A new Welcome Center is slated to move onto campus this spring.
The Center will be located in the current Conference Center, across from the Mondavi Center.
Prospective students and parents will be able to use this center to gain more information about the campus, talk with administration and even submit their Statement of Intent to attend the University.
The 8,000 square feet of space will house an auditorium where information sessions and presentations about UC Davis can be held, a breakout room, as well as touch-screen, multimedia kiosks where prospective students and their families can learn more about the campus and departments of interest to them.
Though student tour guides are already available to give campus tours and provide student prospective, visitors are not currently able to get technical answers to their questions regarding admission.
“What’s missing right now is the conversation with administration,” said Walter Robinson, assistant vice chancellor of Undergraduate Admissions.
Robinson was also involved in the development of the initial idea.
According to Robinson, when students and their families register to visit the campus online, they will have the option of coming for an information session, a campus tour or both. To further add to the visitor experience, there will also be admission advising at the Welcome Center, so students and their families will not have to go all the way to Mrak Hall to have questions answered.
Johanna Kanes, President of the Student Ambassador Council (SAC) and a third-year international relations and French major, said that the current space that accommodates visitors is small and shared with the Alumni Center.
“In the Center we will have our own larger space where we can offer a variety of welcome services on a bigger scale and in a more developed way, including videos, presentations, interactive stations, admissions representatives as well as more space for our staff … I think this space will up the level of service we are able to provide as well as creating a motivating and creative workplace,” she said.
The Center will also house meeting rooms, offices and space for tour guides to prepare for tours.
“We are giving guests large quantities of information without sacrificing quality,” said Margaret Wittman, Recruitment and Training Chair of the SAC and a fourth-year genetics major.
Wittman said that the Center will be integral during the busiest visitation months — end of March through the beginning of May — when the University garners thousands of people and can reach up to over 300 scheduled visitors daily.
SASHA COTTERELL can be reached at campus@theaggie.org.
