The Delta Connect Center is a student services office in the DeRicco building with various resources and specialist accessibility. It intends to help students arrange their envisioned student journey.
The Delta Connect Center underwent a recent redesign in mid-March. Changes were made to specialist offices, computer locations, and the overall layout, which affected accessibility for student assistance.
Chris Frymire, Delta Connect Center Manager, said part of the change came from ADA compliance, making sure that the facilities were accessible to all students of all needs.
“This is actually more in line with what we envisioned back in 2021. Due to limitations of the time with Covid-19 and funding, we didn’t get to it. This gets us more to that vision of where you’re working with a student and they have some privacy. Part of the redesign, too, is the wall wraps we put in a year ago. So it’s been a continuous transition going from phase to phase,” Frymire said.
The center’s layout design was a joint decision reviewed with the different departments of Student Service. The directors of Financial Aid and Admissions & Records and all the deans of student services were involved.
Among the changes were relocating all the monitors to a more central area rather than facing opposite walls, expanding staff cubicles, bringing them closer to student workers, and a new configuration of offices for Financial Aid and Admissions & Records.
At Financial Aid and Admissions & Records, there once were slightly taller walls that lacked a more ideal private environment for students.
Joe Romero, a student worker at the Delta Connect Center, said that the new design is better because it allows students to discuss personal matters in a safer space.
“With the new setup for Financial Aid and Admissions, students could have a more private discussion because the last setup was more open to hearing people’s private lives. Although I feel that the center is a bit more crowded, with everyone being so close to each other, there is a convenience for the students to get better assistance,” Romero said.
A new integrated software with the center is the QLess program, a platform that allows students to sign in by themselves and receive updates on their phone for their wait time to receive assistance, replacing the former number ticket system.
Frymire states all changes are not final as every year, new incoming students bring different needs that must be kept up with.
However, he remarked that the most significant changes are made, and everything moving forward will involve minor improvements to improve workflow efficacy.
Additional improvements that are hoped for are professionally designed signage for the locations of Financial Aid, Admissions & Records, and Transfer Services, with an official sign outside the door that identifies the Delta Connect Center and to have the building maps updated.
Plans are also in place to open a computer lab station across the hall in room 149 to avoid exceeding safety standards and to host Transfer Workshops and ESL department presentations.
Kelly Medeiros, a first-year Delta Student, said that the current one benefits her handicap as it is now easier to get around and talk to staff members.
“I’ve had a lot of problems, and because of those problems, it’s made it 10 times harder in finding and following everything. The new room has helped in so many ways, and those guys are very understanding. It’s just been a blessing and definitely perked up my whole world,” Medeiros said.