Program Operations Director for the College’s Center for Student Success, Smith Frederick said the changes implemented in the college have been driven by the needs of the students. The college utilizes the opportunity to have students take surveys and provide feedback in other ways to address support services and potential areas in need of updates or enhancements, he said.
Frederick said a major concern of the students was the need to update the areas in which advisement occurs in the Center for Student Success, located in Travelstead Hall.
“We deal with students from every walk of life in the Center for Student Success,” he said. “Using modern solutions to ensure students have the confidentiality in a secure environment to discuss concerns, challenges and to just have a comfortable conversation without noise interrupting.”
Travelstead Hall transitioned from open office spaces to new advisor stations with high walls and doors to provide more of a personalized and private advisement experience. As of Jan. 12, each general advisor in the Center for Student Success Advisement Center now has his or her own office, allowing students more of an intimate meeting when seeking advice.
CSS Coordinator of Student Admissions Brittany Padilla said the brand new office spaces allow students to be more comfortable talking with their advisors and provide better compliance with FERPA regulations. Individuals seeking advisement are under the impression that their data is more secure and confined within the protected walls of the cubicles, she said.
“A lot of students have commented that they feel they can share more with the advisors now,” Padilla said. “Students that wouldn’t have shared information with advisors previously are now more open because of their sense of privacy.”
Frederick said the offices were put into place to serve the specific purpose of a stronger sense of confidentiality and to build stronger relationships with the advisors.
“I love the new advisement offices,” University College senior Alexiss Adams said. “They give the student the feeling of privacy needed but without that intimidation factor that comes with most formal meeting areas.”
Each cubicle has a sliding door and advisors are encouraged to decorate with posters and other memorabilia as opposed to having a bland workspace.
Padilla said that due to the recent change at the University level, the college is now working with freshman, sophomore and transfer students who have shown an interest in education, a new group of approximately 1,600 students to support. This change created an immense amount of traffic throughout the halls, which made a change to the old advisement building necessary.
“The cubicles have come in handy especially since we have to have so many advisors,” Padilla said. “The (new) 1,600 students create a lot of foot traffic, as well as a lot of advisement and administrative requirements.”
Get content from The Daily Lobo delivered to your inbox
The Center for Student Success is not the only building in the College of Education that received new updates. The hallways in Hokona Hall no longer have tattered carpets and chipped paint after Dean Hector Ochoa and Diane Gwinn, the College of Education academic operations officer, worked to improve the education building’s interior.
Hokona is home to a variety of faculty, staff and student offices and meeting areas. Students often venture into Hokona Hall in order to seek specialized advisement in their respected programs as opposed to the general education advisement they receive in Travelstead Hall.
Gwinn said the hallways were in dire need of change.
“The carpet was loose in spots and torn. The walls hadn’t been painted in 20 years,” Gwinn said. “With the arrival of our new dean Dr. Hector Ochoa, (who) saw the space, he wanted to find a way to improve the ambiance for our faculty. Most of them are located in Hokona Hall.”
Gwinn said after Ochoa witnessed the state of the carpet, he reached out to the Provost’s Office and UNM Physical Plant Department to seek funding for the fresh change to Hokona’s hallways. The COE, Provost’s Office and PPD shared the cost of these improvements.
The College of Education also worked through the winter break to bring significant changes to the Technology and Education Centers well. Frederick said all student labs and classroom software have been updated to bring the TEC up to date with the latest technology.
Frederick said the Technology and Education Center implemented a more sophisticated approach to reduce the cost of printing, in addition to encouraging students to identify with one of UNM’s mottos of “Love Red, Live Green.”
“One of the goals is to keep the cost down so that we can allow our students to print at the same level they have the past years,” Frederick said. “It’s not just about the money — it’s about understanding what the impact is of printing.”
Frederick said the COE has taken the motto seriously. He said he wants students to be conscious about the carbon footprint they may be leaving behind.
Training Support Analyst Michael Valverde said the changes to the print system allow students to cancel unwanted documents at the printer, a significant upgrade from accidentally printing something they don’t want.
“With our new system, loving red and living green, users can actually delete a job at the last minute,” Valverde said. “By accessing my jobs and printing the jobs that only I want, we are reducing waste — another way we are loving red and living green.”
The TEC updated the center’s way-finding system, which allows students to identify the location of their classrooms with the addition of a 60 inch screen listing the schedule of classes and the available computer pods students may access throughout the day.
“As we look to make changes, we look to conserve resources, and we look to make these changes more efficient and more effective for our students and our faculty,” Valverde said. “The overall response to the change has been a positive response.”
Liam Cary-Eaves is the assistant sports editor for the Daily Lobo. He can be reached at assistantsports@dailylobo.com or on twitter @Liam_CE.
