A magazine for the families of UGA residence hall students
Room of the Year Winners! audrey and sarah in their Mell hall room
CoNtENts SPRING 2013 EDitoR CARRIE CAMPBELL CoNtRiBUtoRs CARRIE CAMPBELL FELICIA HARRIS KRISTY WALKER DEsigN CARRIE CAMPBELL BUllDog FAMiliEs is written and published by University Housing at the University of Georgia and is distributed free of charge to families of University Housing residents.
Continuing the Tradition..................................3 Room of the Year.................................................4 Work For Housing.............................................6 Spotlight: Sustainable UGA Office............8
OUR MISSION
University Housing provides comfortable, affordable and secure on-campus housing options in residential communities where the academic success and personal growth of residents are encouraged and supported.
Russell Hall 515 Baxter St. Athens GA 30602-5575 Comments or questions? Contact Public Relations Coordinator Carrie Campbell ccampbel@uga.edu 706-542-8325
AROUND THE HALLS... The University System of Georgia Board of Regents voted to approve the naming of East campus Village’s Building 1512 after the late Gov. George D. Busbee. Busbee championed education during his time in office—particularly kindergarten through 12th grade—establishing the statewide public kindergarten system. Building 1512 opened in the fall of 2004 along with three named residence halls—McWhorter Hall, Rooker Hall and Vandiver Hall. The apartmentstyle buildings offer two, three and four bedroom options to more than 1,200 students.
The University of Georgia is committed to principles of equal opportunity and affirmative action.
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ARE YoU CoNNECtED?
Clockwise from top: Artist renderings of Brown Hall’s exterior, the Health Sciences Campus as it faces Prince Avenue; Brown Hall pre-renovation; an artist’s rendering of the new lobby.
Continuing the Tradition Brown Hall—on UGA’s Health Sciences Campus— will offer undergraduates a unique living opportunity
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n a sprawling 56-acre campus off of Prince Avenue in Athens’ trendy Normaltown neighborhood sits the former site of the United States Navy Supply Corps School and the current home of the University of Georgia’s Health Sciences Campus. When the U.S. Navy Supply Corps School closed its doors in and moved to Rhode Island in 2011 as part of the Department of Defense Base Realignment and Closure process, UGA acquired the property and created the Health Sciences Campus. Currently, the Health Sciences Campus includes houses and town homes that accommodate students from the Georgia Regents University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership, graduate students from the College of Public Health and visiting scholars. “The health of the public is a key mis-
sion for any land-grant institution today, and the UGA Health Sciences Campus represents a clear commitment to this mission,” said UGA President Michael Adams at an open house last August. “The new campus enables us to expand our education, research and service efforts in the health sciences giving greater opportunities to tackle the health crises that affect our citizens. It was also a timely opportunity to repurpose a historic piece of property following the relocation of the Navy Supply Corps School.” University Housing’s Brown Hall will contribute to the campus’ evolution by offering undergraduate housing to upper class students when it opens in August of this year following renovation. University Housing is eager to be among the departments continuing the tradition of education on this site.
“Residents of Brown Hall will have the unique opportunity to be among the first undergraduates living on the Health Sciences Campus,” notes University Housing Executive Director Gerry Kowalski. “We’re excited to offer an option that will give residents and off-campus feel with all the amenities of living on campus.” As a former hotel, Brown Hall is ideally suited as a residence hall and will give residents an exceptionally affordable alternative for suite-style living. With double-in-suite and double-as-private options available, it will offer residents a sense of privacy while maintaining a vital connection to UGA’s main campus. “A short, 10-15 minute Campus Transit bus ride connects the main campus with the Health Sciences Campus and Brown Hall,” says Residence Hall Director Temetria Hargett. “With amenities such as a dining commons and recreational facility here, students who decide to live in Brown Hall are sure to have an exceptional living experience!” The Health Sciences Campus also plays host to the UGA Childcare Center, Food Services’ newest dining hall, The Niche at Scott Hall (which will serve as the campus student center), and Pound Hall—a satellite fitness facility of the Ramsey Student Center—as well as a softball field, basketball court, tennis courts and horseshoe pits. It is also within walking distance of several of Athens’ most well-known restaurants and coffee shops. (One such hotspot is local favorite Ike and Jane, who famously offer a donut topped with bacon and bananas known as “The Elvis.”) After renovations to the campus are complete in fall 2015, approximately 1,400 faculty, staff and students will be based at the Health Sciences Campus, according to the Georgia Regents University/University of Georgia Medical Partnership. With such a bright future ahead of it, Brown Hall promises to be the undergraduate hub of the campus for years to come.—Carrie Campbell
BuLLdog FaMiLies n sPRing 2013 n 3
Room of the Year Contest Goes Viral Housing’s annual competition was a huge hit with residents and parents
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n 2011, our annual Room-of-the-Year contest received a social media makeover—the voting process moved to Facebook and traditional promoting efforts were supersized with Twitter and social network sharing. The outcome was one of the most popular contests we’ve seen in years. This past fall, we wanted to continue the same trend in promoting our biggest annual contest, but we also wanted to take it up a notch. To do this, we separated Room-of-the-Year into two separate contests—one for photos and one for video—and promoted our new Best Video Tour title separately, in addition to having separate entry dates. Because of this, we received the most valid entries in our video contest to date and ended up with three witty and creative finalists for the title—written and produced by University Housing residents. Guitar serenading, flight attendants and a “Gangnam Style” dance break in our video entries joined burlap and bow ties, Pinterest crafts, and Georgia gear in our photo entries to help our contest immediately go viral online. By the end of day one, our contest had more than 500 votes cast in the forms of “likes” for finalists’ photos or videos. The comments next to our photo entries immediately took off with proud friends, residents, and doting mothers who made comments like: “I love it!!! Wish my son’s room looked like this!!” or “Every Mom who sees this is sighing ... if only MY kid’s room looked like that!”” Those same proud family members and friends took stake in the success of the contest by sharing our photos, videos, and voting album again and again. In fact, by the time 3,100+ votes were collected, our album had been shared on Facebook almost 20 times. The photo entries were shared 163 times. This year, some winners have even been recruited by UGA’s Georgia’s Photographic Services department to show off their spaces to a larger audience and will be photographed for use in a promotional capacity for the university as a whole. Please visit our 2012 Room-of-the-Year Contest album on our Facebook page at: facebook.com/ugahousing.—Felicia Harris
From top: Female ROTY winners Audrey and Sarah in their Mell Hall room, male ROTY winners Drew and Dylan in Creswell Hall, and video tour winners Jessica and Caroline, also in Creswell.
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Work for Housing!
University Housing offers a variety of full- and part-time summer positions that fit perfectly with students’ academic schedules
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ake a great college experience even better by joining UGA’s housing staff. Students who work for University Housing often cite that their college years are more memorable—they have even more opportunity to meet and network with new people, they stay involved with what’s happening on campus and they gain valuable professional experience. Full-time painters and maintenance assistants are particularly needed. Applications are available to UGA students who have a valid UGAID number. Interested students may complete an application by going to the application site at housing.uga.edu/work.
Some summer 2012 staff talk it up.... “During the summer, we have a lot of fun. You’re working with your peers while gaining experience, and with fewer people in Athens to hang out with, you definitely bond with the staff working in your community. We hosted a cookout, played games and watched movies together.” Brittney MacDonald Summer 2012 Conference Host Resident Assistant, Soule Hall Consumer Journalism, 2014
“The best part of working on campus over the summer is being able to experience another side of UGA life. We’re all used to packed buses and a busy atmosphere, but working on campus provides another perspective. Being a conference host is actually quite fun, especially when you get to bond with a tight-knit staff. I really enjoyed seeing upcoming freshmen during orientation sessions last summer.” Emma C. LeCroy Summer 2012 Conference Host Resident Assistant, Brumby Hall English, 2014
Hill Community staff, summer 2O12
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“I never felt like my academic schedule conflicted with work as a conference host. I always felt like my supervisor was understanding of academic reasons and worked with us to ensure that we still kept up with our academics, but also contributed our fair amount of work shifts to the team. One of the things that really makes working for housing incredible is that you find a lot of student workers who either are already passionate about their job or learn the meaning behind being passionate about what you do. It’s a culture that fosters positive leadership development and communications skills.” Mary Yang Summer 2012 Conference Host Latin and Interdisciplinary Studies: Animation, 2013
Register now!
Living on campus, we don’t bother with the distraction of monthly bills and we know it’s more than just walls that make a home. We do more than attend college; we’re involved in our community— making our time at university of georgia richer and our gPas higher. We can sleep more and drive less. We live comfortably and safely. There’s something bigger out there and we’re a part of it.
VisiT housing.uga.edu FoR haLL desCRiPTions, FLooR PLans, RaTes and aMeniTies
spotlight
Sustainable UGA Office Initiative
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he University of Georgia is committed to developing a culture of sustainability through education and outreach as well as by setting an example of sustainable practices and resource conservation. The Sustainable UGA Office Program is designed to help UGA departments and discrete office units become more sustainable in their water and energy use, waste management, purchasing practices and transportation choices. Offices are an important part of the university system. Office practices, equipment and spaces are responsible for a significant amount of campus energy and resource consumption, therefore, thoughtful implementation of this program presents tremendous opportunity for positive impact. Starting in February, 2013, University Housing will be working on becoming
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a Sustainable UGA Office. Although the program targets office spaces in particular, everyone can get involved by learning and applying the simple practices in the Sustainable UGA Office Program. The initial program requirements for the Sustainable UGA Office Program include the following: n Participation in the UGA Green Cleaning Program, which focuses on improving indoor air quality and substituting hazardous chemicals with safer, environmentally-friendly cleaning products n Installation of CFLs where applicable and initiation of an energy optimization review n Thermostats will be set to sustainable temperature standards n Adequate trash and recycling facilities will be placed in each office area
Commitment of individual office occupants to managing their own waste containers. Office occupants will replace trash cans with recycling boxes and small “side saddles” for non-recyclable waste. For more information about University Housing sustainability initiatives, visit housing.uga.edu/about/sustainability.—Kristy Walker n