For Faculty & Staff

The information presented in this section will provide guidance to faculty in working with R.C.S.D. and students with disabilities/special needs. The Resource Center for Students with Disabilities (R.C.S.D.) is committed to a reasonable approach in the identification of students with disabilities.

• The R.C.S.D. office will contact all students who have voluntarily identified themselves in writing as having a disability after the college admission process is completed.
• Faculty who are approached by students requesting accommodation directly should refer those students to the R.C.S.D. office. Instructors are not obligated to provide accommodations to students who do not provide appropriate correspondence from the R.C.S.D. documenting the need for such accommodations.
• If a student offers to provide documentation of his/her disability directly to faculty, the faculty should refer the student to the R.C.S.D. office. Faculty should NOT hold documentation of a student's disability in their personal files. The file(s) should be turned into the R.C.S.D. by the student with documentation directly.
• Faculty members who observe student difficulties that are indicative of a disability may refer that student to the R.C.S.D. office. Please remain sensitive to the situation and do not infer that you believe the student has a disability.
• Reasonable accommodations and academic modifications are determined by the R.C.S.D. office based upon the specific needs of the student as identified by the R.C.S.D. and the academic requirements of the appropriate department or program. Recommendations for accommodations cited in a psycho-educational assessment or from medical health personnel will be considered. However, the R.C.S.D. office reserves the right to prescribe/provide accommodations its professional staff determines appropriate to the disability. Degree modifications, such as a course substitution, also require approval by the appropriate academic college director and, in the case of a college requirement, the Academic Provost.

General Procedures

• The student is responsible for submitting a copy of his/her current class schedule and course syllabi from every course being taken each semester for which s/he is requesting accommodations. The student should complete, sign and submit an Accommodation Request Form for each of the accommodation(s) that will be needed. (To download the R.C.S.D. Accommodation Request Form, click here.)  The accommodations approved by the administrator will be specified on the accommodation letter provided to the student by the R.C.S.D. office and subsequently given to the student’s current instructor(s).
• The accommodation letter must be picked up from the R.C.S.D. office by the student and given to his/her appropriate faculty member(s) at the beginning of each semester or as soon as s/he becomes eligible for accommodations. The R.C.S.D. office will NOT automatically notify faculty of special-needs students enrolled in on-site courses, or the nature of these students’ needs. Special-needs students are responsible for doing so.
• The R.C.S.D. office will utilize email to notify instructors of distance education classes who have students with disabilities requiring accommodations. Instructors also will receive the student’s accommodation letter for their files.
• Once notification is received, the instructor should immediately begin facilitating the accommodations as delineated.
• The accommodation letter provided by special-needs students to their instructors is the only institutionally-recognized form of notification for academic accommodations. Faculty may make any alternative arrangements to their standard policies/procedures for special-needs students - just as they are free to make alternative arrangements with any student - above and beyond the accommodations required by the R.C.S.D. office and applicable State and Federal law. However, disability-related accommodations recognized and supported by Nevada State College can be assigned only by the Resource Center for Students with Disabilities.
• Any change in the student’s schedule (including withdrawals) must be provided to the R.C.S.D. office immediately.

Faculty Accommodation Request Concerns

Members of the college community who have concerns regarding recommended accommodations should contact the R.C.S.D. administrator rather than making their concerns known directly to the student. Faculty members may contact the R.C.S.D. office directly at 702.992.2180, or email us at NSC.RCSD@nsc.nevada.edu.