OREGON HALL RESHUFFLES THE DECKS TO IMPROVE SERVICE TO STUDENTS
September 7, 2000
Contact Maureen Shine (541) 346-3145
Sources: Anne Leavitt, associate vice president for student affairs, (541) 346-1129
Jim Buch, associate vice president for enrollment management, (541) 346-1264
EUGENE
–Oregon Hall just isn’t what it used to be, and that’s good news for University of Oregon students.A major reorganization this summer at the university’s one-stop shop for most student services resulted in a reshuffling of offices on three of Oregon Hall’s four floors. The changes are designed to make offices and the services they provide easier for students to find and use.
For example, instead of trudging up to the third floor to find the Office of Student Life, or to the fourth floor to find the Office of Multicultural Affairs, students can access these offices on the ground floor. Also on the ground floor, designers are creating a new student services center. The center will function as a one-stop information and referral source for students.
"These changes are designed to make us more ‘student-centered’ than ever," says Anne Leavitt, dean of students and associate vice president for student affairs. "We’re excited about the opportunity to create a student services center on the first floor as well as closer associations among the faculty and staff who support student diversity."
A new office arrangement on the building’s third floor is providing greater opportunities for staff collaboration.
"Advising and orientation staff, and staff supporting programs designed to enhance a student’s first-year experience here, will be working together under Karen Sprague, the new vice provost for undergraduate studies," says Jim Buch, associate vice president for enrollment management. "We’re strengthening these existing programs, such as Learning Communities, based on recommendations that emerged from the Process for Change," he says.
The Process for Change project began in the late 1990s and involved solution teams comprised of faculty, staff and students, who addressed ways to create a new, more flexible and student-centered model of education at the UO.
Temporary signs are in place to help students find relocated services, and staff expects the reorganization will be completed by the start of fall term when classes begin Sept. 25.
The new student-service focus also relocated other offices in Oregon Hall, 1585 E. 13th Ave., including:
• Academic Advising moved to the third floor space formerly occupied by Student Life.
• Orientation services, as well as Learning Communities such as Freshman Interest Groups and Pathways–a curriculum of thematically linked courses–are combined on the third floor.
• Student Affairs joined Student Academic Affairs on the north side of the third floor.
• Administrative services, including word processing and computing services, moved to the fourth floor.
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