Students returning to Gustavus will notice a reconfiguration in the placement of many important offices this year. These changes have been made with the intention of all returning students, incoming first-years, faculty, and administrators benefiting from the new locations.

Dean of Students JoNes VanHecke explains the main motivation for the rearrangement was to bring the Financial Aid and Admissions offices closer together for more efficient work between the offices. The Financial Aid office will now be located in the former Office of the Dean.

“In the spring, there were opportunities that were suggested at the vice president level about economy of positions,” VanHecke said.

This culminated in other opportunities for greater efficiency for faculty, staff, administrators, and students within other offices as well.

“It created an opportunity for us to think about how we can make the most efficient use of physical space. There were some empty spaces in the area that was known as the CSL and there were other opportunities to use physical space to help reinforce an office identity,” VanHecke said.

However, it can be difficult to keep all the offices straight in the first place. Changes include the Residential Life office and the Dean of Students office which are now located on the first floor of the student union where the CSL formerly was and the CSL will now be located in the former Linner Lounge, across from its previous location.

My hope is that by having these spaces that are so specific, it will create a greater awareness and knowledge of these offices.” —JoNes VanHecke

Director of Residential Life Charlie Potts is excited about the move and believes it creates more opportunities for students to easily interact with the office.

“We have such a high traffic flow, we have so many students that need to come into our office that it’s great having a more visible space and a place where people can hang out. We work really hard to be a friendly face and we understand that all students live on campus at some point, so we try really hard to be an office that people want to interact with,” Potts said.

The Residential Life office is now equipped with comfy furniture and tall tables that make it another useful and fun hangout and study space on campus.

“We’re excited to welcome people into the space. We just encourage people to stop by and use this a lot,” Potts said.

The Career Development Office is now in the basement of Campus Center where Res Life used to be. A wall has been knocked down to add a presentation and sitting area to the front of the office. The Interfaith space, which used to occupy that area, has been temporarily moved into the basement of the Student Union across from the WAC; it will eventually move into the renovated Anderson building.

Career Counselor Jill VanOsdol is hoping to see students use the office more now that it is in a separate space.

“Career development is really excited about being in a space that’s just us and we’re hoping that students will want to come in here and visit us and see the space and see who we have coming in to the center in terms of employers and that sort of thing,” VanOsdol said.

The Career Development office has taken advantage of the move creating a new slogan, “New Year, New Place, New Handshake.” Handshake is the new online system for helping students manage their career plan or journey. They also welcome a new Internship Director, Janine Knutson.

In addition to the other changes, the Church Relations office will now be housed in Old Main with the Chaplain’s office.

VanHecke anticipates that all these changes will help students to take advantage of the great resources available through many of these offices.

“My biggest hope, especially for Career Center and for Community Based Service and Learning, is that students have a physical reminder of those offices and what they do because they walk past them all the time and they see them as their own entity. I think for students, it’s common that when you walk by something, it might spark your thinking about it, so my hope is that by having these spaces that are so specific, it will create a greater awareness and knowledge of these offices,” VanHecke said.

Students are encouraged to attend open houses in all of the offices that were moved from 2-3:30 p.m. on Friday, Sept. 11 to explore the new spaces.

 – Rachael Manser