Loyola University New Orleans Department of Residential Life is a featured program.
The facilities internship position was created to provide students with a better quality facilities experience. Often times, students were unsure if their work orders were received and being addressed. Also, students would not report facilities concerns because they would just “live with it.” In line with Residential Life interest in providing a positive environment for each of our students, the facilities interns were positioned to improve the student experience.
The facilities intern position is housed out of the Residential Life office and they are supervised by the Associate Director of Operations. Each semester, four facilities interns are hired and each work 10 hours a week. The facilities intern’s primary function is to follow up with work orders. When a work order is received by a student for their room, the facilities intern will call them to let them know it was received and to ask them if they had any other issues in their room that need to be addressed. After three days, the facilities intern will go to the room to check the status of the work order. They will leave behind a status update for the resident that will let them know if the job has been completed, is still pending and how we are going to follow up, and make note of any other work needed in the student’s room. The facilities intern places these work orders for the student
The facilities interns will also do other general maintenance and facilities functions for the department as their duties. They complete weekly checks of all equipment and the residence halls. They also will maintain the storage rooms and the equipment that is stored. Finally, the residential life staff uses them for tasks that would otherwise need to be performed by volunteer or building office or desk staff. These tasks could include doing an initial treatment for pest control while waiting for a professional pest control, setting up rooms and equipment for staff, hanging flyers, and other facilities related tasks.
As the facilities intern position has developed and been staffed, the student experience with our facilities has improved. Work orders are getting completed quickly and efficiently. Our students receive clearer and direct communication that is more transparent in regards to facilities concerns. Finally, the university facilities staff has noticed that issues are noticed and addressed quicker. This cuts down on the summer work load during building turn over and has increased student satisfaction for them as well. Overall, the position has allowed us to increase our customer service and improve the overall student experience.
Submitted by Chris Rice, Associate Director of Residential Life, Loyola University New Orleans