In following with NEIU Strategic Goal the Office of the Dean of Students has launched the “Ask Me” campaign. The event was kicked off on Jan. 12 and runs through Jan. 23. The campaign is geared toward helping the NEIU community with campus directions and general inquiries. As the NEIU Strategic Goal One, Action Step 1.5 states:
“Improve coordination among student and academic support programs and services with a focus on quality, customer service, and intentional integration with the curriculum”.
After a student affairs meeting, Michael Kelly, Dean of Students, decided on giving the campaign a try. He then tasked Assistant Dean of Students Antoinette McConnell with the huge project of making the “Ask Me” campaign happen.
McConnell began by researching the campaign itself, and she found information via Carlton University in Canada that had held an “Ask Me” campaign.
“[I] found out that it was pretty much a button campaign, so I began to put together the pieces of the campaign” said McConnell. The volunteers of the “Ask Me” campaign were given a kit which explained steps on how to aid the NEIU community’s questions, and highlighted friendly, caring, and more personalized customer service. However, the volunteers and student ambassadors are there to answer general questions about the school. The purpose, says McConnell “Is trying to diminish the idea of not being an impersonal school, but to be personable to students. No, a person wearing an ‘Ask Me’ button will not be able to answer every question, but we will certainly try and point them in the right direction so a person doesn’t have to run from office to office and feel like they are not getting answers to their questions.”
McConnell will also be following up with a survey to help make the campaign more efficient for the upcoming fall semester, which will be the next time the “Ask Me” table and volunteers will be set up. The Office of the Dean of Students plans on making this an ongoing event at the beginning of every semester. McConnell hopes that by the fall semester more people will volunteer and more people will come out and use our services. “We will be waiting with open arms. Come ask us” said McConnell.
For more information, or if you are interested in volunteering for the “Ask Me” campaign, please contact the Office of the Dean of Students located in room B19.