December Newsletter 2015
Housing & Residence Life
Highlights from the Director: Dee Dee Kanikkeberg Vandal Solutions: Highest Score to Date Vandal Solutions is a not-for-profit student group that provides professional-quality services to local businesses. Housing & Residence Life utilizes Vandal Solutions to conduct secret shops of our customer service and tour teams each month. Our goal is to perform at 95% satisfaction or higher. For the month of November, Housing received its highest secret shop scores to date. Our customer service and tour teams received an average rating of 99.72%. Great job and keep up the good work!
EBI Survey Results We completed our annual satisfaction survey (EBI) which serves as a department benchmark for many of the services Housing offers. In this survey students are asked questions regarding their satisfaction and learning while living on campus. As a department, we set a goal for a 5.5 score in each category. This year we reached this goal in 5 categories with Student Staff and Facilities increasing from last year!
Compliance Training for All Employees In order to provide employees with additional skills, knowledge, and opportunities for career growth and development, the university has developed a new online workforce training program. Track 1 is required of all employees and Track 2 is designed for supervisors and managers. All modules can be found on the PDL website and must be completed by Feb. 15.
• One student said their favorite thing about living on campus is the “clean and affordable facilities.”
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• Another commented on their student staff experience, saying “Both of my RAs are great, very personable, and I respect them greatly. They are fun to hang out with and be friends with, but I also look up to them in a way.”
Looking Forward Holiday Closures The holidays are upon us! The university will be closed Dec. 24, 25, & 31 and closed to the public Dec. 23, 28, 29, & 30. If you have not already, please communicate with your supervisor about your holiday work plans. Have a safe and relaxing break! New Spring RAs and APMs Our Residence Life team welcomes new student staff for the Spring semester. Renee Brochier and Michael Lowe will be joining the LLCs, Chris Harlan is joining the Tower, and Kirk Berentsen and Jenny Malmin are new RAs for Wallace. We also welcome a new APM, Jeneba Hoene. We look forward to having these fabulous students on board. Leadershop Skate Event Project and Improvements Our Projects Team is hard at work improving the facilities for our students. Recently the study lounges in the Tower were updated with new carpet, paint, and furniture. New Wallace courtyard benches are being installed this week, and next week the replacement of handrails outside of Wallace begins. Renovations on Gooding 2nd and 3rd floors are well underway thanks to our talented staff!
Looking Back Student Appreciation Week Dec. 7-11th was Housing & Residence Life's Student Appreciation Week. To help our students feel supported as they studied for finals we hosted Hot Cocoa Hours in the Housing Office which over 200 students attended, and handed out "Smart Cookies" to almost 500 students throughout the week.
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Cram Jam: Late Night Breakfast Housing & Residence Life and Vandals Dining hosted the most successful Cram Jam to date. On Monday Dec. 14 from 9-11pm campus partners volunteered to serve FREE late night breakfast to students as they kicked off finals week. RHA also helped out by giving away goody bags to the first 120 students (which were gone within the first 5 minutes!).This event celebrated student success and wished them well on finals. 723 students attended with lots of positive feedback. Thank you to all who helped out with this fun event!
Anastacia Richards
Student Success Center Visits This semester the SSC saw a record breaking number of student visitors. Last fall the center had a total of 891 student visits. This fall semester the center had 1543 visits, an incredible 73% growth from last year! We are proud to see the SSC increase in popularity, further fulfilling our mission of changing students' lives. University Apartments Recognition The University Apartments team recently received a glowing review on facebook (featured below). Also, last month residents of the apartments were given Housing welcome mats for their front doors. By investing in our residents, we hope to increase our resident retention. Congrats to Scott and his team of ACAs for making the University Apartments a great place to live.
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Humans of Housing
David and Ellie Prinz David Prinz, Area Coordinator for Wallace and McConnell, joined the team this past summer and not long after became a dad to beautiful baby Ellie. Raising a baby in the residence halls has been exciting, challenging, and always entertaining. Ellie is now 4 months old and fitting right in with Housing & Residence Life. Her favorite place to eat is Bob's with the Professional ResLife Staff, which she considers her extended family. She enjoys visits to the Housing Office, attending Housing potlucks and programs, and most of all interacting with students.
David says that Ellie loves smiling at students, and the students love having Ellie around. She has become a mini celebrity in the residence halls and loves the attention. David is impressed by the courtesy students have shown him and his family when Ellie is present. Often times students will give up the elevator for his family to use first, and they always say "Hi!" Ellie is almost ready to crawl, and as time goes on we look forward to hearing her say her first words, take her first steps, and see many more "firsts" here in the residence halls.
Recruitment & Retention The recruitment and retention season is well underway. We currently have 455 students renewed to live in the residence halls next year, working towards our goal of 600 student renewals. A big thanks to Bart and his staff for helping with the LLC Open House on Dec. 9th. Over 50 students came to tour the LLCs, chat with current residents, and enjoy free refreshments. Also thanks to Greg and his custodial team for making the LLCs look their best. Meetings with Vandal Athletics and Campus Recruiters have taken place to help serve our students. Currently 120 new students have applied for 2016-17 Housing. Next month Cara and Courtney start traveling for recruitment events in Boise and Idaho Falls, where they intend to share the benefits of Housing and help students apply.
Welcome To Housing! A warm welcome to Robin Kok who joins the team as a Custodial Services Specialist, and welcome back Daniel Urritia who joins us as the Housing Conference Manager. We are Pg. 4 so happy to have you both!
HAPPY HOLIDAYS!