Poorly designed directories and website systems combined with a lack of funding are stopping some students from reaching faculty and staff.
“It’s ridiculous, I can’t get ahold of anyone,” said student Matthew Santos. “And then when you go to look someone up in the directory, they either aren’t listed under the correct number, or because you can’t exactly remember how to spell their name nothing comes up.”
Santos said trying to find individual departments through the search feature is even worse.
“The most hilarious thing is that if you type in Scholes Hall in the UNM website search bar, the (phone) number for the hall isn’t even on the first page, last time I checked,” he said.
The directory has not been updated to reflect changes at the University, especially at the administrative level.
For example, the directory still lists Wynn Goering as vice provost of Academic Affairs, but Goering said in an email that he is no longer a part of the organization.
Recent budget cuts have forced some departments, such as English and political science, to cut teachers’ office phones, making many professors available only through email.
Teacher assistants for several classes in the music and biology department have no offices, no listed office hours on syllabi and the phone numbers listed for them on the directory are sometimes for a departmental office phone rather than a personal contact number.
Senior University communications representative Carolyn Gonzales said faculty and staff, not IT or departments, are responsible for keeping things updated.
“(It’s) a battle that we have fought for years,” she said.
Gonzales said UNM used to print a paper directory and administrators would verify contact information for their departments. She said the print directory was discontinued years ago, and now individuals are responsible for their own information.
“Not too helpful, is it?” she said. “No person within a department has access to or responsibility for individuals’ information on Banner, so if someone fails to keep his or her info current, it becomes useless.”
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Senior University communications representative Karen Wentworth said there is no standard, university-wide website design.
Departments are left to construct and maintain their own sites with no consistency from site to site, making them somewhat difficult to navigate.
The ASUNM website still reads “have a good summer” and lists the election results from last year, but doesn’t have biographies up for any current student leaders aside from the webmaster.
“No one at the University forces departments to maintain and update their websites,” Wentworth said. “University Communications and Marketing … offers a paid service to update websites for departments who want to outsource their website work.”
Some professors are putting students first by skipping the University’s communication system altogether.
C.K. Barlow, an instructor in the music department, said she gives her personal cell phone number to students.
“In the years I have been teaching, I’ve never had a student abuse it and I would like students to be able to contact me sooner rather than later if they are having a problem,” she said.
