ATHENS – In early November, Athens State University’s Office of Disabilities Services of the Career Development Center is sponsoring telephone interviews with a federal recruiter for the Workforce Recruitment Program for Colleges Students with Disabilities (WRP). The WRP is a recruitment and referral program that connects public and private sector employers nationwide with highly motivated postsecondary students and recent graduates with disabilities who are eager to prove their abilities in the workplace through paid summer or permanent jobs.
WRP participation at Athens State University is OPEN to any eligible 
participant regardless of where they attend college. Athens State University and Alabama A&M University are the only approved participating colleges in North Alabama.
The WRP provides students with disabilities in all fields of study the opportunity to market their abilities to a wide variety of potential employers across the United States, sharpen their interviewing skills during a required interview with a WRP recruiter, and gain valuable skills, experience, and contacts on the job.
“I highly recommend Disability Services and the WRP program at Athens State University to any student who qualifies,” states Accounting Major Benita Sweeney. “If you are not using these services or registering for the WRP program you are quite possibly missing out on a great opportunity.”
Applicants for the program mush have a disability and be a U.S. citizen. They must be enrolled in an accredited institution of higher education on a full-time basis (unless the severity of the disability precludes the student from taking a full-time load) to seek a degree, or be enrolled in such an institution as a degree-seeking student taking less than a full-time load in the enrollment period immediately prior to graduation, or have graduated from such an institution within the past year.
The WRP is co-sponsored by the U.S. Department of Labor’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP) and the U.S. Department of Defense’s Office of Diversity Management & Equal Opportunity (ODMEO), with support from other federal agencies.
More information on the Office of Disabilities Services at Athens State can be found at http://www.athens.edu/disabilityservices. Jean Martin, WRP Coordinator at Athens State, can be reached at Jean.Martin@athens.edu.
MEDIA RELEASE/ATHENS STATE UNIVERSITY/Guy McClure, Jr.
