Questions by Camille Perlman
There is a lot that is winding down at the end of the final semester of the year, but there is also a lot that is ramping up at that time in the housing operations world. Plans for summer camps and conferences that have been months in the making are ready to be put into action. Campus housing operations and conference staff stand ready and launch their plans with precision at the best possible moment.
Here to talk about how they bring planning, staffing, and campus partners together to make summer camps and conference housing a success are Michael Norris, assistant director of housing operations at The University of Alabama at Birmingham; Nathan Godwin, director of student housing and dining facilities at The University of Alabama at Birmingham; Sarah Andriacchi, associate director of summer conferences at The University of Chicago in Illinois; and Brad Goggins, assistant director of property management at Auburn University in Alabama.
What does your summer conference prep team look like? What departments are involved outside of housing? (admissions, athletics, orientation?) Who from the various departments are involved?
Michael Norris: Our primary partnership is with the Office of Finance and Administration, which oversees our Protection of Children Policy. This includes processing background checks and coordinating an online training module – not only for our staff but also for any chaperones who will work directly with minors while their camps are operating on campus. Our liaison from this office keeps us informed of any outstanding issues with incoming groups and monitors compliance with our child protection policy.
We also collaborate with our dining services provider to ensure that incoming groups can utilize on-campus dining options, if needed. Our main involvement with the admissions office is to secure dates for summer orientation. During these sessions, our student staff provide tours of the first-year residence halls for new students and their families.
Additionally, we work closely with our transportation office to ensure that our guests receive appropriate parking passes for their vehicles. We also coordinate with our physical security office, which activates temporary access cards to allow students and guests access to designated buildings, while maintaining the overall security of our residence halls.
Nathan Godwin: Our housing operations and facilities teams work closely to coordinate room turns between camps and conferences in our buildings. We contract our cleaning to a third-party vendor, with housing and residence life professionals assisting with approval walks.
Student staff play a key role in the inspection and preparation of rooms as well as staffing the front desks for check-in and check-out procedures. The three primary roles are conference assistants, summer resident assistants, and facilities student assistants.
Sarah Andriacchi: Our summer conferences team operates year-round as a dedicated core group within the housing and residence life department, particularly within the functional area of occupancy, management, and administration. The team comprises three full-time professional staff: myself, an assistant director, and a program manager. During the summer months, we expand our team to include 10-15 student employees who serve as summer housing assistants and perform essential day-to-day operational tasks such as room stocking, check-in and check-out assistance, inventory management, and more.
We closely collaborate with our internal operations team, which is responsible for overseeing residence hall facilities and managing front desk staff across all residence halls. We partner with various campus departments to enhance our services, including UChicago Dining to provide dining options to meet the needs of summer guests; facilities services to manage room turnovers efficiently between guest stays; and the ID & Privileges Office to issue ID cards for summer guests, ensuring smooth access and security. Additionally, we work with departments such as Athletics & Recreation, the Office of the University Registrar, and Student Centers, among others, to offer amenities and facilitate events and space rentals for our groups.
Our approach emphasizes providing a seamless, one-stop-shop solution for our clients by managing all logistics and communications on the back end. As a result, clients receive a single contract and invoice, simplifying their experience.
Brad Goggins: The Office of Professional & Continuing Education (OPCE) handles the scheduling and coordination of summer camps on campus. Once they have completed their review and scheduling of camps, OPCE provides our housing operations team with the list of dates and room quantities needed for the camps. The housing operations team works diligently to place the camps in the open buildings. At the completion of this process, the list is handed over to the property management team. We then work to schedule our summer tasks around the camp schedule. The other important part of summer is Camp War Eagle, our first-year orientation camp. There are 12 sessions throughout the summer, and they utilize four of our buildings all summer.
What hurdles or issues do you face during summer turn (the time between spring semester move-out and summer conferences)?
Norris: One of our biggest hurdles is the logistical balancing act of moving students out of the residence halls while simultaneously placing our student staff and ensuring that spaces are cleaned and prepared for incoming camp and conference attendees. It’s definitely a situation that requires collaboration from every party involved to keep everything moving smoothly and on schedule.
Godwin: Coordinating move-out (inspections, work orders, key inventories, donations, late-stays, and cleaning) with Summer Housing and Camps & Conferences move-in requires frequent communication and auditing to avoid delays and mistakes. Advanced planning that clearly defines how everyone on the team will be expected to communicate information along with frequent, short check-in meetings during move-out and transition periods are essential to monitoring progress, staying on the same page, and removing any obstacles.
Andriacchi: The summer turn presents several challenges, especially as we offer bridge housing for students extending their stay into the summer. This adds a layer of complexity to our operations. The most notable challenges we face include the following:
• Time constraints and rapid room turnover: We aim to transition the residence halls designated for summer conferences within an extremely tight window, sometimes as brief as two days. Providing detailed information to operations and facilities services is crucial. This includes specifying which rooms require turnover, the starting times, and deadlines for readiness.
• Staffing needs: Ensuring adequate staffing during this period is challenging, as it involves reallocating existing personnel and sometimes hiring temporary workers to handle the increased demand for room preparation, cleaning, and maintenance.
• Coordination with campus partners: Seamless collaboration with facilities services is essential for successful room turnovers. This coordination covers cleaning, maintenance, and necessary repairs, which can be complicated due to overlapping priorities and workloads among campus partners.
Addressing these challenges requires strategic planning, proactive communication, and flexible management to ensure a smooth transition during the summer turn. And then we do it all over again from summer ending to fall opening!
Goggins: Summer conferences at Auburn are a very important part of our tradition and serve as a valuable recruitment tool. With that being said, we have a lot of camps and conferences that want to utilize the residence halls. This proves to be very difficult when scheduling maintenance and custodial services. This summer we will have 14 days between spring move-out and the first camp. This requires a lot of planning with our in-house teams and vendor partners to make sure we are prepared. We have 21 residence halls, and 14 will be utilized for camps. Three will be involved in a renovation and two are for summer residents.
What advice can you share about managing the timeline for summer turn and staff? What tips or tricks have you found to improve efficiency?
Norris: My biggest advice would be two things. First, start planning early. I know that can sometimes feel like a pipe dream, especially with how busy the school year gets but, when possible, try to plan ahead and get your ducks in a row.
Second, make sure you meet with all the stakeholders involved in the process so that everyone is on the same page. Clear communication from the beginning helps everything run more smoothly later on.
Godwin: Set clear expectations for how information will be communicated and where it will be stored. We have utilized a turn software to best coordinate with cleaning and maintenance vendors and maintain internal documents for assignments, late-stay approvals, etc.
Andriacchi: The foundation of a successful summer turn is a comprehensive plan that outlines key tasks, timelines, and responsibilities. Start planning months in advance so that all team members understand expectations and specific requirements. Consistent and effective communication is vital. Regular meetings or check-ins are helpful to gauge progress and address issues as they arise, keeping everyone aligned.
Attention to detail is crucial for meticulously planning and executing each aspect of the turnover process. Utilize detailed checklists and procedures, leveraging tools like Excel or, even better, technology solutions such as communication platforms (Slack or Teams) and project management software to keep everything on track.
Lastly, be prepared for inevitable last-minute changes or hiccups. Despite the best plans, these situations occur. Allow yourself and your colleagues some grace and maintain forward momentum.
Goggins: My biggest piece of advice would be to plan early. We have developed a master schedule in Smartsheet that tracks every task to be completed during the summer. Our schedule this year is approaching 700 lines! We also utilize vendor partners for painting and custodial help. This is crucial to our success as there are not enough days to complete the tasks with just our in-house teams. The other piece of advice is to stage all your supplies in the buildings in advance. We stage our cleaning, plumbing, electrical, and maintenance supplies strategically throughout the buildings based on the schedule. This saves time and keeps everyone working instead of gathering supplies.
Another tool that we utilize is EZ-Turn, a cloud-based program that tracks the progress of all summer turn tasks. It is a very robust tool that puts the schedule in everyone’s hands through its easy-to-use phone app. We can see at any given time what work is being done and where we stand.
How do you implement what you learn each year into your planning for the following year?
Godwin: We dedicate time to have a debrief and assessment of the transition period to refine our procedures. The same is true following the organized chaos of move-in. The notes and action items from these meetings assist in honing our craft and avoiding prior pitfalls.
Goggins: At the end of each summer, we have meetings with all our team leaders and staff to review the season. We ask what worked and what didn’t work, and we make notes for future turns during this meeting. We will also review our summer schedule to see where we had issues, which tasks needed more time to complete, and which ones needed less time.
Andriacchi: To effectively integrate insights from each summer into future planning, I conduct a post-mortem with partners and teammates at the end of the season. This process involves discussing both wins and challenges to identify areas for improvement. Involving staff who worked during the summer, such as student workers or desk clerks, is invaluable, as they often serve on the front lines and provide perspectives on issues that may otherwise be overlooked.
Beyond the end-of-summer review, I prioritize regular check-ins with my team and partners throughout the summer. These check-ins help identify and address issues in real time, allowing for immediate improvements rather than waiting until next year to implement changes. I aim to create and embrace a culture of feedback, where new ideas and constructive criticism are welcomed, all with the goal of enhancing the program.
Camille Perlman is the managing editor of Talking Stick for ACUHO-I.
