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Summer Orientation

Summer Orientation

May 08, 2020

 

Timeline

Summer orientation is handled differently than other events during the summer. Per a March 2015 email with the New Student Services office, the timeframe outlined to plan orientation events is as follows. The timeframe can be found on the shared Registrar drive under: ()
Year preceding orientation

  • August: DoS sends complete list of mandatory orientation events that includes the following:

    • Date

    • Time ('from' and 'to')

    • Building and Room for event

    • Title of Event

    • Contact person EID and name

    • Person in charge EID and name

  • September: Scheduling blocks space for mandatory events before classes are scheduled

Year of orientation

  • January-March: DoS requests early confirmation of mandatory events

  • DoS uses Room Scheduling system to look up event information

  • January-February: Various orientation stakeholders request optional events & coordinate with DoS

  • March-April: Scheduling schedules optional events received to date

  • April: Scheduling sends confirmations for event requests to requestors

  • May-August: Scheduling processes change requests per normal business process

Helpful Reminders:

  • Check for partial-control rooms and rooms offline for construction/renovation on the appropriate semester's GPC list

  • Only mandatory events can be scheduled on official University final exam days

  • Group mandatory event requests for exam days by area to limit disruption for students taking exams

For more information regarding summer orientation, New Student Service's website can be found here:
http://orientation.utexas.edu/

Protocol for Addressing Orientation Emails

Many orientation events are planned out months in advance, and are sent directly to Priscilla and Brenda. Large reservations are made for these events on several different confirmation codes in the dataset. Room scheduling should not make any updates to these reservations unless specifically asked to do so.
Summer orientation events scheduled through NSS can be found in excel spreadsheets in the YY6 folder here:
New Student Services does allow individual departments, academic units, and entities on campus to reserve space through our office for different sessions during orientation. These departmental events can be processed by our office (or put in the summer queue*), as usual, if screened for the below information:

  • Before placing the request in the queue, inform the requestor that they will receive their confirmation after all summer events have been confirmed, by May 1st at the latest.

    1. If they need confirmation before then, they are welcome to schedule their event through NSS, who works directly with us.

    2. See email template 1 (below)

  • Secondly, scan the reservation request for final exam dates during the summer. We will not schedule any events on these days UNLESS they come from NSS.

    1. We can place other dates in our queue, but they will have to talk to NSS about the exam date.

    2. See email template 2 (below)


*Note that graduate orientations are different than 'big orientation,' and are not coordinated with the New Student Services office. These events will not have the option of getting a confirmation early.
**For more information about the semester queues and processing information, see:
{_}\\austin.utexas.edu\disk\reg\Registrar\Room Scheduling\Training and How To's\Internal\How-Tos\Semester Prep and Processing Queue How-To.docx_ (file:////austin.utexas.edu//disk//reg//Registrar//Room Scheduling//Training and How To's//Internal//How-Tos//Semester Prep and Processing Queue How-To.docx)

Email Templates

Email Template 1:

Hi XXXXXX,
Thank you for your email! We have placed this room reservation request for summer orientation events in our summer 2016 queue. Confirmation emails will be sent out after all summer reservation requests have been processed, and by May 1st at the latest. Please feel free to let us know if we can be of further assistance!
Thank you,
YOURNAMEHERE

Email Template 2:- DRAFT

Hi XXXXX,
Thank you for your email! We noticed that one of the dates requested (DATEHERE) is a final exam date. Our office only schedules mandatory orientation events on final exam dates, and only with approval from the New Student Services Office. If you need to schedule your event on this date, please contact their office for this reservation:
nss@austin.utexas.edu
We will be able to process all other dates as requested. Confirmation emails will be sent out after all summer reservation requests have been processed, and by May 1st at the latest. Please feel free to let us know if we can be of further assistance!
Thank you,
YOURNAMEHERE