Students, faculty and visitors to Oklahoma Christian University have been greeted by this view for weeks while construction takes place in the lobby of the Mabee Learning Center. Library staff have been re-located, and the front desk lies vacant for its next occupant: the Hub. The Talon sat down with David Taylor, the IT manager for Support Central, to discuss the upcoming changes to Support Central and the impact it will have on students.
“The whole idea is we want to have a ‘one stop shop’ where students needing support for really anything can come to one area on campus and get the information they need and get the assistance they need,” Taylor said.
The concept is presently in its first phase, with Support Central. The student advocacy center in Cogswell-Alexandar Hall handles the majority of student issues, which are then routed to the appropriate departments.
“Right now that iteration has looked like having financial services and the registrar, the IT support, kind of all co-located in one space, and then we have the student advocacy center, kind of in the front, that helps greet and direct people to all those places,” Taylor said.
All of the current setup will change with the renovated space in the Mabee Learning Center. Offices and services occupying Cogswell-Alexandar Hall will move into the first and third floors as soon as construction finishes.
“You’ll have the Student Advocacy Center and the call center on that first-floor area right behind that newly clad desk that’s down there, and then IT support will just be over to the right side… Then my understanding is that registrar and financial services will be moving up to the third floor of the library,” Taylor said.
Along with the move comes a fresh identity. The Hub will be the new presence on campus, directing students to get the assistance they need and becoming the central distribution system for other services.
“Now we are moving into a new space that’s going to encompass more than just, you know, the registrar, our financial services… I think maybe the name change tries to signify, ‘Hey, [the Hub] is the next iteration of what’s happening,’” Taylor said.
Additionally, the relocation and name are not the only changes taking place. The structure and oversight of the Hub are shifting.
“The responsibility for the Hub is kind of going to be moving more under Student Life, and so we’re trying to reorganize that. Obviously, IT is still going to exist in that space, but IT is going to be more of a service that is offered there, not the folks that are actually running that space,” Taylor said.
Support Central is also piloting an online waitlist system, which is flexible with students’ schedules. Soon, students will no longer have to guess when the registrar or IT will be available to work with them. Appointments and wait times will be available online.
“The advocates are able to set you up in an almost virtual ‘take a number’ sort of system, and so they get down just some basic information as to what your needs are, and then you end up getting like a text message letting you know, ‘Hey, this is your place in the line, and we’ll let you know when it’s time to come up,’” Taylor said.
This system enables students to manage problems in a timely manner, around the clock, from anywhere on campus. Real-time notifications expand a student’s capabilities to show up at a convenient time quicker.
“We’ll have QR codes up around campus where students can even book themselves an appointment and add themselves to the waitlist beforehand so that then they can show up and get served faster… [For example, if I was a student,] and while I’m walking out of my class, I know I need to visit with this department. Being able to go ahead and preemptively get myself in line to see those people,” Taylor said.
As construction comes to a close on these spaces, the hope is to continue streamlining services across campus. Not only would the Hub interact with and assist students, but also directly deliver students to the offices they are meeting with.
“Ultimately, the vision is to have other departments like housing and really any sort of student service located in the same space, so that way it’s not like, ‘Okay, you need to talk to international records; they’re across the quad over in this other building,” Taylor said.
Students right now can impact their experience of Support Central. Prompt feedback on any issues they encounter can drastically alter the results. Communication is key, Taylor described.
“If no one tells us that there’s a pain point, we can’t fix the pain points that we don’t know about… A lot of times, we’ll have people that will come in and [say,] ‘Yeah, this has not been working for, like, two or three months,’ …We could have fixed this in maybe five minutes, but you’ve been struggling for a month because no one told us that it needed to be fixed,” Taylor said.
Support Central can be reached online, by phone, or by email.
Online Request Portal: https://support.oc.edu/hc/en-us/requests/new
Phone: (405) 425-5555
Email: SupportCentral@oc.edu
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