Questions answered about latest UT Auxiliary Services changes

While some changes made this summer — like the construction on Dorr Street — are very obvious, other changes are more behind-the-scenes.

What was changed and why?

The University of Toledo has made a couple major changes to its auxiliary services department.

Jennifer Pastorek, Director of Supply Chain Management at UT, said the goal of this project was to improve the level of service offered to students.

“We took a look at the auxiliary services umbrella, everything that was underneath it, and we started to ask ourselves some questions of, ‘Are there folks that have some expertise within our ranks?’” Pastorek said.

The search for expertise to enhance the student experience led to the separation of dining and parking from Auxiliary Services.

What is in Auxiliary Services?

According to Pastorek, Joy Seifert’s position as Director of Auxiliary Services did not change much, “she just has a scaled-down footprint now.”

After parking, food service and the bike share program were removed; Seifert still takes care of the copy center and all the print services work, the Rocket Wireless program and the new Rocky’s Technology Central.

Additionally, “She still has the Rocket ID card and all of its ‘arms and legs’ … that go with it because it’s responsible for your financial aid, for the dining dollars that go on that could be done with our off-campus merchants,” Pastorek said.

Students will be able to see Seifert around campus, as she will be attending student meetings and events “to hear the voice of the student.” Pastorek also said Seifert will still supply the pre-term tables of information about the areas covered under Auxiliary Services.

What’s going on with dining?

Dining services has been moved out from under the auxiliary services umbrella, but that’s not the only change affects food.

“Students … have consistently over the past couple, two, three years, complained about dining services,” said Kaye Patten Wallace, the senior vice president for student affairs. “What I try to do is look at student complaints and concerns and see if they’re systemic, and if it’s consistent, if there are large numbers of students complaining about it, we look for many opportunities to get the feedback from students.”

This is an effort Patten Wallace calls, “You speak, we listen.”

She said they try to make changes and let students know those changes are in response to the feedback the students gave. An example of this is the addition of a few meal plans to offer more options, as students had requested.

While looking for a way to improve the student experience with dining, Patten Wallace said they found a similar initiative the Health Science Campus began a couple years ago that had since been very successful.

“We talked to them about how they did that,” she said, “and it really boiled down to the person that they had who was holding staff kind of in a different way of setting expectations and then holding people to those expectations.”

The person mentioned is Mario Toussaint, who was recently appointed senior director of operations-dining, retail and clinical nutrition services for the entire food system for both campuses.

I-House dining hall renovations

“We have opened I-House, which is a major undertaking,” Toussaint said.

The project was huge; Patten
Wallace said students have been asking for it to reopen for two years now, and not only was I-House dining reopened, but it was renovated inside.

“I am very proud of that … we updated it, we upgraded it, we painted it. It’s more friendly, and I think that’s going to be a huge venue that students will appreciate,” Patten Wallace said.

The reopening of a dining hall means new staff as well, including more jobs for students.

“It created — I believe — 30 more jobs, whether part-time or full-time,” Toussaint said.

What is Agave?

KFC was removed from the SU, leaving room for something new to move in a couple weeks ago.

“We have the Agave restaurant, which is a Southwest-style. So it’s like our ‘Chipotle’ brand,” Patten Wallace said. “We are trying to respond to what students told us that they want.”

How do we give feedback about dining?

• Suggestion cards at dining halls

• Facebook page: https://www.facebook.com/UToledoDiningServices/reviews?ref=page_internal

• Office for the Student Experience online feedback system

• Ask Rocky

• Surveys will be passed out later and put online later in the semester

Who do we see about parking, then?

The way parking services had been set up, according to Pastorek, it was split between two different people.

“Joy [Seifert] had a piece of it with parking services so when you got your permit, you worked through her camp,” Pastorek said, “and then Parking Enforcement with Sherri Kaspar under Jeff Newton and the police division.”

The confusion for students came with not knowing which person to talk to, or which office or website to go to, about parking issues and concerns. All parking matters are now dealt with by UT’s police department.