Advocate for accessibility retiring

After working for UTRGV and one of its legacy institutions for 30 years, Student Accessibility Services Assistant Director Steve Wilder will retire Friday from the university.

“It’s been a wonderful time, really. There’s been so much positive change. This is a beautiful campus, and we’ve had, I think, outstanding leadership to, sort of, move us forward,” Wilder said in a sit-down interview with The Rider.

Wilder decided it was the best time to retire as the university continues to make changes.

“The pace of change is picking up,” he said. “I’ve been here, as you know, for quite a few years. I think it’s time for others to take over. … And so, I just think, well, it’s time. My wife is retired, I can retire. I’m in good health, I can travel.”

Wilder joined Pan American University at Brownsville in the fall of 1987 and worked at the counseling center. He was hired on a grant to help develop a program that assisted students with disabilities transitioning from high school to college.

“That was before the ADA, before the Americans [with] Disabilities Act,” Wilder said. “So, the college had no plan, really, no organized method for helping students with disabilities get into college and get the services they needed at college. … At the same time, I was just seeing all the other students. Not so much as a counselor, so much as more like an adviser.”

After his first 14 years at the university, he was assigned to run the Disabilities Services office, which changed to Student Accessibility Services under UTRGV. Wilder’s job is to inform the campus community about accessibility services available for disabled students and provide that information to the students’ professors.

“We’re always trying to let students know that there are services available,” he said. “There are students on campus who have disabilities who, perhaps, don’t know where to turn. They need some kind of support. Maybe they need more time on tests. They need to take tests by themselves. They need to have flexibility with their attendance because of their mental health issues or health issues, period.

“When they meet with us, then we can provide a letter for their professors to let them know that these accommodations that we’re spelling out on the letter are officially sanctioned.”

Student Accessibility Services Director Tonya Paulette started working with Wilder prior to Fall 2015 in preparation for the start of UTRGV. Both share a commitment to supporting students through their offices.

Though she has only worked with Wilder for two years, Paulette knows Wilder has had a positive impact on students throughout his career, especially since they work with students on an individual basis.

“He’s probably touched a lot of students and supported a lot of students in a way that they remember him fondly. I know that, in talking with the staff at the Brownsville office, that they’ll share with me that a student that was here several years ago stopped by to, you know, say hello to him and thank him for supporting him, supporting the student through their college endeavors,” Paulette said.

Paulette felt that it was best to honor Wilder with a celebration to wish him well. Previous co-workers of Wilder from Texas Southmost College and the University of Texas at Brownsville have been invited, as well as faculty and staff from outside the department and outside of Student Life.

“We wanted to make sure that, before he leaves us for his retirement, that we had an opportunity to really honor the service and years that he’s put into serving students with UTRGV and the legacy institutions,” she said. “I don’t think it’s very common anymore to see someone who has continued in a role as he has, especially in a particular department, for, you know, that long.”

Diana Cardiel, program specialist for Student Accessibility Services, has worked with Wilder for nine years. She describes his work ethic as excellent as he strives to meet students’ needs and make them known through accessibility awareness.

“He always has been putting their needs into every decision the department makes,” Cardiel said. “Meeting with faculty was something that he enjoyed doing so he would [be] better able to educate the campus community of the access issues that our students faced.”

She said Wilder’s 30 years in higher education has left a mark within the community, as well as the message that the department and office has of striving and continuing to seek access for students with disabilities on campus.

“That in itself is his legacy,” Cardiel said.

Wilder has many fond memories from his career, including the various activities during Accessibility Awareness Week, an observance held by Student Accessibility Services that focuses on accessibility rather than disability, Wilder said.

Another fond memory of his is when the university held an American Sign Language Talent Show.

“Every year we’ve had a fair, like activities, and you can experience dyslexia and learn a bit of sign language,” Wilder said. “In the earlier years, we had an ASL talent show. It was a talent show with deaf students and interpreters, and a large audience filling up the Student Union. Very funny, entertaining, you know, just a talent show. And it was so much fun, I really enjoyed it. That was, I think, one of the highlights of my time.”

He trusts that as UTRGV continues to move forward, there will be great progress for student accessibility.

“There’s going to be a greater knowledge, awareness, among all staff, in particularly faculty, about what they can do, what can be done to help make courses more accessible so that fewer students actually need accommodations,” he said.

Wilder describes his career as a calling, and that it’s been fulfilling.

“It’s a gift to have found your calling,” he said. “When I was a student in college, I didn’t know what I was gonna do. I didn’t know what my calling was, actually, and I was already unwittingly making steps towards it ‘cause I was already starting to work, sometimes, with young people with disabilities or with mental health issues. … And it turns out that that became my career and it’s very, very fulfilling to have found that. And then to be able to work in such a supportive environment with leadership that seems to understand and wants to support you in your work.”

The department will honor Wilder at a celebration set for 2 to 4 p.m. Friday in Cortez Hall 118 in Brownsville.