Organizations preparing for move to new campus center

As students prepare to leave campus, many organizations and offices are also preparing to move, leaving their current locations for nicer digs in the new Ronald Tutor Campus Center.

The Alumni Center, Admission Center, Undergraduate Student Government, KSCR radio station, Program Board and a number of other Student Affairs’ organizations will be packing their boxes and finally making the move to the campus center this summer. These organizations were selected to move into the campus center by a university program planning team, according to Patrick Bailey, the associate dean and executive director of Student Life and Involvement.

The move-in process will officially begin June 1, Bailey said. For more than three years, a moving committee has been collaborating with organizations to facilitate an easy and successful move. Officials will also be offering assistance to help the organizations move boxes to their new offices.

“Representatives from each area have been working together to work out the details, from how the phones and computers are transferred to getting the new university mail codes, etc.,” Bailey wrote in an e-mail. “We also are working around university programs/events to ensure a smooth transition for everyone.”

Most organizations are confident the move will be completed in time for the beginning of next semester.

“I don’t foresee any complications because I think there will be enough people here over the summer to help with the move,” said Elizabeth Trower, senior director of communications for USG. “Things would have to go drastically wrong for us to not be settled before school starts.”

Ruthie Pyles, the manager of the Admission Center, also said she thinks the move will go well, but the Admission Center is planning to be flexible in case it doesn’t.

“I’m sure [the move] will go very smoothly, but with any sort of construction, there are always things that may arise, and we are planning to be as flexible as possible,” Pyles said. “I have every faith and confidence that all the main departments will be in and ready to go when students come back.”

Some groups are struggling with their preparations for the move, however.

To get ready for the move, Program Board has had to sort through its belongings and decide what is important and what’s not.

“From what I’ve heard, there’s not a lot of storage space in the campus center,” Richie Pizano, executive director of Program Board,  said. “The Program Board office is flooded [with things], so we’ve been very selective with what we pack up and what we store in different storage areas.”

Karl Nickenig, next year’s general manager of KSCR radio, said KSCR is in the process of deciding what should be moved to the new office in the campus center.

“I know the new space will have its own furniture, so our staff has to decide what we need and what we don’t in the coming weeks,” Nickenig said.

Even once these offices and groups are comfortably settled in the campus center, their current offices will not be entirely abandoned.

According to Bailey, there are multiple administrative groups that review available space on campus and then determine which organizations will best utilize that space.

“They look at short-term/long-term needs, student and academic needs, service and operational needs, etc.,” Bailey wrote. “At USC space is a very precious thing, that’s why we worked hard to develop/create space that can serve multiple functions in the campus center.”

So far, administrators have decided that the current USG office, located in the Student Union, will become the new Orientation Programs office. The future of the current Admission Center, located in Trojan Hall, has not yet been decided.

The Epstein Family Alumni Center in the campus center will house about 24 members of the Alumni Association, but the university’s oldest building, the Widney Alumni House will not be deserted.

“The Alumni House will remain a part of the alumni footprint of the university,” said Patrick Auerbach, executive director of alumni relations. “It will become a welcome center for alumni, whereas the office in the campus center will become a headquarters and place where our volunteer leadership will come to campus.”

Other organizations moving into the campus center include Academic Recognition Programs, the Volunteer Center, the Office of Campus Activities, the Graduate and Professional Student Senate, Leadership Programs, the SCheduling Office and Campus Center Administration.