Thanks to an alumni donation, Penn students with disabilities will have expanded services and facilities available to them by spring 2004.
Jeffrey and Susan Weingarten recently donated $1 million to the University, enabling Penn to bring the Learning Resources Center and the Student Disabilities Services "under one roof," according to Learning Resources Center Director Myrna Cohen.
This donation will be devoted to the establishment of the Weingarten Family Program for Student Disabilities Services, which will ensure that students receive "comprehensive services in a way that is easy to navigate," Cohen added.
The Learning Resources Center and the Student Disabilities Services have been located together in Room 110 of Harnwell College House since spring 2001, but have maintained separate functions until now.
This naming gift will be used to enhance the pre-existing services that are now available to students with disabilities by allowing the offices involved to move to a more spacious location. Also, part of the money will be used to upgrade the technological equipment now in use -- including dictation programs.
She added that these new tools will be made available to all students but that they will be particularly useful to students with disabilities.
"My wife and I wanted to make sure that [this donation] would benefit the most people for the longest time," Weingarten said.
While the center provides assistance and academic support for all students, the Student Disabilities Services focuses more on students with special needs, ranging from learning disabilities to physical impediments.
Weingarten said that this decision sprung from the gratitude he feels toward Penn, where he received the education that helped him build the foundations of his career.
"Having myself benefited financially from Penn, I want to give back to the school that gave me so much and make sure other people have the same opportunity," he said.
"This is an incredibly generous gift," Cohen said. "And it is going to make possible services for Penn's very talented students with disabilities."
The decision to donate such a large sum of money to these offices came from the high regard that both the University and the Weingarten family have for diversity in the student body.
"I am very impressed with the diversity Penn has, including its learning diversity," Weingarten said. "It means a lot to me."
The decision to unite the Learning Resources Center and the Student Disabilities Services came from a recommendation that was made in the spring 2001 in a report to the president and the provost of the University. The goal was to avoid singling out disabled students by creating a separate office for them.
