Summer Update

Hi Everyone,

I hope your summer is going well. Hopefully the weather is shaping up wherever you are and that you have had safe travels and fun vacations. To those that are working I hope your internships are full of enjoyment but also learning. I wanted to write another post to update on some of the work that Alex and I have been up to while we are here working this summer as well as communicate some updates for all

 

Residential Life

 

Water Fountains

One of our platform goals was to look into putting water fountains in the residence halls as many students had asked why there were not any and requested to have them installed. After several discussions with Residential Life we will be putting in a proposal to have fountains installed in the future. Because of the process, if they are approved they will not be installed until possibly June 2010. However, they will be beneficial to all if they in fact are installed, as they will allow students to get drinks as well as refill their water bottles more conveniently.

 

UPS/Fedex etc

Beginning next year, Residential Life is adopting a new policy for any package that you receive from UPS or Fedex it will be dropped off in McElroy as opposed to being left outside or inside your Residence Hall.  In the past, it often has been difficult if the shipping company only came at a specific time and you couldn’t be there at that time and also there were concerns about packages which were left out there could be taken. To take these concerns away, all packages can be picked up in the Mail Center in McElroy beginning in the Fall Semester.

 

Programming

 

O’Connell House

Currently, I am working with Dr. Patrick Rombalski and some other students to provide feedback on how to better utilize the O’Connell House. We have suggested potentially having it as lounge space/study space with a focus on programming on weekends, but the services there would include relaxing furniture, additional TV’s, Printing Stations and computers, additional games in the game room as well as study space with comfortable chairs and tables. A lot of these improvements will be more long term ideas but there are definitely things that can be done in the short term to improve the usage of the OCH. If you have any suggestions yourself or if you would like to take part in this process please let me know.

 

 

 

 

Programming Survey

We currently are putting together a programming survey to find out what students are interested in seeing from UGBC for this coming year. Please make sure to fill it out and if you have any suggestions we would love to hear them!

 

 

Bike Sharing Program

This April, the Office of Parking and Transportation put out a survey regarding interest in a Bike Sharing Program. The results demonstrated there was quite an interest for a bike sharing program and we currently are working with the Office of Parking and Transportation to see if we can make this a reality. This was something that was on our platform and we are excited to try to make it happen. As this gets further in the process we will keep you updated. Please let me know if you have any feedback or ideas.

 

 

I think that’s all I have for now. I’ll keep posting updates every week or so regarding the progress of our work. If you have any questions, comments or concerns please let me know.

 

 

Cheers,

 

-Al

Happy Summer

Hi everyone-
I hope you are enjoying your summer so far. Its been a busy few weeks and I apologize for not updating this blog sooner. Over the past few weeks we have been busy at work as well as balancing some of our other summer commitments between jobs and internships as well as taking some time for ourselves. However, we have been able to get some work done in between the busyness and here is what we have been up too.

Board of Trustees Presentation
This past Friday I presented to the Student Life Committee of the Boston College Board of Trustees'. The purpose of this presentation was to introduce myself to the Board as well as talk about our platform and what we wanted to get accomplished for the year. The presentation went very well and it seemed like the Trustees' were very eager to find out about what goes on in the lives of students. They also were very eager to get more involved with students on a regular basis, so look for some events in the future surrounding Board members.

Fall Concert
Currently we are in the process of planning our fall concert. What we have done is worked with our agent to see which artist(s) are available in September and we are currently going through that list to see who is within a reasonable price range but also desirable to students. If you have any suggestions please let me know by e-mailing me or contacting me. (deaa at bc.edu)
From here, we will pick an act and make a bid, if they accept and its approved by the university then we are in good shape. If those don't happen then we look for other options on our list.

Target Shuttles
Its official- Target Shuttles will happen in the fall. We are currently working out some logistics with Target but we have signed most of the paperwork and there are four times throughout the course of the first semester where we will have a shuttle bus that will run to the Target in the Watertown area. This is a pilot program to determine whether or not it will be picked up by the university, so maximum participation is key. Look for more details in the fall, but we probably will do a sign up "first come first serve" list.

Other Projects we are currently working on
- Looking to add water fountains to residence halls
- UGBC Welcoming Week
- Potentially adding a bike share pilot program
- Looking into developing a clear university speaker policy
- 2009-2010 UGBC budget
- Making recommendations with how to remodel the O'Connell House

Programming
- Welcome events (for freshman and for all students)
- Athletics 101 (Slated for September 3rd 2009)
- A potential "Quidditch" tournament
- Homecoming
- Notre Dame Pep Rally

Other
- Cancer Awareness Campaign
- "Solid Gold" Campaign
- UGBC Commercials

So that is what is going on with all of us. We will continue to work throughout the course of this summer. If you have any questions, concerns, suggestions or you just want to chat please feel free to contact us. Enjoy your summer and please let us know if we can be of any assistance!

Cheers,

-Al