So I attended two events on campus yesterday, and rubbed shoulders with a some IMPORTANT PEOPLE as a result. And we all love to hear about important people, and their doings. Moreover, serious journalism inevitably gives way to tabloidy filler, (at least during exams when actually doing research is impossible).
S0, event #1 was a focus group to ask students about the new Alumni Centre that is going to be built as part of the U-boulevard plan. It's going to be situated on the corner of U-boulevard and the stairwell coming up from the underground bus-loop. If U-boulevard goes through, that is. Funnily enough, nobody mentioned that. In any event, Barney, the fellow from the Alum Association was super keen about getting student ideas for the centre. They plan to make the centre a relaxed place for current students to hang out as well as for making the connection between alumni and current university and student life. Since the building will literally be the first thing you see when you arrive on campus, it's a pretty exciting opportunity. Look for a post about the doings of the Alumni Association after exams - they're up to some neat stuff. For the building, there's five floors to play with. The Alum association figures they need 1.5 floors for their offices and volunteers, and another whole floor is taken up by a large bookable conference centre. There will be some professor emeritus offices in there too. That leaves about 2.5 floors of program space for us to play with. Brian Sullivan, the university's VP students was in attendance (wearing a jaunty bow-tie to boot), as well as a slew of AMS execs (Brittany, Sarah, and Brendon), Tim Louman-Gardiner (who needs no introduction), Jamil Rhajiak of SUS, Marlisse Silver Sweeny, plus two other rez advisers whose names I forget, and a couple people from SAC. A lot of the discussion centred around creating a space and setting a tone that's relevant and attractive to current students, while making it welcoming and useful to visiting alumni, faculty, grad students, and others. How can this building be a real meeting place between groups that don't usually interact in a relaxed social setting?Here were some of the ideas:
- Relaxed lounge/rec room space (foosball, couches, TV, etc) - ladha-esque.
- more formal quiet study space, with smaller meeting rooms, some of which are bookable
- inspiring space, to reflect on students' connections to University, positive and negative
- display space to create a sense of history and campus life: photos, artwork, cool projects, newsworthy items, and so forth.
- ability to hold in/formal networking and mentoring events
- usable by campus groups and clubs, at little/no cost
- cafe or restaurant with mature adult food
- welcome desk with comprehensive campus events calendar, archive resources (like e-yearbook), and all sorts of other campus information. Like a concierge.
- computer terminals with access to library resources for alum
- possible outlet for AMS business
- index/database to connect Alumni in certain fields with students for mentorship
- green roof
The other event I went to was a talk about drugs and gene doping in sports. Since it was pretty standard stuff, we wont' get into the debate. It's wrong, ok? here's the whose who:
- Gina Eom (also needs no introduction)
- David Yuen (former VP admin)
- Clark Funnell (AMS rep for SUS)
- Aminollah Sabzevari (Safewalk assistant coordinator)
then I spotted former AMS president Kevin Keystone chatting on the grass on Student Union Boulevard. [/creepy]
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