Introduction written by Nick Robinson, Executive Director, Campus Support Services

 Video clips and photos provided by Marguerite Vera, Sr. Associate Director, Campus Support Services; and the Campus Advocates

Venue Services has recently launched the Campus Advocate program in an effort to promote and maintain a safe environment on campus, amidst the COVID-19 pandemic.

With an educational approach, the Advocates inform our students, faculty, and staff of the University’s health and safety guidelines. Advocates are positioned at pop-up tables in various locations across campus, where they distribute information cards and masks.  

The program is an efficient redeployment opportunity for departments whose core work has been disrupted by the pandemic and a helpful communication program in keeping our University community safe.

Enjoy this video on the program and meet some of the ambassadors!

Video Credits (in order of appearance):

• Marguerite Vera, Senior Associate Director, Campus Support Services
• Risa Lemkin, Venue Manager, Venue Services
• Vin Stanley, Venue Manager, Venue Services
• Angel Aguilar, Custodian-Floater, Building Services
• Ronnie Roy, Lead Custodian, Building Services
• Sony Francois, Custodian, Building Services
• Edgar Ruiz, Custodian, Building Services
• Christiana Augustine, Retail Food Service Worker, Campus Dining
• Reyna Yildiz, Food Service Worker, Campus Dining
• Sujata Acharya, Retail Food Service Worker, Campus Dining
• Pedro Garcia-Juarez, Food Service Worker, Campus Dining
• Tim Tamamoto, Custodian, Building Services
• Nick Robinson, Executive Director, Campus Support Services

Related: University Homepage Story

 Written by Dorian Johnson, Director of Housing, Housing and Real Estate Services

For the past nine months, Housing’s Student Housing and Operations team has participated in the University’s COVID-19 response. And when I think of our team in the context of all that has transpired, one word comes to mind—resilience.

Resilience surely describes our team, a team that has shown its toughness and its ability to adapt and adjust to all that a situation commands. 

During this time, I have been struck by the strength of our team displayed in their ability to effectively support the students and the University’s response effort even though we are physically apart. That strength is shown beyond just getting the work done, but also in the appreciation and care that team members have shown for one another. During some of our all-staff Zoom meetings, as updates were shared on the ways that we continue to work together and with campus partners, various team members sent notes of thanks and appreciation via the Zoom chat feature.

Further, one of the team leaders noted that throughout this period our teams have shown that the “hours of the workday” don’t apply. They often answer inquiries, monitor situations, and respond to needs that arise, well into the evenings and through the weekends. For example, there were several times when a student went into self-quarantine/isolation in the evening after the last meal drop-off occurred. Often in these instances, a manager from the Operations team would order a pizza for the student, have the pizza delivered to the on-call Area Coordinator, and then the on-call Area Coordinator would deliver the pizza to the student. These small gestures demonstrate the care and concern the staff have shown and continue to show to the students and wider University community throughout this COVID-19 response period.

The following is a very brief snapshot of the various ways that our team supported and continues to support the community during the pandemic.

• The Area Coordinators delivered close to 2,000 meals/boxes of groceries to self-quarantining/isolating undergraduate and graduate students from the initiation of the federal government’s travel restrictions on January 31 through the early spring. The team also delivered thermometers, medicines, and other items that students need/request.

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  In collaboration with Campus Life, the Graduate School, Print and Mail Services, and Conference and Event Services, our team planned and implemented the moving supply (boxes and tape) distribution center at Dillon Gym and delivered supplies to graduate housing locations.
• We coordinated the retrieval of student belongings from their rooms by external moving and storage vendors, consolidated remaining students into a reduced number of dorms, and inspected rooms in preparation for dorm turnover work. 
• In collaboration with Environment Health and Safety, University Health Services, Campus Dining, and Facilities, we identified and prepared spaces for student quarantine/isolation. 
• Worked with the Campus Life and college staffs to facilitate moves to proactively prepare areas that can be used for student self-isolation and for potential alternate uses. 
• Our Occupancy Management team identified alternate assignments for students remaining on campus who were relocated. Additionally, the team processed housing contract credits for eligible undergraduate and graduate students, and worked with USIT and OIT to provided virtual support for multiple room selection processes in April and again in August.

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  As the department’s virtual front-face for students and campus partners, our Engagement and Occupancy Management teams responded to numerous inquiries about COVID-19-related issues, move-out questions, account credit/billing issues, Room Draw questions, and incoming student inquiries. Responses were typically provided within one business day. 
• During the month of March alone they responded to over 1,100 SN@P inquiries. (Previous highs were February 2020 with approximately 500 inquiries and October 2019 with 450 inquiries.)

The last nine months have challenged us to confront the unknown in so many ways and a team’s response to that challenge typically reflects the strengths and weaknesses of that team. I believe the Student Housing and Operations team has successfully stood up to the challenge because of each team member’s dedication and commitment to the University and to one another. This dedication and commitment are the driving force of the resilience that the team has shown over the last nine months and will continue to show as we forge ahead in continuing to support the University community. 

 Written by Jen Ealy, Director of Housing Real Estate Services, Housing and Real Estate Services

I appreciate the opportunity to introduce the Faculty and Staff Housing team and provide information about our programming to our colleagues in University Services. We oversee more than 500 long-term rental units and visitor housing facilities, we partner with American Campus Communities to place affiliates in the beautiful Merwick Stanworth development and in partnership with our colleagues in the Office of Finance and Treasury, offer homeownership opportunities for faculty through the Princeton Faculty Residential Purchase Program, shared ownership and mortgage programs. I hope you enjoy learning more about us and our programs in this video tour.

Video Credits (in order of appearance):

• Jen Ealy, Director of Housing Real Estate Services
• Dawn Gruver, Senior Manager for Faculty and Staff Housing
• Jon Zelnick, Real Estate Services and Projects Coordinator
• Sarah Major, Manager for Housing Services
• Karen Babecki, Office Assistant 

 Written by Michelle Brown, Manager, The Service Point

Opened during the COVID-19 pandemic, The Service Point is a new integrated service center offering the campus community services around parking, transportation, housing and TigerCard. Our newly formed team has been constantly at work, developing new ways to serve the community during these unprecedented times, but we welcome you to interact with us through email, phone, and chat. We hope you and your families are staying safe and we look forward to seeing you soon, but in the meantime, please watch our guided tour of our new space!

Video Credits (in order of appearance):

• Michelle Brown, Manager
• MartiAnn Schenck, Service Coordinator
• Julie Whalen, Solutions Specialist
• Jenna Glass, Solutions Specialist
• Jazmine Glover, Service Coordinator
• Michael Hebditch, Solutions Specialist
• Emma Marshall, Service and Solutions Advisor

The Service Point Hours

• In-person: Monday-Friday, 9 am-4 pm
• Virtually: Monday-Friday, 8:45 am-5 pm 

 

thepoint.princeton.edu

 

 Written by Marianna Bogucki, Conference and Event Manager, Conference and Event Services

The Conference and Event Services team is excited to begin work on our new event planning Toolkit, a centralized online collection of information, ideas and tools for the campus event planning community. Karen Vaughan, Deputy Director is serving as the Toolkit project manager. 

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The goal of the CES Toolkit project is to design and implement an online, centralized event planning resource that is easy to access and navigate. The toolkit will also provide access to Conference and Event Services and University Scheduling event planning knowledge and expertise, as well as create a space to share event planning ideas and best practices.”  —Karen Vaughan, Deputy Director

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We envision that the Toolkit will allow us to impact more events on campus that we are currently able to. Our hope is that the addition of this resource, combined with our team’s extensive knowledge about campus space and services, will make Conference and Event Services the center of all campus events related information and communications. 

This project has been in the works for over a year under a number of different names and objectives. Our team found that we got the momentum to move forward once we broke down the information that we wanted to include into a series of “buckets”. These buckets of information will allow users to navigate the resource in an easy and accessible way. “I like the idea that this project will hopefully give people a real one stop place for all the information needed to get started with and carry out a successful event” says Sally Buchanan, Scheduling and Event Manager “Kind of like a way finder in the mall.” Rather than searching across multiple service providers and external webpages, we will be compiling the information in one central location and providing guidance for how to best use the information. 

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I like the idea that this project will hopefully give people a real one stop place for all the information needed to get started with and carry out a successful event...kind of like a way finder in the mall.” —Sally Buchanan, Scheduling and Event Manager

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Who is the Toolkit for?

As with all projects, identifying our audience was a big step in moving forward. “The audience for the Toolkit are Princeton University faculty, students and staff who plan events.” Vaughan says, “The design of the Toolkit will accommodate both experienced and new event planners as well as individuals who are new to planning events at Princeton University.” For new hires, the Toolkit will be a vital first stop. The University has a culture where onboarding and training is often done through first hand experience and relationship building. Our hope is that the Toolkit will assist with that learning process and allow those new to events at Princeton to adapt in a quicker and more efficient manner. 

The Toolkit is also meant to be a resource for seasoned event professionals on campus. Even as processes and policies change people tend to “do things the way they have always done it”, as communication about these changes is often limited. The Toolkit will provide a central resource for event communications and information.

Why call it a “Toolkit?”

Perhaps the hardest part of getting started with the Toolkit project was coming up with the name. Team members debated using terms such as “portal” or “website” before deciding that Toolkit best represented the goal of the project. Lucy Weise, Senior Conference and Event Manager, puts it best “A website is typically produced and owned by a single organization. A portal provides access to other websites. What makes this a toolkit is that it brings together resources and websites from various organizations and a user can access it based on their particular needs.”

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A website is typically produced and owned by a single organization. A portal provides access to other websites. What makes this a toolkit is that it brings together resources and websites from various organizations and a user can access it based on their particular needs.” —Lucy Weise, Sr. Conference and Event Manager

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While the Toolkit will be maintained by Conference and Event Services, multiple departments are involved in its creation. Each of the buckets of information that was identified by CES has now been assigned a sub-team made up of representatives from across University Services and the broader campus community. “University Services colleagues will have several opportunities at critical points during the design and implementation phases of the project to provide feedback on the project.” Vaughan stressed “This feedback is important to the success of the project and to creating a resource that adds value to the University community.” We are excited to work with our campus colleagues to  create the Toolkit. This resource will be a living tool that will allow the campus events community to flourish. 

 Written and photos provided by Charlie Tennyson, Deputy Director, Transportation and Parking Services

As more students, staff, and faculty are able to safely return to campus, they will notice some exciting changes from Transportation and Parking Services (TPS). In August, TPS completed a year-long, campus-wide effort to reimagine transportation at Princeton. We collaborated with leading consultants in transportation and engaged the campus community to help us plan the next generation of TigerTransit, including shared services like bikeshare and carshare. Maintaining biking and walking as primary modes of travel was a major focus including travel from expanded campus locations.  

Two outcomes of the project have already been deployed, including a brand new set of TigerTransit routes and signage. Signs at each stop provide users with information about when the next bus is scheduled to arrive, as well as walking and biking times to popular destinations from each stop.

Residents at Lawrence Apartments and Graduate College have new pedestrian and bike advisory lanes, installed to create space for bicyclists and pedestrians to ride and walk along College Road and Lawrence Drive.

Lines Have been striped marking sections on the edges of each street, narrowing the roadway for vehicles. Signage is posted to advise motorists of the new lane configurations and how they will need to yield bikes, pedestrians and oncoming vehicles.

Bikeshare and carshare operations on campus have been temporarily suspended due to safety concerns during the pandemic, but TPS is planning to redeploy these services as soon as possible. In the interim, TPS reclaimed all of the Zagster bikes previously used for bikeshare, and will be re-deploying the bikes in a bike-lending program, through which students, faculty, and staff can rent bikes for use during the semester. More details about the bike lending program will be announced when the service is launched early spring.

You can view all of the project’s highlights and findings, as well as a brief video and results from a campus-wide survey, on the project website. 

 Written and photos provided by Darcy Cotten, Manager, Print and Mail Services

If you’ve been to campus recently, you probably noticed numerous COVID-19 signs designed to keep our community informed, safe and well during the pandemic. 

As the University prepared for the start of the fall semester and resumption of work, Print and Mail Services worked with various groups during the summer to provide signage highlighting important information with regard to face coverings, social distancing, using hand sanitizer, washing hands, and more.

Our largest partnership to date has been with Environmental Health and Safety as well as various staff charged with the task of coordinating signage that would appear in every building encompassing the entire campus.

Most requests were produced at our in-house production facilities located at 201 Nassau Street and 701 Forrestal Campus. For some that fell outside of our production parameters, we partnered with one of our preferred vendors to help us fulfill remaining orders that required special die-cutting and other unique services.

The signage project came in phases as the University meticulously planned its reopening strategies—focusing and prioritizing on specific areas around campus. This enabled our production staff to keep up with the high volume of work and allowed us to meet deadlines as they arose.

Print and Mail produced well over 20,000 signs in total (and counting)

The signage comprised of over 25 distinct designs for a variety of applications including wall decals, standard posters, and assorted floor graphics. While the number might sound modest, Print and Mail produced well over 20,000 signs in total (and counting). It was no simple undertaking, but our production staff was up to the challenge and spent numerous hours over several weeks to accomplish this extraordinary task.

Dennis Fairburn (Production Technician), and Joel Ouellette (Graphic Design and Customer Service Representative), were two key employees tasked with the challenge of producing, trimming, streamlining processes, and packaging the numerous orders. Our Mail Services Carriers/Drivers, Inocki Aponte, Jonathan Carman, Darren Cifelli, Marcel Hotovcin, Stephanie Smith, and Randall Thorn and made multiple deliveries to assure printed materials arrived as scheduled.

When you come across the COVID-19 signage, please keep in mind the collaborative efforts of the various colleagues across campus who worked together, in and behind the scenes to accomplish this complex endeavor.

 Introduction written by Paul Dylik, Assistant Director, Grad/Catering, Campus Dining

 Photos provided by Renae Hill, Communications Specialist, Campus Dining; and Paul Dylik

To address food insecurity in local communities due to the pandemic, Campus Dining, Human Resources, Office of Community and Regional Affairs, and the Pace Center established the Summer Food and Nutrition Program. The initiative included collaborations with the Princeton Public Schools and three non-profit organizations: Homefront, Rescue Mission of Trenton, and Meals on Wheels of Mercer County.

The program took place from July 7 through August 16 and provided continuity of employment for all Campus Dining employees.

The following photos chronicle the six-week program that provided a total of approximately 43,000 meals to at-risk families, children, and individuals in surrounding communities.

Related coverage

• University Homepage
• Campus Dining Website

 

 Introduction written by Sandra Parisi, Director of Business Services

During the past academic year, the first floor and basement at 36 University Place underwent a significant renovation. The U-Store had a complete renovation of its first floor retail space with additional retail provided in the basement accessed by a new stairwell. Also on the first floor, a new shared lounge and greeting space was created for Admissions as well as a new Presentation Room on the first floor mezzanine to accommodate general information sessions. Please view the video to see the U-Store’s new look and Admissions' new spaces.

Video Credits (in order of appearance):

• U-Store photos provided by Michael Yoon
• Renderings of Admission spaces provided by Halkin/Mason Photography, LLC.
• Architect: EwingCole