The Office of Student Organizations is rolling out a few new programs this year in order to assist students looking to get involved on campus.
Katie Smith, Student Organizations coordinator, has many big plans for student organizations this year. Smith started her position as coordinator last December.
Smith has already revamped the website, called The Hub, to be more student-friendly, which can be found at www.thehub.orgsync.com.
“We really want freshmen to start utilizing it,” Smith said.
Smith encourages the freshmen and upperclassmen to get into the habit of checking The Hub for Student Life events. Students can also utilize the website to rent tables and boards, start a new organization, apply for travel funds, submit ideas and more.
Students can even submit events through their organization’s OrgSync page to be featured on the Student Life calendar.
The Office of Student Organizations is also rolling out a few new programs this year in order to assist Registered Student Organizations (RSOs) and Greek organizations. RSOs are now able to rent a table for the University Center hallway through OrgSync. Previously students have been able to reserve tables only after visiting multiple people for approval. Now, this will be “one stop shopping” for the organization leaders, as signatures needed for approval will now be gathered electronically.
The organization contact will need to provide their RSO name, date, and times they would like to have the table. It is recommended that RSOs reserve their table at least one week in advance through OrgSync.
RSOs and Greek organizations will also be able to reserve one of the three bulletin boards in the University Center hallway, also near the food courts, for their group. The boards may be used to promote the group or promote an event or service project the group is hosting.
Groups may reserve the boards for a one-week period on a first come, first serve basis. Groups will have the board from 1 p.m. Sunday to the following Sunday at noon.
If the organization does not remove their items at the end of the one-week period, they will be thrown away and the group will not be able to reserve a board for a month. It is recommended that organizations reserve a board at least one week in advance for their group.
Smith also expects to utilize OrgSync more, and each student will be registered into OrgSync at the beginning of the semester if he or she hasn’t already joined.
OrgSync is a place where students can go to find out more about student organizations and clubs on campus, without ever having to leave their computer. It’s basically the online community for the UTM campus.
Students can access OrgSync through the UTM portal or at www.orgsync.com. From there, one can search for the types of groups they are interested in joining. The main group categories are academic, club sport, departmental, Greek, honorary, professional, religious, residence halls, service, special interest and student governance. Under the “Organizations” tab, select the “add organization” button. From there, one can view all of the organizations at UTM and then request to join.
Some organizations require a password to join. If that’s the case, either get the password from the organization’s leader, or simply send a request to join.
Once a person has joined a club, they have access to the “Community Home” page, which displays community events, organization posts and other helpful student organization information.
Organization members can write on the page wall, participate in polls, view videos and photos, fill out important forms, participate in discussions, view the calendar and much more.
An underused resource for students is the e-Portfolio, which can be found under the “My Tools” section. E-Portfolio is basically an online resume for your student organization involvement on campus.
According to Smith, the e-Portfolio should be available even after students graduate from the university. Whether a graduate needs an “organization resume” for a job interview, or just wants to save a copy, the e-Portfolio will be available.
The Office of Student Organizations now requires that every organization’s roster be updated on OrgSync before any major event, so it is very important for students to register with their appropriate groups.
Outside of the new programs, Smith encourages students to get involved to make the most of his or her college experience.
“The best thing is to get out there and meet people,” Smith said.
“Attend a bunch of student organizations meetings and always stay in the loop by checking in with the student organizations website. It’s the best way to get plugged in.”
Organizations will be given more information about these services at the Presidents Roundtable Meeting, which will be held at 8 p.m. on Monday, Sept. 9 in the University Center Ballroom.
