Clemson officials are using the study, first started in 2019, as a guide to make campus easier to traverse for people with accessibility impacts.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we have a campus that is more accessible, that is going to go a very long way in equity, diversity and inclusion of our students, faculty and staff,\u201d said Ogle, who is associate chair and professor in the Glenn Department of Civil Engineering.<\/p>\n
Todd Barnette, chief facilities officer at Clemson, said prior to the Ogle study, he had pockets of data but no single source to guide funding for accessibility upgrades.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt seemed like a good idea to do an inventory and assessment of sidewalks with their slopes and systematically start working away at it,\u201d he said. \u201cWe felt like the information would be extremely beneficial to us. We are facilities people and eager to fix things.\u201d<\/p>\n
As of late June, about $500,000 in upgrades have been made as a result of the study, Barnette said.<\/p>\n
\u2018Better for everyone\u2019<\/b><\/span><\/p>\nBarry Anderson, campus planner and landscape architect, said the study will help him identify \u201chot spots\u201d where several improvements can be made in a concentrated area. He will then come up with plans to make those areas more accessible.<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cWorking with Dr. Ogle has been a great pleasure,\u201d\u00a0 he said. \u201cAnytime that we partner with our students it is a great privilege because they bring with them a very practical perspective on how they experience campus on a daily basis.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\nIt has helped the students, too. Among them is Logan Wade, who has been measuring slopes and parking spot widths and entering the data into an app.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div>![](\"https:\/\/cecas.clemson.edu\/ideas\/wp-content\/uploads\/2021\/08\/ogle-and-team.jpg\" "\\"ogle-and-team\\"")
<\/span><\/div>Ph.D. candidates Juliann Lloyd (far left) and Sababa Islam (second from left) work with Jennifer Ogle and fellow Ph.D. student\u00a0Logan Wade (far right) behind Sikes Hall at Clemson University.<\/p>\n<\/div>
\u201cIt\u2019s exposing me to real research,\u201d he said. \u201cI just completed my first year of my Ph.D. program, and I\u2019m getting a sense of what real data collection out in the field looks like.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nSababa Islam and\u00a0Fengjiao\u00a0Zou, both Ph.D. candidates, have helped develop data-collection apps, collect data and train and manage students. They have also created a manual to guide them in the field.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cI like being involved in something that is inclusive and helpful and makes a difference,\u201d Islam said. \u201cWe are looking at campus with a whole different view.\u201d<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\nSome of the improvements are going above and beyond minimum requirements. <\/span>Channon Chambers, a Clemson building official, said that on Ogle\u2019s recommendation, the University altered some pavement grooves so the vibrations wouldn\u2019t be wrenching for military veterans.<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n\u201cWe\u2019re trying to make it better for everyone, whether you are in a wheelchair or whether you are just walking along with a friend who has a sprained ankle,\u201d he said. \u201cWe\u2019re all getting older and could use fewer trip hazards. Dr. Ogle has certainly raised awareness.\u201d\u00a0<\/span>\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n<\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/i>If we have a campus that is more accessible, that is going to go a very long way in equity, diversity and inclusion of our students, faculty and staff.<\/h2><\/div>Jennifer Ogle, Professor and Associate Chair in the Glenn Department of Civil Engineering<\/h3><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div><\/div>A surprising phone call<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\nThe path to the back of Sikes Hall started with\u2014of all things\u2014Ogle\u2019s collection of mid-century modern pottery. When she was a research engineer at the Georgia Institute of Technology in the early 2000s, Ogle had an acquaintance who would find pieces at thrift shops and estate sales and call her. She bought the pieces she liked.<\/p>\n
One day she got a call, but it had nothing to do with pottery. This time the call was from a hospital.<\/p>\n
It quickly became clear that the acquaintance’s home would need some accessibility upgrades before he could return. The acquaintance couldn\u2019t do it himself and couldn\u2019t afford to pay to have it done. She remembers thinking, \u201cI am a civil engineer. I should be able to do that.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
But she had never been exposed to accessibility requirements. Ogle did her own research, and then she and her husband rolled up their sleeves. They built a ramp, installed handholds in the shower and checked clearances.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told myself I would never, ever let a student graduate from our civil engineering program without having heard about the Americans with Disabilities Act,\u201d Ogle said.<\/p>\n
Once Ogle was exposed to the need, it was something she couldn\u2019t unsee. When she arrived at Clemson as an assistant professor, she noticed sidewalks that came to an abrupt end, or sidewalks too steep to traverse comfortably in a wheelchair.<\/p>\n
Ogle started talking with the director of the University\u2019s Student Accessibility Services about how she could help identify areas that were not accessible. Shortly after that, an accessibility task force was created, and she was asked to be a part of it.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe started with small surveys of areas we knew could use improvement and where students would need additional support,\u201d Ogle said.<\/p>\n<\/div>
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