Admissions, Career Network swapping homes Sarah R. Buchholz CHRONICLE STAFF July 28, 2000 Admissions and the Campus Career Network will be trading places next month in a move designed to help both better fulfill their missions, according to Joseph Marshall, assistant vice chancellor for Enrollment Services. The move, which will begin Aug. 2 and is scheduled to be completed before the fall semester begins, will give Admissions some much-needed space for visitors, storage, and seasonal personnel and will make the central office of the Career Network more accessible to students, Marshall said. The Massachusetts Higher Education Consortium (MHEC), which shares the Mather Building with the Career Network, will also make the move to the current Admissions Center Building, and the New Students Program will be moving with Admissions to the Mather Building. "The need for Admissions was general space and room for bodies," he said. "It was already crowded with the full-time contingent, and I've got to hire up to 10 long-term temporary people each year for data entry and recruiting, and I have no place to put them. We had been storing all of our applications, viewbooks and marketing materials in the University Apartments. When they were shut down, I was forced to rent storage lockers off campus, and that's a lot of money. Even with storing the materials, we didn't have enough room in the Admissions Center for the ones we needed to have on hand. The fire marshal almost closed us down." With 17,300 square feet, the Mather Building in Fraternity-Sorority Park off East Pleasant Street has almost 65 percent more space than the 10,500-square-foot Admissions Center Building. Marshall said the increase in parking spaces and an easier location to find will be helpful for the office's out-of-town guests. "We have much better parking there for staff and guests, and the bus stops literally at the front door," he said. "Our primary constituents are off-campus people. Because it's a straight-line shot from downtown Amherst, it's going to be easier to find. The single most common problem I hear about now is people trying to find the Admissions Center." Joan Stoia, director of the Campus Career Network, said she is looking forward to returning her operation to the heart of campus. "For us to go to that building is wonderful from a student-service standpoint," she said. "We have been looking for a slightly smaller space because we have teams of staff in academic buildings. With teams deployed around the campus, as a manager, I need to be accessible to those people. "The most exciting issue for me is that the campus recruiting function will be truly walking distance for all the students. The shared functions - the library, recruiting, campus interviewing - will be a stone's throw from our students." Stoia said she expects more students to take advantage of on-campus interviews once her office is in the new location. "It's pretty good timing to make the move," Marshall said. "New Students Program doesn't complete their programs until the end of July, and the new class comes in the end of August. We've only got a small window each year." Although Marshall said he has been considering the move for nearly a year, plans for the switch have been swift in order to accommodate the small timeframe this summer. "Two months ago, I had my first conversation with Javier [Cevallos, interim vice chancellor for Student Affairs]. Then I brought people in individually to take shots at it. It mushroomed almost exponentially toward the end. Telecommunications, Physical Plant, Custodial Service - everybody has been just wonderful. "With budgets being tight we're having to be very creative. My guess is that the whole thing is going to come in around $40,000. We're going to patch it together, some out of my central funds, some from Admissions, some from career services and the vice chancellor. A lot of people are going to have to redo publications, update maps." During the initial stages of the move the affected offices will be closed. The MHEC will be closed Aug. 2-4, reopening on the 7th. The Career Network plans to be closed Aug. 3-8, reopening on the 9th. Although Admissions will be closed for moving from Aug. 2-4, campus tours will run as scheduled and the daily Admissions information sessions will continue to be offered at 12:30 p.m. in the Lincoln Campus Center, according to David Hautanen, associate director of Undergraduate Admissions. Hautanen said the office will try to keep its main number operating by forwarding calls to Enrollment Services but that individual staff will not be available by phone or e-mail, unless they access their account from somewhere outside their offices. "It's going to take us a couple of days to get everything back on track," he said. "We're not really encouraging people to visit the Admissions office itself until the 10th to give us a few days to get settled."