New service desk makes Campus Rec accessible
Room 126 in the Health, Physical Education and Recreation building used to be the crowded and busy hub for all Campus Recreation dealings.
Not anymore.
With a new service desk in the HPER just across the hall from Campus Recreation headquarters, Kevin Kobe, the director of Campus Recreation, said everything is running better for students and the department.
“From a student perspective we wanted to have an easy walk-through service desk where a student could find all the information about all the campus rec programs really easily,” he said.
He also said from an administrative standpoint, those working in the office needed time more quiet time to work on projects and other administrative things. For him, the new service desk is like putting a rock in a river.
“The water has to go somehwere else now,” Kobe said. “[The service desk] diverts a lot of the business of the office to the student desk. Now we don’t have the phone calls and constant interruptions. Most of the questions can be answered right there all really easy.”
“We wanted to focus on better customer service,” Assistant Director of campus recreation Scott Wamsley said.
Before, the Campus Recreation office was the administrative office as well as a help desk for questions., which made it really busy and crowded.
Wamsley said that 65 to 70 percent of the calls that would come in were questions about racquetball sign-ups, building hours, intramurals, etc.
“I would spend the first hour here [in the office] just answering the phone,” Wamsley said.
Regina Atkin, the accountant for campus recreation and the person who schedules the building said there has been a big difference in the ability of customer service.
“Before, in the office, we had croweded lines,” she said. “It’s nicer for students because they can come in and there is more room and they don’t have to hunt for where they’re going.”
Casey Egbert, one of the service desk employees, said the desk receives an average of about 20 to 40 calls in four hours and has a consistent flow of visitors with questions.
Wamsley said the desk also helps get more information out about campus rec and the programs it offers.
“It’s more visible when students walk into the HPER they see the service desk and they are able to stop in and ask questions regarding intramurals,” he said. “We hope it helps us with all students participating in all our programs, not just intramurals. At the pool, racquet ball courts, whatever we can do to generate more awareness to get our name out there and what we offer.”
“It’s definitey a big advertisement for us,” Atkin said. “People walking by can see us.”
Atkin and Kobe said plans for the service desk in the future may possibly include a small retail store. Kobe said they might sell small items that would help out with campus recreation programs like yoga mats and swimming goggles as well as campus rec T-shirts, water bottles and patches.
“We’re hoping to get it to expand eventually,” Atkin said,” like being able to sell things. That’s a little bit away. We’re hoping to get it bigger so that it can serve a greater amount of students than now.”
The new number for the service desk is 797-PLAY (7529).
For questions, just call the service desk.
-aedmunds@cc.usu.edu