Whether it’s managing clubs or putting together student events, a lot of work goes on behind the scenes to make sure UNC Asheville students have things to do outside of class. It’s so much work, that one organization just can’t keep up easily. So UNCA is implementing a new system for managing student involvement.
Starting this semester, there are three groups dedicated to facilitating student involvement on campus. The Involvement Ambassadors are overseeing general student involvement opportunities, Student Organization Coordinators are working with club and Spirit and Tradition Coordinators will handle annual events like Rockypalooza and Turning of the Maples.
The Involvement Ambassadors replaced Asheville Campus Entertainment (ACE) last year. ACE was the original student-led group responsible for hosting student events like karaoke, trivia and bingo nights. Involvement Ambassadors also organized events like these, but additionally they worked to provide support to student organizations.
Junior Anele Saige is currently a Student Organization Coordinator, but worked as a Student Involvement Ambassador last semester. She explained why the initial change took place.
“The upper management wanted to change the office so that it focused more on student organizations,” Saige said. “So then it changed to the Involvement Ambassadors, and that’s what I joined last semester, and that was when we were doing both events and also helping student organizations get registered and funded.”
Assistant Director for Student Involvement, Isa Luciano explained that balancing two major responsibilities was difficult for one team. As a result the Involvement Ambassadors struggled to fulfill their goal of tending to student organizations, which is why the two other groups were introduced.
“I think that we had a very specific vision for the Involvement Ambassadors, and they weren’t able to accomplish it, because there were just so many other things that continued to pop up,” said Luciano. “I think I’m hopeful that this will help the student leaders do specifically what they’re assigned to do.”
The Senior Director for Campus Life, Jessica Inman said the three groups work under the same umbrella and collaborate for certain projects. Saige believes having multiple branches could be largely beneficial, but worries that it may present obstacles with communication.
“My only hope is that we continue to stay as connected as we were when we were doing everything,” Saige said. “That’s the only thing I can see being a little bit hard, because now we’re in different branches, so we are focusing on different things and we’re not always in the same place at the same time. But I think we’ll have a good core and we’ll be able to maintain that communication and remember that even if we’re in three different branches, we are a part of one team.”
The teams don’t need to have everything figured out immediately. Each one is being overseen by a staff member so they can work out the kinks of the new setup.
Luciano is working with the Student Organization Coordinators, Inman is working with the Involvement Ambassadors and Associate Director of Student Involvement, Anna Claire Jackson is working with the Spirit and Traditions Coordinators .
After this semester there are plans for the teams to become more independent, Inman said. But she intends to make sure they always have a staff member they can turn to when that time comes.
“They will always have one of us as an advisor,” Inman said. “It will most likely be Anna Claire or Isa as we transition at some point later this semester, but we’re not going to do that until we know that they feel great and that they’ve got a dedicated staff member, because that’s what matters to us, is them having somebody to go to that can support them.”
“So far, it’s been a little bit chaotic,” Saige said. “But that’s to be expected when you change something. I think once we get used to it, I can see it being a nice way of operation.”
