September 30, 2010
Comfortable at Condon: Former HUB offices getting used to new home
Lost and Found hasn’t gone missing and the ASUW Bike Shop hasn’t ridden off into the sunset — they’re over at Condon Hall now, where many HUB offices have relocated during that building’s two-year remodeling project.
Same with the HUB information desk, event services, ticket office, cashier, the UW Ombudsman, student offices and assistance programs and more.
And HUB staffers now settled in at Condon would like you to know: Their new home isn’t across the universe, just across campus. You can even get there by bus.
“We’d love to get more visitors,” said Leyla Salmassi, manager of service operations for the HUB, as she and Sara Torres, Student Activities and Union Facilities IT/ web specialist, discussed their new home in Condon. “I think the impression on campus is, Condon’s so far away,” Salmassi said. “And to be honest, I was thinking that before the move, too — but it really isn’t a bad walk. And actually, Sara has put information on the website about how to ride the bus to get to the building.”
Salmassi said HUB folks have settled well into their new west-campus home, despite early worries. “I had some staff members who were a little worried they were going to get stuck in some staircase and not know how to get out,” Salmassi said with a laugh. She said new signs have been added “to try and target the traffic flow, getting people where they need to be.”
Torres noted that despite its new tenants and uses, “This is still a classroom facility, so students are coming in who need to get to classes in addition to students (and staff) who are looking for services.” So the signs are coming in handy for all concerned.
Condon’s second floor holds the offices that might be most needed by faculty and staff. The information desk, the ticket office and the cashier are all there, as well as lost and found, which Salmassi said remains a “huge” service. She said staff are considering starting pickups of lost and found items from “satellite” locations campuswide to bring to Condon, and maybe even a Web-based inquiry system for tracking lost items.
The ASUW Bike Shop, open to staff and faculty, is on the first floor. The Sexual Assault and Relationship Violence Information Service (SARIS) and the ASUW Committee Organizing Rape Education (CORE) are both located on the fourth floor. See the full list on the HUB @ Condon website, here.
Meeting rooms, of which the HUB had so many, are unavailable at Condon. “Whatever spaces are available are classrooms,” Salmassi said. “But we are hoping that we can work out a system where we could be the middlemen in providing meeting spaces.” The HUB Event Services staff has added a list of alternate venues and how to reserve them online here.
A couple of popular HUB services didn’t move to Condon. The UW Bookstore’s small HUB shop has relocated to the main floor of the Odegaard Undergraduate Library (see a UWeek story here) and the newsstand is now at By George. And if you’re looking for a haircut from The Scissor’s Edge, you’ll find the shop in a portable just west of the Suzzallo/Allen archway.
The HUB remodel also has the campus community looking for alternative places to get a good lunch, and there are many — including new “street food” wagons on Red Square in Stevens Way. See Uweek’s story on campus eateries here. Stay up to date on dining options offered by Housing & Food Services by checking online here.
“We provide almost all the services that we did before,” Salmassi said. “We’re looking forward to fall quarter beginning because that will really tell the story on how much business we’re going to get.”
The last word goes to Lincoln Johnson, associate vice president for student life, who oversees HUB activities — and provides a reminder that the energy behind the remodeling project came from UW students.
“The students’ ultimate goal for the HUB renovation was to increase the sense of community on campus and provide a student union that will better serve future generations of Huskies, but in order to meet that goal, a sense of disruption is inevitable,” Johnson wrote in an e-mail. “However, our team has worked diligently to make the disruptions to services as painless as possible. We continue to do all we can do meet the needs of the campus community — and we continue to appreciate your patience.”
