CSL survey to help expand resources and options for students

In order to help better understand how to engage the UWT community, the CSL is asking for survey responses.

The Center for Student Involvement is currently collecting information through a voluntary online survey. The hope for the survey is to better understand what students are looking for as far as virtual engagement goes with the campus, as well as how the CSL can improve with the events they already offer. Khadijah York, a student coordinator with the CSL, and her team discussed further the importance of the survey.

“As a predominantly commuter campus, most students live off campus and travel to Tacoma for classes,” York said, speaking for her team. “We would like to see all students, including commuters, take an active role on campus. When students fill out the survey, it allows UWT, including the Center for Student Involvement, Student Activities Board, Registered Students Organizations and departments, to cater their events to what the students express desire to see on campus and what times work best for them.”

Since the COVID-19 regulations were introduced and enacted back in March, UW Tacoma has not held any in-person events. With the uncertainty of the future of COVID-19 restrictions, the CSL has been making it their goal to fill in the gap of actual events with virtual ones, hoping to keep some semblance of community engagement in times of social distancing.

“Most of our services have transitioned to being offered virtually,” York said. “Those that we cannot offer virtually, such as printing and study area reservation, have been ceased in order to comply with the state lockdown mandate. However, students are still able to print in Cherry Parkes 005 Lab.”

York talked further, explaining how important the DawgDen, UWT’s online hub for events and student organizations, is for student engagement. Since the beginning of the pandemic, DawgDen has been changed and updated to better handle virtual events. The new DawgBones program, which rolled out this quarter, has already seen positive results for student engagement.

So far, several students have taken the survey, and York and her team expressed that they want as many students as possible to take the survey. 

“The effort to collect information about student involvement is motivated by the goal of understanding how students want to be more engaged on campus and what restrictions might hold them back,” York explained. “The purpose of the Husky Involvement Mentor program is to make sure that students understand the meaning behind involvement and to find opportunities to talk about the different ways of being involved during their schedules. The Husky Involvement Mentor program will involve students in conversations and discussions about different ways to be involved on campus, provide them with resources and support, and also supply information about involvement to different areas of campus.”
The CSL has extended the survey to remain open through winter break in the hopes that many more students will take their time to access and take the survey. If you are interested in taking this survey, you can visit https://uw-tacoma.presence.io/form/uwt-tacoma-survey-for-student-involvement to get started.