny.edu, and one of our team members will get back to you as soon as they can.
Additionally, CUNY has sent out messaging to faculty and students that I am sharing below. Please take time to read through this information and familiarize yourself with the content so that you are aware of the new accommodations process instituted university-wide for our students.
Items of note:
- All students will register online for accommodations through CUNY Accommodate.
- Students will no longer bring letters to faculty for accommodations, rather, the letters will be generated electronically, and you will need to log into Accommodate to view them.
- CUNY is standardizing messaging about accommodations and services provided so we are all in compliance.
- All Faculty are required to share the following message on their course syllabi and/or Brightspace course description: The Office of Special Services (SPSV) is committed to supporting students with qualifying disabilities under the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) by providing reasonable accommodations to ensure equal access. If you have previously received accommodations due to a disability, believe you may have a disability, or have a temporary disability, please visit the office’s website (https://www.qc.cuny.edu/sp/) for further information on the assistance they can offer you. Accommodations are not retroactive, so you are encouraged to get registered sooner rather than later. You may also contact their office at qc.spsv@qc.cuny.edu or call 718-997-5870 during office hours for assistance as well.
The CUNY message is as follows:
We are thrilled to announce the upcoming launch of CUNY Accommodate, our new student disability management system, on January 2, 2025. This innovative platform is designed to streamline the management of student accommodations, providing a more efficient way for Faculty to receive accommodation forms, fulfill student exam requests, and retrieve completed exams.
With CUNY Accommodate, students with disabilities will have a streamlined process for requesting their accommodations, ensuring a smoother experience for everyone involved. This system integrates students, their accommodations, course schedules, Faculty, and the Office of Disability Services (ODS) into one cohesive platform, promoting an inclusive and supportive environment for all students.
We encourage you to familiarize yourself with CUNY Accommodate by exploring our self-directed instructional videos and comprehensive guides that walk you through what you need to know to use the system (Access SharePoint then enter your CUNYfirst username and password to get started). You can access these resources and the CUNY Accommodate system using the links below.
If you have any questions or require further assistance regarding CUNY Accommodate, please contact the Central Office of Disability Programs at Disability@cuny.edu.
I appreciate your support as we work together to provide a barrier-free learning experience for all our students.
Best regards,
EVC Alicia Alvaro & VC Denise Maybank
While we work through the office restructuring and the introduction of CUNY Accommodate, please feel free to contact me directly if needed at sean.pierce@qc.cuny.edu.
As always, thank you for all the work you do to support our students and ensure their success!
Sean Pierce
Interim Assistant Vice President for Student Affairs