Almost a year has passed since the Bowen-Thompson Student Union opened last Jan. 13. Glow sticks lit up the night as the opening of the new building began with an official ribbon-cutting ceremony. At the time, many problems awaited fixing in the Union.

Elevators did not work, and many improvements in the mechanical aspects of the Union needed to be corrected. The Student Union has since made several improvements as the staff continues to grow and gain confidence in their work.

“Issues of temperature control in the Union Ballroom and certain areas of heat generated equipment are currently being worked on, and they have just been approved by The Board of Trustees,” said Bill Blane, interim director of the Union.

Blane said more audio-visual equipment for meetings and additional directional signage have also been added to the Union. “Our philosophy is the concept of continuous improvement,” Blane said.

LEARNING PROCESS

The director of Union Dining Services, Dave Maley, said there have been plenty of changes in the way they do things in the building.

“Bottom-line — we’ve learned a lot,” he said. “The building has been much more popular than we ever though it would be.”

Maley said that when the Union first started, there was a significant drop in other dining areas.

“The problem was that the Union wasn’t built for that amount of traffic,” Maley said. “Initial business was overwhelming. We were like a fire department trying to control everything.”

Maley said over the past year, the Union made various changes that helped out traffic problems. He said that when the Union first opened, the wok and the salad bar were both located in one line.

“It was the best wok variety we have ever had, but we had to compromise because of traffic issues. So what we did was split the wok and the salad bar,” Maley said.

Maley said that Zza’s self-serve pizza and pasta line created a lot of problems so they did away with the self-serve line, which made the line move faster. This meant that they could incorporate baked pastas and incorporate more variety such as dessert pizzas.

Blane said that although they started out with a new faculty and with relatively inexperienced staff, the Union is always improving. “There has been a lot of progress regarding staff adjustment, additions to the staff, and more event planners have been implemented,” Blane said.

Blane said that around 100 student employees work at the Union, along with about 35 employees who are not students.

“One thing improved quite drastically is that we’re adequately staffed with students. They have their jobs down quite well and are confident about it,” Blane said. “They’ve come to own the Union as their place.”

He added that adult employees have grown in confidence in what they’re doing.

Maley said that the staff Chef, Sonja Kehr, is fantastic.

“She has brought in some great ideas and people have learned a great deal from her excellent ideas,” he said. “Along with Marissa Sargent, the current production manager who is also a trained chef — the two women’s work compliment one another well.

“They’re invaluable. They work together perfectly. Chefs can be pretty particular, but they are a perfect example of how we have new people coming in and putting pizzazz back into the Union,” Maley said.

PLENTY OF EVENTS

Blane said two more important parts of the building are the way student organizations use it and an events service which handles events in the Union and classrooms around campus. The service holds information and orientation meetings around campus.

The most visible area to students is the student information Services in which 23 students are employed. Programs such as the student fact line and the video-net system are operated through this department.

Starting this spring, students can obtain their photo identification cards at the Union continuously, throughout the year.

“One of our challenges is to inform the campus community on how to use the Union — mainly informing the students on what’s here and how to gain access.”

Blane said that if a student organization wishes to reserve a spot in the Union, a two-week notice is preferred and no charge is included. Organizers hold a master calendar meeting twice a year where student organizations can reserve rooms in the Union. Students may also contact the Union planning staff via the BGSU home page, in office suite 231 or by telephone.

“Our major priority is to get all of our policies in place,” Blane said. Blane said the Union advisory committee helps him do this. The committee includes students, staff and faculty. He said they will be a channel for anyone and everyone on campus to provide suggestions on how to improve the building.

CONTINUED IMPROVEMENT

Maley continues to improve the dining experience at the Union. He said they are continuing to tweak catering operations.

“We are totally analyzing our pricing. We have actually made significant price drops. We don’t get any subsidiary we pay the Union ten percent of our growth. For every dollar we charge, it all goes to expenses of that item. In other words, it’s a break even budget.”

Maley said that they continue to make renovations at the Union. He said Traditions, another restaurant which was unsuccessful in the Union, started out as a mini-Boston Market concept.

“It got old in two days. There wasn’t enough selection so we turned Traditions into World Traditions, which was ethnic based. Foods from different cultures change every week, along with a themed line which is provided everyday, “Maley said.

Maley said Ama Grande, a self-serve Mexican bar, and Orville and Wilbur, which offered different kinds of fried chicken, were not successful in the Union because Steak Escape overpowered everything. Orville and Wilbur was moved to McDonald Hall where it did more business.

HIGH HOPES

He also said that one part the staff hoped would do well — the pub — hasn’t. He recently formed a pub committee which to promote it.

“The pub was a disappointment. However, the pub is the quietest place to eat lunch on campus,” Maley chuckled. “This is the best time to access. I would really like to see something done with the pub; primarily by increasing its use.”

Maley said he wants to make it into a sports bar with the help of more promotions and pre-game events. Currently students are not utilizing it as could be. Maley said that part of this could be that the majority of the clientele is not yet 21.

“We started with a set plan, evaluated it, continue to evaluate it to what’s logical to Bowling Green State University,” Maley said.

“Now that we’re one year into this , I’m curious to see how this semester will operate. It’s our first chance to compare. We have a huge staff. We do not have the level of frustration that we had when we first opened, and we have extremely dedicated employees.”