John Crysler, policy analyst in the Office of the VP Students, sent the following information to YFile about the opening of a brand new building at York – the Student Services Centre.
Left: Artist's rendition of York's new Student Services Centre
York’s Office of the Registrar, Career Centre and the offices of Student Financial Services, Student Affairs and Admissions & Recruitment, have all found new homes in the brand new Student Services Centre (SSC), located next to York’s Seymour Schulich Building.
When students enter SSC, they will find a reception area where they will be directed, depending on their query, to one of the offices listed above or to the new Student Client Services Department.
The SSC will open the week of Feb. 23. However, beginning Monday, Feb. 16, during the University’s Reading Week, there will be a staggered move-in for various units taking up quarters in the building. Service in those different offices will be extremely limited during the move and there will be some temporary office closures.
Departments moving to the Student Services Centre, and their locations, are as follows:
- First Floor: Student Client Services and the Career Centre
- Second Floor: Registrar's Office, Student Financial Services and Student Affairs
- Third Floor: Admissions & Recruitment
The purpose of the new building is to serve York students more efficiently. By relocating these central services to one building, York will ensure that students will spend less time simply looking for the right department.
Here are some examples of the services to be offered:
- The public counters are being replaced with a professional, private environment in the new Student Client Services area, where service representatives will help students with various requests relating to the different student service departments.
- Specialized staff will be able to assist students with job searches and career planning.
- The phone service is changing to connect students with a service representative immediately, and to eliminate the use of long recorded messages.
- More staff have been added to reduce line-ups.
It will take time to fully realize some of the new initiatives, but students will see some immediate improvements.
The SSC is the University’s latest "green" building through its sustainable design, which includes low energy consumption, access to natural light, natural ventilation, and the use of high performance cladding and green building materials. It will also be a comfortable place to work and will offer a professional ambience for professional/client relationships.
For updates, details, a map and frequently asked questions, click here. You can also e-mail your questions to sscentre@yorku.ca.