Megan McGowan of SAB Discusses Upcoming Plans
The Office of Student Activities and Student Center Operations, and the Student Activities Board have begun creating their annual survey in hopes to receive direct feedback from students for upcoming events of their choice.
The survey is 20 questions that both the Office of Student Activities and Student Center Operations, as well as the Student Activities Board, use to measure student satisfaction, participation and interest. The survey asks a set of the same questions yearly, but will also highlight a specific area of interest to learn more about an explicit area of programming.
Megan Mc-Gowan, Assistant Director of Student Activities and Student Center Operations, works directly with composing this survey. She has created the survey while incorporating ideas from the Student Activities Board. This year, the Student Government Association was also invited to participate and highlight some questions about the University’s annual Springfest.
McGowan said, “Last year we highlighted what type of genres of music students wanted to hear. This year we will be working with the leadership of the Student Government Association to learn more about what students want from the Springfest entertainment.”
McGowan added, “Although when we ask students about specific artists on the survey, we can’t always bring that specific act to a campus, due to the artist availability or schedule, it will give us a broad idea of what the student body is looking for. We will include some write-in areas on the survey but because we are working with a budget and price range when booking campus events, we can’t always book everything the students respond with.”
The survey is sent out directly after the fall semester comes to a conclusion. This is done so that the Student Activities Board can utilize the results to finish up any programming ideas for the upcoming spring semester.
They are then able to use the results to decide on what talent to book when they attend the National Association for Campus Activities (NACA). NACA is an annual convention that allows colleges to preview talent that is touring college campuses that year and work with agents to get convention pricing on site.
By attending this convention, the Student Activities Board is able to book high-level talent at a discounted rate and work with other area colleges to coordinate acts playing in the same area at the same time, as well as being able to share travel costs between various schools.
By participating and completing this survey, students have the option to have their opinions heard as well as a say in what goes on on-campus. No suggestion for an event is too big for brainstorming. Although, it might need to be adjusted so that it works for campus, but the committee takes all responses into account, according to McGowan.
Students this past year have asked directly about possible bus trips. Based on the highest response of what type of bus trip students would like to attend, such as Broadway plays, sporting events, or museum visits; the highest student response was a Broadway show. The committee then arranged for a trip to see Spiderman on Broadway this February.
The more engaged students are with the survey, the more likely trips will be planned to fit their specific interest, which they will be able to take full advantage of. McGowan further explains, “Last year, the survey team also gauged the amount of students who would pay $250 for a weekend trip to Boston. Based on the responses, they felt confident in offering the fall break trip to Salem and Boston, which was a huge success. The trip also had great feedback from those who attended.
“These two questions were important to take into consideration because ‘travel’ and ‘tour’ was the highest rated category that students stated they wanted to see more of. We also ask students what past events they most enjoyed so we had an idea of what we should or should not bring back to campus,” said McGowan.
Every student will be emailed the link to take the survey. The survey will be sent out on the last day of classes. Keep a look out in your email and do not miss out on getting involved with the planning of events here at the University.
