April 21, 2011

Housing to conduct survey to assess future needs

by Christi Mathis

CARBONDALE, Ill. -- You can help shape the future of on-campus housing at Southern Illinois University Carbondale.

University Housing is conducting a survey April 25-29 and seeking input from students, faculty, staff and alumni. There will be different sets of questions for each group, all accessible via an email link that people in each group will receive during the survey week. Students can even win cool prizes just for participating.

University Housing is working with Brailsford and Dunlavey, a facility planning and program management firm, to evaluate current on-campus housing and update the existing 15-year comprehensive master plan for University Housing. Focus group meetings have already involved different groups in the evaluation process, including current residents, off-campus residents, students with fraternity and sorority memberships, faculty, staff and resident assistants. The next step is the survey to gather additional information from students, faculty, staff and alumni about housing for SIUC.

The survey asks for feedback from respondents regarding what they think about current University Housing facilities, how University Housing can best serve students, if there should be more small unit housing or graduate student housing and if there is interest in an alumni village. The survey will also help determine if there is a need for University-affiliated rental or transitional housing for faculty and staff and the types of housing that would best meet the needs of the SIUC community.

University Housing staff and Brailsford and Dunlavey highlight the importance of getting feedback from faculty, staff, alumni and students.

“Having a long-range, comprehensive plan is vital for our program. However, even more vital is the inclusion of the many voices affiliated with SIUC in helping us develop this plan. We need students, faculty, staff and alumni to tell us what you need and expect from our housing program, so that we can truly provide a high-quality, affordable and academically supportive program for those we serve,” said Julie Payne-Kirchmeier, assistant provost for University College and director of University Housing.

There are extra incentives for students who participate in the survey. All students responding to the online survey get entered in a random drawing for prizes including an iPad 2, Xbox 360 Kinect, iPod Touch and 30 movie theater $10 gift cards.

For more information about the Shape Our Future Survey, call 618/453-7535 or email housing@siu.edu with “survey” in the subject line.