Speaker Bios

Mary C. Aagard recently transitioned from the role of Head, Access Services to interim Head, Acquisitions and Collections at Boise State University. Mary leads the team that is responsible for ordering and managing library print and electronic resources. She is the librarian liaison to the Communication and Media Department. Her research interests include student wellness, resource accessibility, and collection development philosophies.

As owner/manager of Amoureux AT Consulting LLC, an accessibility consulting company based in Boise, Laine is able to combine her 30+ years of academic, professional and personal experiences, specific to disability, assistive technology and accessibility, with her passion for empowering and connecting people and experiences.

Laine’s customized accessibility and assistive technology trainings are based on a belief that everyone wishes to include, and engage, all members of their own potential audiences and are designed to raise awareness of the need for, and tools/strategies for creating, universally engaging digital information and environments.

Brooke graduated from Boise State in 2012 with a BA in Psychology and returned to Boise State in 2014 as an Administrative Assistant for the Dean of Students Office. In 2016, she decided to continue her education by working towards a Master in Health Science with an emphasis in Health Promotion.

Behavior Change has always piqued Brooke’s interest and helping others make healthy lifestyle changes was a driving force behind her degree choice. While obtaining a master’s, she took her first course in Design Ethnography, a term that’s synonymous with User Experience or UX. Brooke quickly realized that not only does she enjoy helping others with behavior change, she thoroughly enjoy the process of creating positive, intentional, and impactful user experiences.

Brooke took several UX courses offered by BSU and learned many techniques intended to help enhance the end-user experience. After graduating from the master’s program in the spring of 2019, she was offered her current position as a Process Improvement Analyst (PIA). As a PIA, she helps with change management at the university using many of the techniques and skills learned throughout grad school and through the UX courses.

Monica Brown is the OER Coordinator for eCampus Center. Prior to her work in online education, Monica taught and specialized in first year writing and writing center studies. She has an MA in English, Literature from Boise State University.

Ben Croft is the Learning Analyst for eCampus Center. His work focuses on education research, data science, and diversity, equity, and inclusion. Through previous experiences as a math instructor, speech and debate coach, grant writer, and program coordinator, equity and access are crucial to his pedagogy. Ben is graduating from Georgia Tech with an MS in Analytics this year.

Triston Guest, Olivia Thomas, Tyler Chapman, Chase Ford, Connor Wall, Issiac Torrero, and Jadryan McLain

We are a group of students from Boise State’s GIMM (Games, Interactive Media, and Mobile Technology) program working in collaboration with IAP on our senior capstone project. All of us come from diverse backgrounds and bring many different skill sets and specialties to the team. Post graduation, we all hope to apply our experiences in the software development field.

Tim has been working with higher education for the past 15 years helping institutions be successful with their technology investments, focused specifically on enhancing the digital experience and promoting inclusive learning environments. He has previously led web accessibility for Benedictine College and Safeco Insurance. At Blackboard, Tim is a leader in accessibility practice for the Ally solution.

Sherena Huntsman is an assistant professor at Boise State University working in the technical communication program. Her research addresses the intersection of power dynamics and ethical frameworks within rhetorical theory, disability studies, and professional and technical communication principles. As an accessibility scholar, she is particularly interested in how technical communication practices and technologies can act as avenues for inclusion via user experience, universal design, and accessible design strategies.

Pamela Kindelberger is a Library Manager at Albertsons Library, Boise State University, where she manages the Ordering, Interlibrary Loan and Gifts section in the Acquisitions and Collections Unit. During the twenty years she has worked in Academic libraries, she has seen many changes in technology and their effects on staff and workflow.

Some of these changes include transitioning Integrated library systems and Discovery platforms, implementation of ILLiad to track interlibrary loan requests and moving from photocopying articles for interlibrary loan for scanning or faxing to using digitization technology to fill requests. Through all the changes in technology she has learned how to troubleshoot system and software issues to ensure that students, staff and faculty get needed materials in a timely manner.

Mark Leeper, the DAC NW Executive Director, has dealt with depression and anxiety for most of his adult life. He formed Disability Action Center NW in 1992 from a prior disability project he worked on. He has a long career as an advocate, activist, speaker, writer, and peer counselor on the Independent Living philosophy and has extensive training in the Americans with Disabilities Act. He has overseen the BluePath project development for the past 5 years and knows this will be helpful to people with disabilities across the country.

Vicki Leeper was hired by the DAC NW Directors to do the outreach and marketing for all four offices. She uses her 10 years of marketing experience to get the word out about DAC, and BluePath. She finds making our information accessible to our consumers and the community through outreach, the website and social media very rewarding. An expert in planning and marketing events, Vicki helps promote the independent living philosophy of DAC and other related local organizations throughout Idaho.

Erin Lucas is Senior Director of Digital Accessibility at RedShelf where she ensures the suite of digital products exceeds expectations for all customers. Based in Chicago, RedShelf is helping to make education both more affordable and more effective by delivering more than a million digital titles through its end-to-end Content Delivery System.

As part of the product team, Erin supports the implementation of accessibility testing procedures, policies and remediation plans as well as an accessibility-first approach to design and development. She serves as the liaison for campus accessibility departments when they need support for their students and lives by the motto, “no student left behind!”

Prior to RedShelf, Erin spent 20+ years in the Federal Government IT sector, including the Department of Defense, coordinating Section 508 compliance and ensuring design consistency and usability for contractor-developed government software and websites. She is a current member of the International Association of Accessibility Professionals, a certified Department of Homeland Security (DHS) Trusted Tester and is currently working towards her Certified Professional in Web Accessibility (CPWA) designation.

In her spare time, Erin enjoys wildlife photography (especially shore birds and other waterfowl) and spends weekends kayaking and boating with her husband Mark and their dog Greta.

In her role as Web Accessibility Analyst, Carolyn is responsible for monitoring and remediating content published on Boise State’s public facing websites so it meets WCAG 2.0 accessibility standards. She also develops and presents professional development opportunities for Boise State employees and co-developed the state’s first professional development badge for Boise State employees to certify their web accessibility competency.

Prior to her web accessibility role, Carolyn worked in online higher education as a Student and Faculty Coordinator.  Carolyn has a Bachelor of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies, and a Bachelor of Arts in Communications. In 2016, Carolyn completed a Master of Arts in Technical Communication from Boise State.

Stacy Ray is a Senior Product Manager with VitalSource where she manages the Bookshelf native applications. With over 1.5 million titles in Higher Education, Bookshelf is the world’s #1 digital content platform.

As part of the Bookshelf product team, Stacy works closely with design, engineering and our testing partners to ensure our content and tools exceed industry accessibility standards. Prior to VitalSource, Stacy spent six years, managing the CPA Review Program for Becker Professional Education, the industry’s leading provider of CPA Exam preparation.  In her spare time, Stacy enjoys hiking, traveling and taking in a Cubs game.

Jeremy Seda is the IT Accessibility Coordinator for North Idaho College, since January of 2018. His current milestone was achievable through 16 years of evolution in accessible technology.

In 2017, Jeremy led the efforts for writing the Accessibility Policy for Big Bend Community College, filling the role of IT Accessibility Coordinator on top of his duties as the Web and Multimedia Specialist for the institution.

From 2009 to 2013, Jeremy did freelance work for the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, developing 508-compliant widgets in Adobe Flash and HTML5.

From 2002 to 2009, Jeremy worked for the American Cancer Society, first as a contractor for the Great West Division, then as the Director of Online Productions for the National Home Office in 2005.

When he breaks away from the computer, Jeremy is a proud husband and father of four, follower of Jesus, a Professor of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, angler and hunter. Jeremy likens his job to his passion in the sport of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, stating, “you are constantly problem solving and will never get to a point where you feel you have nothing more to accomplish or learn. With both my job and my passionate hobby, not making a decision is always a big decision that will usually not end well.” His current challenge is to humbly build upon the foundation that many at NIC have worked tirelessly for, creating a proactive and successful model of Universal Design in Idaho Higher Education.

Nick has worked for the Learning Technology Solutions group within the Office of Information Technology (OIT) since April 2017. Prior to joining Boise State, Nick worked at Washington State University and Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon, supporting classroom technology and distance education initiatives.

As an instructional technologist, he helps instructors to integrate various technologies into their teaching. In 2019, Nick facilitated the roll out of the Ally accessibility tool within Blackboard, meeting with departments across campus to educate them on its purpose and support them in creating accessible content.

Dianna is a co-founding board member of the Idaho Access Project. She holds a M.A. from Georgetown University in Applied Demography and a B.A. from Boise State University in Political Science. Recently, Dianna completed a 6-month training program through America Walks to strengthen her skills in creating “walkable communities” emphasizing inclusion and equity for people with disabilities.

Currently, she is leading efforts to make Boise an Aira Smart City to empower people who are blind or low vision through access to on-demand information. She serves on the Movement for Everyone, Boise Mayor McLean’s transition committee on transportation. Dianna enjoys exploring walking paths and trails with her guide dog, Teegan.

Don Winiecki, EdD, PhD is the “Professor of Ethics and Morality in Professional Practice” in the College of Engineering at Boise State University. He teaches courses in foundational values and professional ethics. Don is also certified by the U.S. Library of Congress in the transcription of literary and technical content into braille.

He is a member of the National Federation of the Blind, and the National Braille Association. Don hosts the “Ask An Expert” forum for Tactile Graphics at the National Braille Association to field questions from practitioners on how to design and produce tactile graphics for students and professionals. He is currently conducting research with the Science & Engineering Division of the National Federation of the Blind to identify organizational drivers and barriers for STEM students with blindness and low vision.