All medical units, referred to as “pods,” are color-coded with a designated color accent throughout the floor tiles, counter tops and wall colors. The color-coded pods provide patients easier access to find a designated area.

The blue and green pods are for primary care and are located on the third floor. In scheduling an appointment, a patient will likely return to the same pod each visit. This gives the patient a sense of a family doctor setting and of seeing familiar faces. The purple pod or Women’s Clinic, located on the second floor, has a staff that includes four nurse practitioners who specialize in women’s health issues.

The gold pod, housed on the first floor, is the acute care unit, similar to a “walk-in clinic.” In the gold pod, an isolation room is set up with
negative air pressure, for patients who may have highly contagious diseases. This contained ventilation system keeps the contagion isolated and from entering other rooms. The orange pod, located on the second floor, is currently occupied by a chiropractor, two grant writers and serves as temporary housing for the Office of Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention Programming (AOD).

Each pod is equipped with a room for minor surgeries that do not require anesthesia. A computer is set up in each examining room and
is accessible to the nurse and doctor to retrieve and input data in the
patient’s electronic medical chart. The nurse can input new data such as the patient’s temperature and blood pressure.

All this information including past medical history is readily on the screen and available when the doctor comes in. The electronic data saves time, money and storage space of the medical records. “We are almost paperless,” says Bob Faust, director for Health Services. The pods have been strategically designed to duplicate other pods. If a staff is transferred to another pod, the exam room is familiar as it is set up like all others.

X-rays are administered to patients using the latest digital technology eliminating the need for film and chemicals. Technicians quickly and easily transmit the X-rays electronically to the doctors upstairs and
radiologists off campus. X-ray copies can be inexpensively burned on a disk reducing the cost to students, who may need copies for their
doctor back home.

Students, faculty and staff can conveniently get their prescriptions filled at the Health Center’s pharmacy without going off campus.
The pharmacy, comparable to any pharmacy off campus, also features over-the-counter health and beauty aids, non prescription medicines, healthy snacks, diet drinks and juices. Last school year, the pharmacy filled 67,000 prescriptions.

According to Faust, the former Student Health Center lacked room for meetings. The new facility provides a large conference room where nearly 100 employees can attend staff meetings. The center includes areas not yet designated that could house future services such as a dental clinic and physical therapy/sports medicine.

Currently, UCF has 45,000 students and continues to grow every year. “The rule of thumb in college health is one square-foot health center space per student,” says Faust. The 48,000-square-foot Health Center was designed with the future in mind with the allowance to expand two more floors above the pharmacy. Also, the wiring throughout the facility is set up and ready for future endeavors
such as utilizing kiosks in the lobby area.

The Health Center’s landscape was designed to give a sense of mind, body and spirit that would connect the new Health Center to the former Student Health Center building, which is being renovated to house the Counseling Center’s Office, AOD and some services of
Campus Wellness, including massage therapy, HIV Testing and Bio Feedback.

The directive gray stone tiles connect the buildings perhaps giving a sense of a rib cage, while the curved benches represent nerve endings. The green of the grass gives a subtle flow of color to the green tile just inside the building. Just outside the pharmacy, bamboo may represent a sense of luck, prosperity and good health. “This is, in my opinion, truly the finest designed college
health center in our nation,” says Faust.

The $8 million Health Center was built by Skanska USA and designed by Hunton Brady Architects and Mateau Architecture, Inc.

OSI Designers Win Awards at Regional Conference

Kudos to the Office of Student Involvement (OSI) student graphic
designers who won awards at the National Association for Campus
Activities (NACA) South Region Conference held September 29-
October 1.

The students won six awards for graphic design, school
publicity and student originated. They won two first place awards for the Multi-color poster (Spiderman Knightro–Homecoming outdoor movie poster) and the Theme publicity (3 different pieces: “UKnighted” Late Knights–handbill, flyer and event schedule).

They also won three Second Place awards for Non-poster (Volunteer
UCF brochure); One-color poster (Frankenstein movie series–in
conjunction with Library exhibit); and Low Cost publicity (VUCF Hunger Banquet info booklet–color copies folded by Graphics).

Lastly, they won Third Place for Theme publicity (Homecoming poster, T-shirt and table tents).

Tutors and Supplemental Instructors Recognized

Student Academic Resource Center (SARC) celebrated the hard
work and dedication of the Supplemental Instruction (SI) and tutorial
staff during National Tutoring Week, October 3-7. This is third year
SARC has participated in this event associated with the National
Tutoring Association (NTA).

National Tutoring Week activities included a luncheon to honor
tutors and SI leaders, faculty Open House and a bowling party. One
lucky tutor, Natesha Manoucheri, was allowed to park in a reserved
parking space donated by Maribeth Ehasz, vice president for SDES.
Another highlight included the announcement of three nominees for
the NTA Tutor of the Year Award, which are Maya Alphonse (Biology),
Sergio Tufur (Physics) and Justin McMullen (Chemistry).

According to Jennifer Wright, assistant director for SARC, “These
are students who excel academically, are active in student clubs and
organizations, and have jobs in addition to being a SARC tutor. SARC
would not have the successful reputation it does in the area of tutoring if it was not for these exceptional students.”

The Leisure Pool is Open

The recreational style pool, sand volleyball and tennis complex is
now open. The leisure pool’s much anticipated opening became a reality towards the end of September. In its opening weekend, the complex was visited by approximately 500 students ready to enjoy some fun in the sun.

The Recreation and Wellness Center staff members say they are excited about this new facility and anticipate it becoming a popular event and programming location. On November 1, the UCF Homecoming kickoff was an event that was held at the Leisure Pool location. To reserve this facility for an event or program, contact hweible@mail.ucf.edu or call 407.823.2408.

UCF Officials Attend Workshop in Georgia

A group of 16 students and staff members had the opportunity
to improve their officiating skills in the sport of flag football as they
represented UCF at the annual Southeastern Flag Football Officiating
Workshop in Athens.

The University of Georgia hosted the two-day
event, which offered 92 officials from schools throughout the
Southeast access to classroom and on-field instruction by some of the best flag football clinicians. Student officials were drilled all weekend on rules of the game, officiating philosophy, communication and leadership techniques. Intramural Sports hires officials throughout
the year; no experience is necessary. For more information, visit:
www.imsports.ucf.edu.

New Initiative Introduced to Apartment Managers

Off-Campus Student Services (OCSS) hosted its biannual meeting
with property managers from several off-campus apartment communities. These meetings are opportunities to keep the apartment community up-to-date with university happenings, outreach programming, decisions impacting the students and to increase awareness of university resources available to UCF students who live on their properties.

Tom Hall and Melissa Day, SDES Alcohol and Other Drug Prevention
Programming, presented information and resources that their office can provide to assist UCF students and managers with alcohol and other drug prevention/awareness. One of the main points focused on an initiative called Party Smart, which provides information sessions on how to party and the liabilities associated with partying.

All property managers were surveyed after the meeting. The results
indicated 100 percent of the managers said the alcohol and other drug
presentation was useful and they look forward to introducing the Party Smart initiative to their respective apartment community.

Down the Road:
FYAE Keeps Vision in Sight for the Future

~Four of a Four-Part Series~

First Year Advising and Exploration (FYAE) is approaching its
10th anniversary and, in preparation for the year-long celebration,
they want to share with you its beginnings, present and future.

This last part of the series chronicling FYAE’s history will focus on the future of the office as described by its vision statement and interviews with leadership team members. FYAE’s vision best describes where the office would like to be in the future: “The vision of First Year Advising and Exploration is to become a national model of advising programs for first year students.” To accomplish this vision, the office has positioned itself to highlight programs and services based on proven and promising practices to enhance student success and first year student retention.

“By taking on such an endeavor–to reach that top pinnacle–certain key concerns will be important,” states Gloria Laureano, director for FYAE. “I always think about partnerships. I always think about collaboration. I always look for opportunities for this across the university–things that will help students succeed academically and in their career goals and development.”

According to Stephen O’Connell, assistant director, “Building on the Student Success Center is going to be important so that we can
be one strong unit and meet the needs of every first year student.” To get to this point, FYAE will go through trial and error.

“We will try, evaluate and then try again,” said Laureano. “We will also maintain our focus on students and their needs. We will create
opportunities for students, listen to students and have a renewed commitment to the students by keeping them in the center of what we do.”

This student-centered vision is already exemplified in the many FYAE projects implemented for the new school year, including the Advisors in Residence (AIR) program. AIR is designed to target outreach programming and advising services by holding office hours in selected
residential and regional locations, such as the Libra and Convocation Housing communities; Pegasus Landing; Pegasus Pointe and Rosen College of Hospitality Management.

Through this initiative, FYAE continues to go where the students are, which Laureano considers is crucial to the FYAE’s success. “We have to take our mission beyond these four office walls,” she said.

Maribeth Ehasz, vice president for SDES and founder of FYAE, also sees success for the office in further collaboration and partnership. “I see SDES and particularly FYAE working toward stronger partnerships with our UCF faculty,” she stated. “We can help them with their work
in the classroom by sharing our knowledge and expertise of student issues and they can help us provide a stronger learning environment that will enable students to succeed.”

Students Receive Major and
Career Assistance at Fair

The Fall Majors Fair offered faculty and students an opportunity to interact and discuss issues related to majors and careers. Career
counselors and academic advisors were present to assist students with their major exploration issues. The event was open to UCF students and local community college students. The fair statistics are as follows:

A very useful addition to the fair this semester was the “What can I do with this major” handouts, which contained relevant information about the major, careers related to that major, exploration sites and ways to gain career-related experience.

The event was organized by Career Services & Experiential Learning with a strong collaboration from First Year Advising, Student Academic Resource Center, Transfer and Transition Services, and Multicultural
Academic and Support Services.

Workshop Updates
Community College Partners

More than 127 advisors, who represented 13 community colleges, attended the annual Transfer and Transition Services (TTS) Counselor
Workshop. UCF’s eight academic colleges presented updates on majors and programs.

“This workshop provides our community college partners with UCF’s most up-to-date academic information, and helps ensure that
transferring students are academically prepared,” said Charlene Stinard, director of TTS.

TTS staff and Peer Mentors also participated in a workshop at Valencia Community College to help students prepare for their transition to UCF. “Tips for Transfers,” presented by Peer Mentors Erika Schmidt, Jamila Kazi and Tyco Coleman, emphasized early application and the important role of advising.

Jackie Jessup, coordinator, introduced a new Y-Axis program, which connects academic and career planning. According to Stinard, “This program is intended to increase the number of graduates in targeted majors, identified to meet Florida workforce needs.”

Fair Offered Students Many
Opportunities

The Graduate and Professional Schools Fair had an overwhelming turnout with over 85 schools participating in this event. The fair
introduced students to post-bachelor education opportunities from all over the country. The fair included Health Professional Schools and Law Schools section in addition to the general graduate schools. There was an 80 percent increase in the attendance of Health
Professional Schools at this year’s fair.

Additionally, the top two medical schools in Florida, the University of Florida College of Medicine and the Florida State College of Medicine attended this fair for the first time. The Graduate and Professional Schools Fair was the fourth fair Career Services & Experiential Learning has hosted this semester.

 

Center Assists Students with a Major Decision

The Student Success Center (SSC) Undeclared Team implemented a series of outreach advising activities to assist UCF’s undeclared students in exploring various degree programs and career options. The undeclared students often feel confused and anxious about deciding on an academic degree program, and as such they represent a definite at-risk student population.

A total of 284 students attended undeclared outreach activities in September and October. Additional advising outreach sessions are
scheduled in November.

Outreach advising sessions were held with each college’s advising support office during Undeclared Week, October 24-28. During the fall ’05 and spring ’06 semesters, a total of 32 advising outreach programs will be conducted. According to DeLaine Priest, assistant vice president for SSC, these initiatives support the SSC mission to “create opportunities for student success by providing academic and transition services, academic advising and learning support services to UCF students.”

• David Feinman, office assistant, Campus Life
• Beth Ganz, academic advisor, Transfer and Transition Services (TTS)
• Shari-Ann James, psychologist, Counseling Center
• Luis Cruz Ortega, specialist, student counseling, Counseling Center
• Sierra Smiley, custodial worker, Recreation and Wellness Center

SDES Awards and Recognition

INTEGRITY
I will practice and defend academic and personal honesty.

SCHOLARSHIP
I will cherish and honor learning as a fundamental purpose of my membership in the UCF community.

COMMUNITY
I will promote an open and supportive campus environment by respecting the rights and contributions of every individual.

CREATIVITY
I will use my talents to enrich the human experience.

EXCELLENCE
I will strive toward the highest standards of performance in any endeavor I undertake.