Mission of the International Organization
The international organization wishes to recognize academic excellence among students with disabilities on college campuses across the nation. Due to the stigma associated with disabilities, this organization also seeks to empower these students to advocate for themselves and others and serve as mentors.
Alpha Rho Chapter Goals
- As an organization, the members of Delta Alpha Pi (DAP) wish to promote three aspects in their meetings, events, and professional development:
- Sharing of knowledge and resources that enhances the value of participation in DAP to develop transferrable skills that may be pertinent in other aspects of college and future career such as leadership, event planning, teamwork, advocacy, and mentoring.
- Sharing of knowledge and resources to increase awareness of success strategies for students with disabilities.
- Sharing of knowledge and resources to discuss challenges affecting students with disabilities during college and during their transition after graduation.
- Current members commit to serve in a mentoring role for incoming members to assist them in ascertaining objectives of joining DAP and ways to achieve these objectives.
- As an external goal, members of DAP wish to develop and implement programs that create awareness among peers to reduce the stigma surrounding disabilities and generate conversations about the purpose of classroom and testing accommodations, among other objectives to enhance relationships with peers with and without disabilities.
Getting Involved with DAP
- Undergraduates with a minimum of 24 credits (3.1 GPA) and graduate students with a minimum of 18 credits (3.3 GPA) are invited at the beginning of every spring semester. There will also be an invitation to the New Member Initiation Ceremony.
- Application materials will be emailed to student’s UConn email address. Invited students are required to pay the one-time Initiation fee of $35.
Commitment
- Attend organization meetings. At these meetings, members share success strategies with each other, in addition to discussing outreach and organization events.
- Participate in informal mentoring within the organization. Current members in DAP can informally mentor new members to assist them in acclimating with the organization and achieving their specific objectives from joining DAP and are also encouraged to consider joining REACHing Peers peer mentorship program through the CSD.
- Each member is encouraged to spearhead different programming opportunities through DAP to increase awareness of students with disabilities on campuses. All members are encouraged to attend these events in support of the organization and the cause.
For more information, contact Allison Knight, Disability Service Professional at dap-csd@uconn.edu or at (860) 486-2020.