For the last five years, students at Stanislaus State University have enjoyed a new and modern University Student Center. Although the new student center is not that old, the Student Center Board is already looking to the future.
Students recently received an email asking them to participate in a survey about the future of the Student Center.
“As a reminder, California State University, Stanislaus (Stan State) is actively planning the future of the University Student Center and values your input,” the email reads. “We would greatly appreciate hearing about your current experiences with the University Student Center as well as what you would like to see for future students at Stan State!”
Students can find the link for the survey in their emails. The Student Center is raffling off ten $100 visa cards to students who fill out the survey.
Jelaine Esguerra (3rd Year, Psychology), who is the Chair of the Student Center Board of Directors, describes the purpose of the survey as helping them understand what they can do with the Student Center to help students, in this process of creating a master plan for the Student Center.
“Having a master plan and kind of a visual and just seeing what students want. What helps with the discussion is that we actually get to talk to students and what do they use in the Student Center and if they don’t use, why don’t they use it,” Esguerra said.
According to the email and Esguerra, this is a 10 to 15 minute survey asks students all kinds of questions, ranging from their housing situation, to where they like to hang out with other students, what areas of the Student Center they use the most when they use the center and all other kinds of questions about their habits and how the Student Center plays into that.
The University Student Center has retained Brailsford & Dunlavey, a nationally recognized consulting firm that has worked on over 70 CSU projects as well as has helped with 100+ student union projects. Two of the people assigned to the project, David Prokopenko (Senior Associate) and Greg Suhr (Analyst), are helping to conduct the survey and write a report which will include a master plan for the Student Center.
Prokopenko described the purpose of the survey from Brailsford & Dunlavey’s perspective.
“First is, you know, in any sense, we’re trying to understand what is the current condition, how do we, what are we dealing with today in the environment. How do students perceive the building today? What are they using it? For what are they not using it for? Or what are the substitutes or alternatives that they’re like leaning towards like today we heard the library mentioned quite a few times, so our role is to first understand the university one, it’s like broader goals for the university itself and then figure out how the Student Center can not only align with the university’s goals, but how they can help,” Prokopenko says.
Suhr describes they are trying to get input from all the stakeholders.
“That strategic piece from the university level, you know, we’ve been talking to all sorts of stakeholders on campus. We’ve been talking to the CFO, the President, you know, a lot, really, a lot of people, with student affairs, SLEB. But even you know, within the Student Center we’re trying to make sure everybody’s kind of in line with the vision going forward and the part where the Student Center is a part of that,” he says.
They hosted two focus groups this week on campus to gather more information from students about their thoughts on the Student Center, how they are using it, how they want to use it, and to gather information from other stakeholders. One of those focus groups was held Monday afternoon in the Student Center. Students from a variety of grade levels shared a variety of ideas they would like to see in the Student Center.
Some students were asking for dedicated space for student orgs to meet, and multiple brought up that they currently use spaces in the library because it better fits their needs then the spaces in the Student Center.
Some students who are commuters brought up it would be nice to have a space to nap on campus. Some are currently sleeping in their cars and it would be nice to have space in the Student Center to do it. Another student brought up space to freshen up. These ideas seemed to be well received, especially among students who don’t live close to campus.
Another common trend that was brought up was dining options which seems to be a common trend anytime student input is sought on-campus. Prokpenko and Suhr asked students if better hours would help them with using the dining options and students agreed.
Some shared that when they get out of evening class they are hungry but everything is already closed. More options were talked about and they gathered input on what kinds of dining options students use off campus to gather ideas of what to bring to campus.
But it was more than just idea sharing. Prokopenko and Suhr asked demographic questions to students to better understand what kind of students were suggesting these ideas.
Esguerra had this to share with students about why they should fill out the survey.
“We’re asking for their input for a reason, we want students’ input. We want their opinion, we want to know what they would want to see in it,” she said.
