Home » News » Committee Updates – Jan. and Feb. 2012
Committee Updates – Jan. and Feb. 2012
Athletics Committee Monthly Report
During the past month, the Athletics Committee has completed an ongoing initiative– working with Vandy Fanatics, VPB and VU Athletics Marketing to facilitate a major weekend for Vanderbilt basketball. This process began in late November, and we worked primarily with Steve Walsh (Dir. of Marketing, VU Athletics), Dwayne Elliot (Dir. of Student Campus Events, VPB) and Allison Bradley (Asst. Dir. of Marketing, VU Athletics). It will be rewarding to see our hard work pay off when fans pack the house to cheer on the Black and Gold– Feb. 9 vs. UT women’s basketball and Feb. 11 vs. Kentucky men’s basketball. In addition to our presence at brainstorming meetings, we had the opportunity to sponsor T-shirts and player “big heads” for the weekend– hopefully, VSG’s contributions will help to make this a great weekend for everyone involved.
While we were planning for basketball, we attended information sessions and completed peer institution research (e.g. Rice, Emory, Northwestern) for our Rec Center initiatives. We have been working with representatives from the Rec for a few semesters, and we think our student survey will help in the Rec expansion process. It was exciting to see the plans for the Fieldhouse (which is slotted to take the place of the softball fields in front of the Rec) and it was nice to get a glimpse of “the future” at VU.
On the Horizon– Congratulations to the Commodores for making it to the College World Series last season, and now, the Athletics Committee is planning ahead for a great spring of baseball at Hawkins Field.
Student Services and Technology Monthly Report
Since our last monthly report, SST has succeeded in several initiatives. First, we worked with the College of Arts and Sciences to secure online major/minor declarations for the 2012-2013 school year. Second, we worked with the Office of the Registrar to improve the online syllabi process, making it easier to use for professors, working with the administration to encourage professor participation, and making it accessible on the YES course registration website. Additionally, we partnered with Kaplan to host our second free practice test of the year for the LSAT, MCAT, GRE, GMAT, PCAT, DAT, and OAT, and we hosted another successful Commodore Express shuttle service this month to take students to Target, Kroeger, and Green Hills. Finally, we are in the process of planning a Spring Career Conference for undergraduate students with the help of the Career Center and Alumni Relations Office. We will be hosting breakout sessions, internship advice, and career counseling with a number of Vanderbilt alumni from a variety of career fields. We are beginning to wrap up many of our first semester initiatives, and we look forward to another successful semester in SST.
Organizational Relations Monthly Report
This past month, Organizational Relations welcomed the consultants from Zeta Tau Alpha to the monthly meeting to discuss colonization at Vanderbilt. Organizational Relations is also preparing to host the second semester organization fair, Free for All on the Wall. Scheduled for February 23rd, student organizations will have the chance to publicize their events, highlight accomplishments from first semester, and attract new members. Interested organizations should email vanderbiltstudentgovernment@gmail.com by 5:00 pm on Friday, February 17th. Organizations will be accepted on as long as space is available. The next Org Relations meeting is scheduled for Feb. 26th.
Security Monthly Report
The Security Committee has worked diligently throughout this year to ensure the safety and security of Vanderbilt students. One of the main priorities of the Security Committee is maintaining and addressing issues with the Vandy Vans. With the addition of the Beyond the Bubble Bus, the Security Committee has placed an importance on promoting the downtown shuttle while still ensuring the safety of students who venture downtown.
The Security Committee has worked this month to resolve many of the issues associated with Vandyvans.com. An update will be occurring between February 10th and February 12th, which will hopefully resolve many of the issues associated with the site.
A new Vandy Van stop will be added to the Green Route that will transport students to and from the new Blakemore House. The Security Committee believes in the safety of all students and works diligently to do whatever possible to keep everyone safe and secure.
Community Service Monthly Report
The Community Service Committee has been undergoing a year of exciting expansion. Aside from adopting nearly 100 more underprivileged Nashville kindergartners than ever before in this year’s Angel Tree, the Committee has been working on a whole host of new projects. In September, the Committee helped spearhead a University-wide initiative called the Vanderbilt Emergency Response Coalition, which will provide a systematic, standardized way for Vanderbilt to respond to national and international disasters. In November, the Community Service Committee partnered with the Office of Active Citizenship and Service (OACS) to help several hundred First Year Students register to vote in coming elections. Both Co-Chairs of the Committee have been working on handicap-accessibility initiatives, to make both Vanderbilt’s Campus and Nashville’s streets safer for handicapped students and faculty. This work will continue into the Spring Semester.
The biggest item on the Committee’s radar for the Spring Semester will be to create an all-new major community service event for the Vanderbilt Community to take part in, to mirror the success that Angel Tree has in the Fall Semester each year. These plans are very much in the beginning stages, but are sure to benefit both Vanderbilt and Nashville as a whole. As always, the Community Service Committee welcomes any and all student feedback. You can reach the Co-Chairs at mark.j.cherry@vanderbilt.edu and Madison.e.hurwitz@vanderbilt.edu
Environmental Affairs Monthly Update
The Environmental Affairs committee has resumed its important work from last fall with gusto this semester. After guiding VSG through the advocacy for and the passage of a resolution encouraging the administration to work for LEED certification in all new building projects, the committee is working with the administration to help follow through with this strategy. Ongoing projects include a planned pilot of bathroom water-saving clings in partnership with OHARE as part of our Green Guide initiative and a planned partnership with SPEAR in order to implement testing the efficiency of light fixtures in student buildings. In the long term, the committee is working with Sarratt Building Management to develop a campus wide sustainability education scheme for student centers that will provide a consistent environmental education method across campus.
Campus Services Monthly Report
This semester, the Campus Services Committee has been hard at work addressing student needs.
In working with Vanderbilt Dining, we have been able to implement a number of new initiatives. First, due to popular demand, pancakes are now being served daily for breakfast at Commons. In addition, milkshakes will no longer be entrees at the Pub, allowing students to purchase or order a milkshake as a side. Furthermore, nonfat spray has been made available at all omelet stations for breakfast. Lastly, we are in the process of: finalizing plans to place at virtual jukebox at the Pub, researching an appropriate coffee vending machine to place in Rand for late night consumption and looking into creating designated drop off points for Taste of Nashville delivery
In addition, we are in the process of developing new initiatives with Vanderbilt Mail. We are seeking to implement a system where first-year students can reply to package notification emails where they can request to transfer their packages to the Commons Mail Room. Moreover, we are seeking to initiate a PR campaign with new signs and information at the package pick up window that informs students of the peak and off peak hours of picking up a package.
With the Commodore Card Office, we are working on initiating a PR campaign through informing students of the temporary card service available at the Branscomb desk if your Commodore Card is lost when the Commodore Card Office is closed. In addition, we are working to see if a similar temporary card service could be provided at the Commons Info Desk.
With Vanderbilt Housing, we are working on creating an online PDF of residential rooms on the Commons so that incoming first-year students can look up their room dimensions and see sample room designs and setups.
With the Vanderbilt Bookstore, we are finalizing a date and time to host a focus group of students that will give feedback to the bookstore managers about the student experience of online ordering, payment and pick-up of textbooks for the first time at the new bookstore
We are really looking forward to a great semester and encourage all students to contact either Isaac Escamilla or Melissa McKittrick with any ideas, questions or concerns
Posted by lucasscholl on Wednesday, February 8, 2012 in News.
