AfFORDing a New Campus Experience
Come May, the new Cheryl Ramberg Ford and Allyn Ford Alumni Center will open its doors, making it the final peg in the triumvirate of east campus buildings many are calling the new gateway to the University of Oregon. The Matthew Knight Arena, which opened in January, and the Jaqua Center for Student Athletes, which opened in winter 2010, make up the other two pieces of the trio. However, it’s at the alumni center where most visitors, former Ducks, and future Ducks will get their first impressions of an ever-changing UO campus.
For decades, most prospective students have been introduced to the UO through the campus tours program, which starts in front of Oregon Hall and where the Office of Student Orientation Programs is currently housed. On May 31, student orientation will move its operations a block east to the new alumni center along with its campus tours program. The move from the 1970s building makes sense.
The UO has seen the number of prospective students continue to grow each year and is now marketing to a generation that is tech savvy and used to immediate information at their fingertips. The new alumni center fulfills the character of this new generation offering an interpretive center with numerous interactive, multimedia display panels that tell the story of the UO and provide other pertinent information that could be more personalized and tailored for individual students. Currently, prospective students and their parents mingle outside of Oregon Hall, braving the elements as they wait for a tour to begin.
“I think visitors will immediately feel more connected to the UO, feel like we care about their experience,” says Cora Bennett, director of the student orientation program. “They will have a much better sense of the history, tradition, and character of the UO. Hopefully, it will also be more personalized.”
Not only will the new location provide visitors the ability to interactively access information, it also allows the university to offer more campus tours, giving each tour a more intimate feel. Currently, the UO offers two tours every weekday and one on Saturdays. During peak visiting times of the year, tour groups can reach up to more than 100 participants, making it difficult for tours to fit into confined spaces or for participants to interact with their tour leader. Once operations move to the alumni center, the UO will more than double their number of tours with five per day.
Prospective student information sessions, which are led by UO admissions counselors, will also move to the Ford Alumni Center. Currently, campus tours end with a prospective student information session at various locations on campus. The move allows the question-and-answer session and campus tours to occur in one easy-to-find location. Like the campus tour, the Office of Admissions will also be able to increase its number of information sessions from two per day to up to four per day during peak visiting times of the year. More impressive will be the sophistication of the admissions counselors’ presentations to parents and students.
“Prospective student information sessions will benefit from the opportunity to utilize the technology in the presentation room, which will provide visitors a more graphic, multimedia introduction to campus,” says Kelly Talbert, senior assistant director of admissions.
“For parents or students who have not been to campus, this is our chance to showcase all the exciting new facilities from an entirely revamped corner of campus.”
According to Bennett, the move to the new building and the preparation for the change in format of tours and information sessions has her staff excited.
“They know that visitors will have more space to move around while waiting,” says Bennett. “They are excited about the new technology in the interpretive center. They are eager to be able to show off the UO with the new building, a new route, and have things generally be easier on visitors.”
Because of the Ford Alumni Center, prospective students and their parents visiting campus starting May 31 will have a completely different visiting experience than those before them.
“While it’s impossible at this moment to predict how it will factor into applications and enrollment at the university, the enhanced campus visit experience will undoubtedly leave students and parents with a greater sense of our past, and where we’re headed as an institution,” says Talbert. “All of this positive growth can only help our chances of attracting future Ducks.”