The annual conference session proposal deadline is September 9. That is only a little over a month away. Now is the time to start working on your session proposals and/or recruiting colleagues to present sessions with you. Regional conferences are also accepting session proposals now. Your region’s deadline to submit may be before the…

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Hi all. I’m currently in the process of restructuring my office. Currently, I have four staff members (one assistant director, two coordinators, and one specialist). We also have three student employees, who are currently just generalists and serve as the front line.

However, I‘m examining clearly defined, specialized responsibilities versus…

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Hi Eva,
I love creating training materials. Are you asking about continual training for student staff or new hire training? I think we have some great resources to share from University of South Florida. I want to make sure in know what you are looking for!

We use Sling! We currently have 136 employees over 5 positions on it. This year we started paying for premium, which is charged monthly and per user. I haven’t had any issues with it so far or found that it lacks in features for what we need, and it sounds like it can do everything you are looking for.

Hi Eva,

Congratulations on your first year as Director. Here at Ball State University we are utilizing the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE) competencies for student staff training. We begin the fall with an overview of durable skills student employees need to be career ready. Then we assess their baseline. Midyear,…

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Hello all! I’ve just finished up my first year as a director, and looking back over it, I really want to make some improvements with student training. If anyone would be willing to share:

• schedules that maximum training in short periods of time
• trainings or activities that your students appreciate/engage with, or
• concise student employee…

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Many thanks for the great survey Eryn!

I’m looking forward to seeing the results!

Hi Eryn!

I just completed the survey! If you have any further questions, please feel free to reach out to me at brielle.levenberg@stonybrook.edu .

I would also love to see the results when you’re done!

Thank you!

Brielle

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Brielle Levenberg-Macaluso
Event Services and Operations Coordinator
Stony Brook University Read more

Hi everyone! I am a GA working in the student union at Missouri State University. My supervisor and I have created a survey to gain insights on?organizational structures for event and operations staffing, along with event technology offerings, of fellow student unions. With changing legislation, developing needs, and continually…

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Kourtney,

We use ShiftPlanning which is a product through Humanity.com; it costs us $600 a year and is great for scheduling, shift trades, text alerts for upcoming shifts, etc. A very reliable tool for our facility and student employees.?

Joe

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Joseph Hayes
Director, Campus Center
Indiana… Read more

ACUI is hosting a 1-hour focus group during the Annual Conference in New York City on Tuesday, March 18, 2025 at 10:00 a.m. We want your feedback on what makes ACUI your association of choice and what programs and services you would like to see us offer. If you are interested in joining us, please provide your contact information in …

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Patrick,

At Wayne State we currently have 12 building managers on our team, all of which are student employees. Their day-to-day responsibilities are to function as a shift leader for the set-up assistants in our event spaces as well as fill a more customer facing role should any issues with events come up. Our building managers are also our…

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Hi Patrick!

On the UWRF campus we have 14 student Building Managers, which I supervise and support. This year I transitioned the team to be cross-trained as both Info Desk and Building Managers, which I would say has been overall successful.?

I don’t have experience transitioning a team of Building Manager students to full-time staff, but I…

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Hi Patrick!

We’ve been having a similar conversation so I am happy to share info about our organization.?

1. We use students as building managers. They essentially act as the policy enforcer and overseer of all operations and events — responding to emergencies/calling for assistance from campus safety/PD/911, enforcing Union and University…

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Hello All,

So, this is a multi-part discussion post:

We are researching how other high-traffic / large university student unions structure their student/admin staffing.

• Do you have a Building Manager Position? Are they students or Full Time Staff? What are their responsibilities?
• Do you have Admin/ Pro Staff in the building at all times?…

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The day isn’t over yet-there’s still time to nominate deserving individuals for the following awards:

• Don Rohel Scholarship
• Chester A. Berry Scholar Award
• Gretchen Laatsch Grant & Scholarship

These scholarship awards provide an incredible opportunity to recognize outstanding achievements and support future growth. Don’t miss this chance… Read more

Hi all!

On the facility/ events side of things, we have 2 entry level student positions (Operations Student Assistant and Reservations Desk Clerk). For each of these positions, they can be assigned to a variety of roles matching with yours Courtney…?

Operations Student Assistant (30-40 total):
Student Audio/Visual Technician for scheduled

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Hi friends – in case you missed it, Campus Awards (and other award nominations) are due tomorrow. Below is an overview of all the Campus Awards, and I wanted to bring to this groups attention the “Excellence in Student Training Programs” award:

This Excellence in Student Training Programs award acknowledges campuses that have… Read more

Hello Cortney,

 

Great question! Over my years of experience, I have had student teams that reflect both ends of the spectrum and I feel like the right blend is probably somewhere in the middle.

 

Things I think I know; the more a student employee does a specific task, the better they will get at it. The more you diversify the position,…

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I’ve found that taking the staff around the building and going through emergency procedures in a tour format has been helpful. At certain spots on tour, we’ll go over scenarios (most of which have actually happened), which I’ve noticed has improved critical thinking around the content they are learning because they think about it relative to…

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Hey everyone!

Reaching out in hopes that someone might have some fresh ideas on how to effectively train on Emergency Action Plans (Evacuation, Shelter-in-Place, Lockdown, etc.). We have done trainings on these topics many times but are looking for something more engaging and memorable. Any advice or thoughts anyone might have would be…

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Hi Cortney!

We had a similar system for the last 10 years and we are transitioning (January 1st) to a new system with way less employee types. We are moving from 4 levels of event/set up staff, 2 levels of building managers, game room attendants and front desk workers to the following model:

Building and Events Managers (oversee all…

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Here at Rutgers Camden, we have three student positions: Building Managers, Office Assistants and Info Desk staff.? At one point, I had cross-trained all three positions, which worked for the most part.? The only issue I ran into was the students that didn’t work very often in the Info Desk would forget how to print ID cards.? The following…

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Hi all,

We are starting to take a look at the structure of our student employment program for a number of reasons, from FLSA compression to changing event needs to changing student schedules. Right now we have everything very segmented but are entertaining the idea of combining similar or related roles and/or cross-training to reduce the number…

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Eryn,?

My name is Adam Wiles and I am at the University of Cincinnati. We do a student feedbacjkformrqther than an assesment. I tend to think assessment sounds like you are being judged or are lacking in certain areas. and let our student staff empower themselves and take accountability in our challenges and celoebrate our victories, I have…

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Hi everyone,

I am a GA at Missouri State University and am over the training and organizational development for student employees at our student union. Currently, I am working on developing an assessment calendar for various departments and was wondering if anyone has any insight on something of this nature? As of now, employees do a pre and…

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Hi Timothy,

Thank you for your response – this is a direction that I am considering taking with my employment model. I would love to see the job description if you are willing to share! My email is apieger@bentley.edu.

Thank you!!

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Abby Pieger
Assistant Director, Student Programs & Engagement
Bentley University Read more

Hi Angelica – thank you for your response! Would you be willing to share the job description(s) with me at apieger@bentley.edu? Thank you!

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Abby Pieger
Assistant Director, Student Programs & Engagement
Bentley University
Waltham MA Read more

Timothy,

Would you be willing to share that job description? We are looking at some different options in the spring as we gear up for the 25-26 year.

Eva

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Eva Sager
Director, Campus Activities & Overman Student Center
Pittsburg State University
Pittsburg KS Read more

Hi Abby,

I don’t know if this is the same thing that you’re asking about, but I have a student supervisor position that assists with leading our Student Building Manager staff. This role will occasionally assist with Building Manager coverage if there is a call out, but their role is a completely different job description and classification…

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Hello,

2 years ago I implemented the Lead Building Manager position in the Collis Center operations. I currently have 4 leads with different areas of specialization: Staff Development, Asset Management, Budget/Resources, and Logistics.?

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Angelica Hernandez
Assistant Director, Collis Student Center
Dartmouth College Read more

Hello everyone!

I am considering the feasibility and helpfulness of having a Lead Building Manager for my staff. I would love to pick folks’ brains on whether this has worked for your student center, helpful considerations, and if anyone is willing to share job descriptions, that would also be appreciated!

Thanks!

—————————— Read more

We are currently using When2Work and we are looking for a scheduling system that has a geofencing option, multiple locations, and multiple positions.? Can anyone share what they are using and why you like the system?

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Carol Hill
Director of Student Center Facilities and Operations
Lehigh University
Bethlehem PA Read more

Thank you both for your help! I created a quick Powerpoint that is attached if anyone would like to use it and add examples of their good/bad reports!?

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Kaitlyn Howarth
Manager, University Commons Operations
William Paterson University
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Good morning,?

I agree with everything that Dennis has mentioned. Here at the University of North Florida we use 7 Point Ops so all of our logs/reports are completed through there and at the start of each semester at one of our BM meetings we go through the log as a team to make any updates, edits, or answer any questions they may have. Of…

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Good morning,

Here at the Union at The University of New Mexico, we have a clear expectation on what should be on the shift reports. I have found it beneficial to show some examples of what is acceptable and helpful for the organization. I do have to give reminders throughout the semester. What I found do be the cause of short shift reports…

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Hello!

Does anyone have a training session they do that focuses on the proper way to write Building Manager reports?? Right now my staff write one word responses and I need more substance.? Figured I’d ask here and see if anyone had anything they would be willing to share before I started from scratch!

All the joy,

Kait?

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Hi Hayden!?

I supervise a student Marketing Team within my department and have had the amazing opportunity to build the team from 2 students up to 12 🙂 We now have graphic designers, photographer/videographers, and marketing assistants. Attached are our student job descriptions.?

As for social media – we’re careful to evaluate each request…

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Hi Ann,

Attached are my area specific manuals plus our employee handbook which outlines all of our guidelines and standards.? I also have an A/V specific binder for the staff, but our IT team sends me all the info to put in there so its multiple files.? Let me know if you have any question, creating manuals and guides is one of my favorite…

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Hi Chelsey,

I was glad to see your question! I’m pretty new to my position and have some similar issues with the student staff I work with. So as a result, we are overhauling our training and onboarding process. One thing we’re trying, in hopes of increasing accountability, is being very intentional about giving students the opportunity to…

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As a department, we are working on creating training handbooks and manuals for our office. In the past, training has just been done one-on-one with no real format or structure. ?I am wondering if anybody has any examples they would be able to share of your employee/department manuals for all areas of student union/center operations.?

?

Ann Myers?

… Read more

Good day all,

We are looking to create a student-led marketing team for our Student Development & Activities and our Intercultural Center.

Q.1 -? We are funding part of the staff through our student internship program and I am looking for a sample job description. Does anyone have one that they are willing to share?

Q.2 – how do you manage…

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Hi Deanna,?

Thank you for taking the time to reply! Microsoft Teams’ Task Planner sounds interesting. My employees use Teams, but they don’t utilize it from their own accounts. I’m thinking I could get around that by having them initial once they completed something (assuming Teams allows that feature). I’ll take some time to look into Teams…

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Hi Cortney!

Thank for the reply! I probably went into this academic year too optimistic since it seemed like tasks were getting completed each day; but, like you mentioned, I think only one team member was actually doing all of the work each day (while everyone else just assumed someone would take care of it). I’ve been playing around with…

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For reference, this is what a log typically looks like during a regular day during the school year. Next year’s will just have more checklists!?

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Deanna Cahoon-Draus
University Center Programs Specialist
University of Wisconsin River Falls
River Falls, WI Read more

Hi Chelsey!

(For context I oversee our Info Desk and Building Manager teams)

I noticed last year more incidents of students not always doing a task if it wasn’t a checklist that could be actually checked (even if it was on a checklist like your own!). To remedy this, in our Building Manager OneNote hourly log, I added our closing items as…

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Are you new to your career in college union or student activities? Don’t miss the opportunity to join? IPDS ? New Professional Seminar!

IPDS offers a unique chance for new professionals to enhance their skills, build a strong network, and lay a solid foundation for a successful career journey. This immersive five-day program is designed to…

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Hi Chelsey!

I do not oversee our info desk but one thing we implemented a while back for our setup crew was initialing next to a task on their setup sheets for any tasks they complete. These sheets are printed each day and checked by our area manager to ensure they are completed; this way they know for sure that their tasks have been completed…

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Hi Paul! Glad the newsletter was helpful!

For LinkedIn, our campus has access to the premium account, so maybe check in with your technology department if your campus has bought the rights to use it? I think everyone who watches it has to have an account, but a workaround could be for one person to buy the premium account and show the…

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Hey Deanna:
Thanks for sharing this info!  I’ve signed up for the weekly customer service tip and directed my full-time staff to do so as well.  Want to see what comes throughout the summer and, potentially, looking to have our student staff sign up in the fall.
Curious – how would you deliver the LinkedIn training to all of your… Read more