ByGeorge! Online

Aug. 21, 2001

Putting Students First

New University Initiative Takes Aim at Improving Customer Service

By Thomas Kohout

With the arrival this week of the largest freshman class in GW history, administrators, faculty, and staff are mobilizing to ensure the University provides the quality of service students deserve. Focusing on words like service, information, and collaboration, the Students First initiative aims to improve the quality of the educational and living experience.

The initiative began at the end of the 2000–01 academic year, when administrators became aware of the size of class of 2005. President Trachtenberg turned to Vice Presidents Donald R. Lehman, Robert Chernak, and Michael Freedman, the administrators responsible for student life, to develop a collaborative task force to review all the services impacting the undergraduate experience. Two staff members were chosen to represent each vice presidential department.

According to GW Mt. Vernon Campus Executive Dean Grae Baxter, who chairs the task force, just because the freshmen enrollment prompted the self evaluation doesn’t mean the initiative is directed solely at the incoming class. The record enrollment impacts all the way up the line and Students First seeks to maintain a positive educational experience for the whole student body.

Baxter says the group immediately turned its attention to the front line offices and departments such as financial aid and student accounts. After interviewing staff as well as students, the task force determined one key to their mission is alleviating stress from misdirected phone calls and waiting in line.

“This task force is not a management group,” reassures Baxter. “It’s designed to work with and support departments, share ideas and get together with other departments and help the University deliver its expectations.”

Baxter, and the task force that includes Cheryl Biel, director of academic planning and assessment; Gretchen King, director of media relations; Bob Ludwig, assistant director of media relations; Craig Linebaugh, associate vice president for academic planning and special projects; Helen Cannady-Saulny, special assistant to Vice President Chernak; Jonnie Osborne, executive director of budget, finance, and personnel administration; Cecilia Hamilton, senior adviser for finance; and Michael Peller, managing director for property management, merely want to help departments help themselves.

“What we can assume is that people do their best given what they know, but we can always be better. This is a University-wide look at all departments that actually or potentially affect the student experience. We’re coming up with collaborative, cross-departmental solutions.”

Among the observations that came to light was the volume of misdirected phone calls and questions.

“Once students got their tuition bill they had questions about housing or financial aid or adding classes,” says Gretchen King, “and they’re standing there with a bill in their hands with the phone number for the cashiers office on the front so they call the office and start asking questions.”

After speaking with staff and students, the task force developed a two-pronged plan of attack. They suggested staggering the billing cycle to spread out the flow of paperwork. They also decided to send a pre-emptive letter with frequently asked questions, providing the appropriate contact information to questions such as third-party billing, financial aid, and student accounts.

“We want to avoid callers being bounced around the University, being referred multiple times,” says Baxter. “By getting the information out there
we hope this will ease the load of questions and keep the calls to a minimum.”

Unlocking Answers

A key development of Students First is the creation of a Web site,
studentsfirst.gwu.edu, to answer questions and get feedback from students about potential issues. The first two or three weeks of any semester can be confusing and stressful, even for upper classmen. The new site provides one-stop shopping for key information and FAQs. This information seeks to redirect questions to the most appropriate departments.

“We didn’t want to reinvent the wheel when we were developing the content for the Web site,” says King. “We wanted to cover the basics and direct people to the Web sites of various departments and services.”

The site contains links and answers questions covering everything from academics, such as add-drop, registration, advising, and academic technology; to campus housing, to health and safety issues.

“One of the neatest aspects of the site is an electronic comment card, where students can send questions and comments,” says Baxter adding, “Each question will be answered and followed up on, without fail.”

Associate Director of Student Activities Peter Konwerski will manage a team of Presidential Administrative Fellows who will be closely involved in the outreach aspects of Students First. Konwerski believes as recent graduates the PAFs are uniquely qualified and could end up the program’s MVPs.

“They’re the perfect hybrid,” says Konwerski. “They just graduated so they know what it’s like to try and navigate the University, but they’re also serving in administrative capacities so they have experience on all sides.”

Academically Speaking
A new year offers more challenges than just answering questions and improving the flow of work in some of the administrative offices. Three hundred additional students means more course sections need to be created and more faculty members need to be hired, creating new challenges with scheduling class space and advising.

“We’re really focused on students,” says Craig Linebaugh. “The efforts toward enhancing operations in the registrar’s office, adding computer labs, and providing more course sections will help enhance the student experience.”

According to Linebaugh the University added more than 50 lectures, 18 discussion sections, and nine or ten labs. “We felt it was important not to rely on part-time faculty, so we hired nine new full-time contract positions (eight in the Columbian school and one in the business school). These are not tenure track or research positions. The main function of these new employees is to teach. They’ll teach three courses each semester.”

“What’s really been gratifying is discovering the truly high level of competency and caring that exists throughout the University,” Baxter says. “What happens is that sometimes the pressures or technical issues prevent people from doing the kind of job they want to do. Relieving this is part of the solution.”

 

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