2008 Woodie Awards
Official proposes center as fix for 'visitor-unfriendly' campus
Ashley L. Hopkins
Issue date: 2/2/06 Section: News
In order to help new students and campus visitors better find their way around, Cindee Pulliam, director of auxiliary services, has proposed that a visitor's center be built near McKenzie Arena.
"In meeting with various groups, we have heard the campus is not 'visitor-friendly,'" Pulliam said. "We have over 12,000 vehicles [per] day come to campus. Many of these are prospective students and parents, community visitors and others. They need a location to stop and ask directions, obtain a visitor parking pass or just pick up information regarding UTC."
This visitor's center would be a small building close to Gate 1 at the arena, which will contain everything from brochures on housing and admissions to parking maps. Pulliam also said most campuses already have this type of service at their main entrance.
Chuck Cantrell, assistant vice chancellor of university relations, said the university has had traffic studies that confirm that the entrance to campus by the arena is the most commonly used.
"That was a logical place to put it," Cantrell said. "In general, our campus is getting so big - we're growing and spreading out - and it's not reasonable to expect someone to know everything about our campus when they get here."
Cantrell also said another aspect of the visitor's center is a marketing tool.
"When someone comes to our campus, we want them to have a good experience, and part of that is getting around and getting where they need to go," Cantrell said.
Another proposed solution to making the campus more visitor-friendly are trailblazing signs, Cantrell said, which are the types of signs found in malls that have an arrow pointing out a person's exact location with the words, "you are here."
He said the point of these signs is to list what departments and offices are in each building, because sometimes people don't even know what building to go to for certain things, like the financial aid office.
Maygen Basham, a junior from Dunlap, Tenn., transferred to UTC from Tennessee Tech at the beginning of this semester. She said she had a little bit of trouble finding her way around on the first day, but she caught on pretty quick. However, a friend of Basham's told her that she didn't know where anything was because everything is so spread out. For this reason, Basham said she thinks the maps and the visitor's center are a good idea.
"In meeting with various groups, we have heard the campus is not 'visitor-friendly,'" Pulliam said. "We have over 12,000 vehicles [per] day come to campus. Many of these are prospective students and parents, community visitors and others. They need a location to stop and ask directions, obtain a visitor parking pass or just pick up information regarding UTC."
This visitor's center would be a small building close to Gate 1 at the arena, which will contain everything from brochures on housing and admissions to parking maps. Pulliam also said most campuses already have this type of service at their main entrance.
Chuck Cantrell, assistant vice chancellor of university relations, said the university has had traffic studies that confirm that the entrance to campus by the arena is the most commonly used.
"That was a logical place to put it," Cantrell said. "In general, our campus is getting so big - we're growing and spreading out - and it's not reasonable to expect someone to know everything about our campus when they get here."
Cantrell also said another aspect of the visitor's center is a marketing tool.
"When someone comes to our campus, we want them to have a good experience, and part of that is getting around and getting where they need to go," Cantrell said.
Another proposed solution to making the campus more visitor-friendly are trailblazing signs, Cantrell said, which are the types of signs found in malls that have an arrow pointing out a person's exact location with the words, "you are here."
He said the point of these signs is to list what departments and offices are in each building, because sometimes people don't even know what building to go to for certain things, like the financial aid office.
Maygen Basham, a junior from Dunlap, Tenn., transferred to UTC from Tennessee Tech at the beginning of this semester. She said she had a little bit of trouble finding her way around on the first day, but she caught on pretty quick. However, a friend of Basham's told her that she didn't know where anything was because everything is so spread out. For this reason, Basham said she thinks the maps and the visitor's center are a good idea.
