Students will have the chance to make their voices heard and shape the who, what where and when of all Student Activities Board events by taking a survey next semester, according to the assistant dean of student activities, Mariel Pagan.
Next semester, SAB will have a marketing committee, a group of students specifically focused on promotion of what the SAB offers. Information from the end-of-the-semester survey is an integral part of the event selection process, Pagan said.
"We are hoping to build on our success and bring it to the next level," Pagan said.
The informally named "end of the semester survey," created by Pagan and Student Voice, helps convey student concerns about past events and gives the SAB the opportunity to answer questions.
Student Voice is an outsider company that focuses on creating effective surveys for students.
Last semester, students who took the survey wanted more events held on Fridays, according to Pagan. In response, the SAB now hosts "Free Flick Fridays," a free movie night held weekly for SHU students and non students in the Main Lounge of the University Center.
Following each event, students can participate in the "iPod Touch survey" and comment or give feedback on specific events right after they occur, Pagan said.
The survey is a virtually new concept for the committee, with only two previous distributions, so the SAB uses a number of techniques to encourage student participation.
Before the survey's release, SAB members hold a "poster campaign," during which fliers informing students of the survey's upcoming release are plastered all over campus.
The SAB has a Facebook and a Twitter page, both geared toward promoting events and surveys. After the survey's release, members of the committee tweet about results of the survey to show students "we really are listening," Pagan said.
In conjunction with the Student Activities Fee included in every student's tuition, Seton Hall University offers a portion of its budget for SAB-organized events. The survey helps the committee organize events guaranteed to have a large turnout, which optimizes the SAB's use of the budget.
Lindsay Ireland can be reached at lindsay.ireland@student.shu.edu
