Director, EDR

University of Wisconsin Madison • Madison, WI

6d • Hybrid

About The Position

The Employee Disability Resources (EDR) Office, housed within the Office of Human Resources, serves as the university wide resource for employee and job applicant workplace accommodation processes. EDR provides guidance, consultation, education, and referral services to support access and inclusion in compliance with employment-related federal and state reasonable accommodation laws, including the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA- Title I), Rehabilitation Act, Wisconsin Fair Employment Act, and Pregnant Worker’s Fairness Act (PWFA). Through this work, EDR helps identify and remove barriers to employment while promoting equitable participation in the workplace. The Director is responsible for leading and advancing strategies and operational excellence related to staffing, service delivery, compliance, budgeting, policy interpretation, and case management frameworks. This role ensures institutional practices align with legal requirements, best practices and UW-Madison's commitment to access, equity, and inclusion. The Director leads efforts to build and maintain strategic partnerships across the university to support reasonable accommodations and multi-unit collaborations to address accessibility priorities. The EDR Director supervises the EDR team including two Disability Program Coordinator/Employee Accommodation Specialists, four Employee Accommodation Specialists and student help. This leadership role requires developing and maintaining strong partnerships with campus stakeholders to support inclusion across the institution.

Requirements

• 5 years of work experience providing case management, vocational rehabilitation, or disability services to individuals with an array of disabilities.
• 5 years of progressively responsible professional experience in one or more of the following areas: workplace accommodations, disability services, and vocational rehabilitation for individuals with an array of disabilities.
• Demonstrated success leading teams, including setting strategic direction, and developing staff.
• 5 years of professional work experience managing large scale projects relates to disability, access, and inclusion.
• 5 years of professional work experience leading or contributing to cross functional initiatives in large or complex organizations including collaboration across multiple departments, and stakeholders to build institution-wide education, awareness, process, and solutions.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate and collaborate effectively with individuals at all organizational levels, including colleagues across the organization, employees across all types of employment, executive leadership, and external partners.
• Demonstrated record as a thoughtful problem-solver, innovator, and facilitator who works collaboratively to advance accessibility
• High ethical standards, professional integrity, and commitment to confidentiality with proven success of exercising diplomacy and sound judgment in managing sensitive and confidential information.
• Bachelor’s Degree in preferred concentration in Rehabilitation Counseling, Vocational Rehabilitation, Social Work, Counseling or related field

Nice To Haves

• Experience providing workplace accommodations for employees and job applicants in higher education, consistent with applicable disability and employment laws.
• Demonstrated ability to communicate effectively in multiple languages.
• Experience providing workplace accommodations in complex employment settings with substantially different work environments across the organization and a wide spectrum of roles, including academic, research, clinical, manual labor, administrative, and operational positions.
• Master's degree in preferred concentration in Rehabilitation Counseling, Vocational Rehabilitation, Social Work, Counseling or related field

Responsibilities

• Plans, implements, and monitors disability service eligibility, advising, and delivery of accommodation services.
• Exercises supervisory authority, including hiring, transferring, suspending, promoting, managing conduct and performance, discharging, assigning, rewarding, disciplining, and/or approving hours worked of at least 2.0 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees.
• Develops and oversee the strategic planning, analysis, and expenditures of the accessibility services program budget.
• Serves as the unit liaison to internal and external stakeholder groups providing organizational information and representing the interests of the unit.
• Develops, interprets, and implements university policy in compliance with federal and state law to ensure equal access to university accessibility programs and services
• Advocates and collaborates for the full inclusion of persons with disabilities and pregnancy-related limitations in all aspects of campus life and promotes a university philosophy that adheres to universal design principles.
• Leads strategy and framework for case management and services provided by the EDR office.
• For complex disability and pregnancy‑related employment matters; consults with employees, disability representatives, managers, supervisors, and campus partners disseminating rights, responsibilities, and resources (including PWFA); and drafting and analyzing documentation to ensure compliance, demonstrate good‑faith efforts, and recommend solutions aligned with laws, policies, and best practices.
• Lead and oversees training strategy and implementation of resources, and develops, delivers and promotes training programs and materials for various stakeholder groups to disseminate accurate information and provide guidance with regards to disability services and pregnancy related accommodations.
• Lead and oversees the development and implementation of coordinated programs, initiatives, and projects that support the accommodation process and creates solutions for navigating processes, workflows, internal office projects for operational efficiencies, and institution wide projects to address access barriers and operational challenges to support access and inclusion.
• Ensures data integrity over the data created and organized through EDR services, also supervise full EDR team to ensure data management and procedures and policies are aligned with institutional responsibilities.
• Advocates and collaborates for the full inclusion of persons with disabilities in all aspects of campus life and promote a campus philosophy that adheres to universal design principles
• Plans, implements, and monitors disability service eligibility, advising, and delivery of accommodation services
• Lead and oversees the development and implementation of coordinated programs, initiatives, and projects that support the accommodation process and creates solutions for navigating processes, workflows, internal office projects for operational efficiencies, and institution wide projects to address access barriers and operational challenges to support access and inclusion.
• Ensures data integrity over the data created and organized through EDR services, also supervise full EDR team to ensure data management and procedures and policies are aligned with institutional responsibilities.
• Oversees the full case management of services provided by the EDR office.
• Consults with employees, disability representatives, managers, supervisors, and campus partners on complex disability and pregnancy‑related employment matters; disseminating rights, responsibilities, and resources (including PWFA); and drafting and analyzing documentation to ensure compliance, demonstrate good‑faith efforts, and recommend solutions aligned with laws, policies, and best practices
• Serves as the unit liaison to internal and external stakeholder groups providing organizational information and representing the interests of the unit
• Exercises supervisory authority, including hiring, transferring, suspending, promoting, managing conduct and performance, discharging, assigning, rewarding, disciplining, and/or approving hours worked of at least 2.0 full-time equivalent (FTE) employees
• Lead and oversees training strategy and implementation of resources, and develops, delivers and promotes training programs and materials for various stakeholder groups to disseminate accurate information and provide guidance with regards to disability services and pregnancy related accommodations.
• Develops, interprets, and implements university policy in compliance with federal and state law to ensure equal access to university accessibility programs and services
• Develops and oversee the strategic planning, analysis, and expenditures of the accessibility services program budget

Benefits

• generous paid time off
• competitively priced health/dental/vision/life insurance
• tax-advantaged savings accounts
• participation in the nationally recognized Wisconsin Retirement System (WRS) pension fund

What This Job Offers

• Job Type: Full-time
• Career Level: Director