At first glance, the University of Arkansas campus may appear empty and lifeless during the winter break, but there’s activity behind several of the building’s brick and limestone facades.
University police, research assistants with projects in progress and UA farm hands plow through the holidays while many of the campus’s offices, buildings and operations are shut down from last Saturday through next Wednesday. Operators in the university’s Information Technology Service’sData Center work to make sure all systems are running smoothly and report errors if they happen.
A recording on the main phone line into the UA admissions office says the office is closed for the holidays but that workers are still tending to the needs of prospective students. High school students with downtime over their own winter breaks think more about college choices and take the opportunity to request more information and fill out applications for admission and scholarships, said Suzanne McCray, UA’s vice provostfor enrollment management and dean of admissions.
The office will get as many as 700 messages while UA is closed, just a fraction of the 12,000 to 15,000 it gets over a year, said McCray.
A few admissions staff members work from home and a member of the communications team goes into the office to make sure inquiries are answered, whether they come in by e-mail, Facebook or the office’s Twitter account, she said.
“It’s a bare bones staff, but one that’s working,” she said. “Anything anyonesends us electronically, we’ll respond to.”
Most of the applicants want to know whether the university received their latest transcripts.
“They’re eager to make sure that we’ve received the newest transcripts with the best grades,” McCray added.
There’s plenty of information that incoming or transferring students can see on the website without having to make human contact. They can take a virtual tour of campus, get information about the university, fill out an application, or sign up for a campus visit. Voice messages must wait until the entire staff returns to work on Wednesday.
Some student athletes stay on campus during the break, mainly basketball players and gymnasts who play or train, and some foreign students who can’t make the long trek home. Resident assistants, residence hall directors and a handful of maintenance workers staff three residence halls: Northwest Quad and Holcomb and Gregson halls.
Takama Statton-Brooks,director of residence education for University Housing, said about half of students staying on campus come and go over the course of the long winter break. Resident assistants remain on duty to walk the halls, make sure doors are not propped open and “to be a resource for the residents who are there,” she said.
“The numbers are hard to tell,” she said, “but they’re obviously not staying here the whole time.”
It’s unusual to find anyone around the dormitories on Christmas Day or New Year’s Day, she said.
It’s the job of resident assistants such as like Brianna Kitchen, a senior-level assistant in the Northwest Quad, to walk the halls three times a day - usually noon, 5 p.m. and 10 p.m., checking restrooms and the like.
“It can be creepy,” Kitchen added, though she seldom finds anything wrong.
Her parents live in Fayetteville and the dormitory job gives her a chance to get away when she wants some time to herself.
“I really don’t mind it,” Kitchen said of staying on campus for part of the break. “The older you get, you go home for a little while and then you’re ready to leave.”
Northwest Arkansas, Pages 7 on 12/28/2012