Optimist
  • News
  • Sports
  • Opinion
    • Columns
    • Editorials
    • Letters to the Editor
  • Features
    • Book Review
  • Multimedia
    • Photo Galleries
    • Videos
  • Podcasts
    • Optimist Overtime
    • Top of the Key
  • Police Log
  • Print Edition
  • Projects
  • About
    • Advertise
    • Policies
    • Staff Contacts
    • Jobs
You are here: Home / News / Mail services, Living Room to move for centralized advising

Mail services, Living Room to move for centralized advising

July 10, 2016 by Haley Remenar

The Campus Center Living Room will be eliminated and Mail Services will move to make room for an expanded Depot, which will include centralized advising offices.

University administration announced in the spring a decision to move academic advising to a centralized location. Kevin Campbell, chief enrollment officer, is directing the change because it will affect student enrollment and satisfaction.

“We think it’s a win-win for everybody,” Campbell said.

The expanded Depot will be constructed at the current location of Mail Services and the Campus Center Living Room. Because the Living Room will be eliminated, Susan Gore, executive assistant to the vice president for Student Life, will help groups who wanted to use the Living Room to find new spaces for events.

Mail Services will move to the Depot’s old location near the Bean and will no longer have individual mailboxes. Instead of checking a mailbox, students will receive an email or text notification when they have a package. They can then go to a kiosk in the mail services office and either swipe their ID card or enter their ID number and a student worker will hand them their package over a large counter.

Although the size of the mail office will decrease, the number of student workers will remain about the same, Campbell said. Students who live on campus will pay a mail services fee included in their housing bill. Students who live off-campus will have the option to purchase mail services.

“This enables them to have their packages stored and secured in a location and they are notified when the package gets here,” Campbell said.

The new advising staff will start working Thursday, July 14. They will begin official advising August 15 in a temporary office in the Graduate Commons on the second floor of the library. During construction of the new mail office, student services in the Depot will temporarily move to the President’s Dining Room located in the Campus Center to the left of the Bean entrance.

When construction on the new mailroom is complete, Mail Services will move and construction on the expanded Depot and advising offices will begin. Campbell said the goal is to complete the construction by mid-October in time for class registration.

A team of faculty and staff visited other universities, including Southern Methodist University, that use a centralized advising system. Campbell said schools that use this system saw higher student satisfaction, graduation rates and rates of students graduating on time. After discussing the idea with current advisors, faculty, staff and some students, Campbell and his team chose to make the Office of Advising part of the Depot so students can get financial aid, academic advising, student IDs and other services in one place.

“We want to provide the best possible service that we can and in a centralized approach we’ll be able to manage that hopefully in a way that we haven’t in the past,” Campbell said.

Half of the centralized advising staff includes new advisors while half includes returning advisors from different departments. The new advisors will handle groups of majors called “major clusters.” Campbell said this would allow students who change majors within their major cluster to keep their advisor. The new system will also create a consistent, uniform experience for all students. Campbell said in the old advising system, advisers ran their systems differently so students who changed majors had to learn new systems.

Lisa Wiggins, academic advisor for the Department of Journalism and Mass Communication, will continue to work with the department as a part-time advisor for centralized advising.  She said with the new system, advisors will be able to communicate more about how courses are filling and what classes are like.

“It will be a broader system, working a little more closely with Student Life,” Wiggins said. “As an adviser, having a regular interaction with students, I might be able to see some things a faculty member may not see and address the needs of the student a little more thoroughly.”

If a student were to struggle in midterms or if his or her GPA was dropping, Wiggins said she would be able to alert Student Life or Residence Life to give that student more attention.

“It’s a more holistic approach to the student,” Wiggins said.

Wiggins will work part-time, advising about 150 students. Full-time advisors will advise about 300 students each.

Filed Under: News

Other News:

  • Gallery: Spring commencement honors 2021-22 graduates

  • New IM Fields location confirmed

  • At $250 million, Higher Ground aims to make impacts across campus

About Haley Remenar

2017-2018 Editor in Chief

You are here: Home / News / Mail services, Living Room to move for centralized advising

Other News:

  • Gallery: Spring commencement honors 2021-22 graduates

  • New IM Fields location confirmed

  • At $250 million, Higher Ground aims to make impacts across campus

Follow us online

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Optimist on Twitter

acuoptimistThe Optimist@acuoptimist·
4 May

"Maybe we just don’t care enough. But if we do start caring, and if we become the loudest fans in the WAC, let’s stick to supportive cheering." Read more from Guest Columnist Londyn Gray:
https://acuoptimist.com/2022/04/not-so-friendly-competition/

Reply on Twitter 1521918832738144257Retweet on Twitter 15219188327381442571Like on Twitter 15219188327381442578Twitter 1521918832738144257
acuoptimistThe Optimist@acuoptimist·
3 May

Royce Clough and Jael Morel have been named as Mr. and Miss ACU for the class of 2022, a traditional honor voted on by the student body and awarded to two members of each graduating class.

Reply on Twitter 1521607087553458178Retweet on Twitter 1521607087553458178Like on Twitter 152160708755345817819Twitter 1521607087553458178

Optimist on Facebook

The Optimist

2 months ago

The Optimist
"Maybe we just don’t care enough. But if we do start caring, and if we become the loudest fans in the WAC, let’s stick to supportive cheering." Read more from Guest Columnist Londyn Gray: ... See MoreSee Less

Not-so-friendly competition - Optimist

acuoptimist.com

BY: LONDYN GRAY “Number 18, you look like you don’t shower!” I chuckled and shrugged it off. “Londyn!” They had looked up the roster. “Do you even brush your teeth?” I laughed again, rol...
View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

The Optimist

2 months ago

The Optimist
Cullen Auditorium is expected to be handed over to the university in June 2022, alongside a name change that coupled with the renovation will create new future for the Cornerstone class, Chapel and the Department of Theatre. ... See MoreSee Less

Cullen Auditorium still set for a name change alongside renovations - Optimist

acuoptimist.com

Cullen Auditorium is expected to be handed over to the university in June 2022, alongside a name change that coupled with the renovation will create new future for the Cornerstone class, Chapel and th...
View on Facebook
· Share

Share on Facebook Share on Twitter Share on Linked In Share by Email

Videos

Women’s tournament run ended by first-round exit against UTRGV

The Wildcats’ Western Athletic Conference tournament run and season came to a ... [Read More…]

  • Optimist Newscast Feb. 22. 2022
  • Optimist Newscast 2.16.2022
  • Optimist Newscast 2.9.2022

Latest Photos

  • Home
  • Weekly Ads
  • Classifieds

© 2022 ACU Optimist · All Rights Reserved

Posting....