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About

Accessibility (Web) Liaisons are appointed by the Penn state administration to be the central point of contact for that budget area’s accessibility efforts. In many units, Accessibility Liaisons may need to communicate with other staff maintaining digital content in order to optimize accessibility across an entire unit’s ICT (Information and Communication Technology) presence.

Policy A.D. 69

Accessibility (Web) Liaisons are included as an official part of Penn State Policy A.D. 69. A budget area may have multiple Accessibility Liaisons, including representatives from sub groups within a budget area.

Note: Information for Accessibility Liaisons, including meeting times and agendas are communicated in the Web Liaisons group in Viva Engage. This venue is open to others interested in Web accessibility.

Duties

Accessibility Liaisons monitor and facilitate accessibility efforts for their unit’s web pages and web applications. Duties may include:

  • Accessibility Liaisons should be the central point of contact regarding accessibility for a certain unit, although they may not be in control of the actual web pages and web applications themselves.
  • Accessibility Liaisons should determine the needs of their unit including:
    • Identifying the most important elements to the unit’s ICT presence so they can be examined first.
    • Creating a plan to identify and remediate accessibility issues
    • Determining training needs for staff in the unit.
  • An Accessibility Liaison’s job includes communication to the IT professionals and other staff in charge of maintaining different elements of their ICT environment in a clear and concise way. This may include:
    • Providing training opportunities within a budget area.
    • Facilitating discussions with web site developers when accessibility issues are found.
  • Accessibility Liaisons are also the people that communicate important information about the accessibility of their unit’s digital content and applications to the IT Accessibility team (accessibility@psu.edu). This information can include:
    • the current status of the department’s web accessibility,
    • the results of audits,
    • requests for staff training, consultations and accessibility tests.

Communication Channel

Information for Accessibility Liaisons, including meeting times and agendas are communicated in the Web Liaisons group in Viva Engage (formerly Yammer). See the links below to learn more about logging into Viva Engage and setting up notifications in email, Microsoft Teams or other platforms.

Log In

Log in to Viva Engage/Yammer at engage.cloud.microsoft, yammer.psu.edu or via the Viva Engage app in Microsoft Teams. The Web Liaisons group is open, so you can search for "Web Liaisons" and join the group any time. Another Viva Engage channel is the open group PSU Accessibility.

Forward Viva Engage Messages

You can set up Viva Engage to forward messages to e-mail, daily e-mail digest and other tools.
See additional details at the Manage Viva Engage Notifications Microsoft Support article.

Accessibility Training

If you are new to accessibility, Penn State offers a variety of training opportunities including:

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Updated: March 10, 2025