Join the Memorial Union Team

Students are essential to our success

Student employees play a key leadership role at the Memorial Union. This is accomplished daily, not only through our front-line student staff, but also through dedicated Student Managers and members of the Student Leadership Team.

Student Managers

Student Managers provide leadership and supervision to their respective service area. They are part of the operational and managerial team for their unit.

Not all areas are required to have a Student Manager position. As a minimum, the following areas should have student managers:

• Lifetime Sports
• Union Services
• Information desk
• Sign & Design
• Building Managers
• Administration

General Guidelines:

• Job duties, responsibilities and learning outcomes will be defined in a Job Description.
• Student Manager positions will be posted along with other student employee positions.
• Applicants will be interviewed and selected on a "one school year" basis.
  • Being a Student Manager does not automatically guarantee that the student will have that position indefinitely; supervisors may make the determination as to whether to open the position each year, or to retain a student manager for a consecutive year(s).
• Performance evaluations will be accomplished for Student Manager positions.

Benefits of being a Student Manager:

• Opportunity for a higher pay scale
• Opportunity to serve on the Student Leadership Team
• Opportunity to attend the annual Association of College Unions International regional conference (classes and budget permitting).

Student Leadership Team

The purpose of the Student Leadership Team is to help create a sense of “community” among staff and student employees. Team members will work to define what kind of “community” we envision in our workplace, identify community values that student employees can embrace, and facilitate activities that help us achieve that vision.

The Student Leadership Team provides student employees an opportunity for leadership, learning, and involvement through the planning and organizing of Memorial Union student employee activities. The Student Leadership Team also serves as a means to enhance communications between the Memorial Union staff and the student employee workforce. Through their involvement, they help to positively contribute to the overall morale, productivity and retention of the Memorial Union work environment.

General Guidelines:

• Serving on the Student Leadership Team is not considered a “mandatory” activity for student employees; only those students who are interested and enthusiastic about joining should be encouraged to participate.
• The Student Leadership Team will consist of 12 students who will represent all areas of the Memorial Union.  Members will be as follows:
  • One representative from each of the following six (6) service areas:  Lifetime Sports, Union Services, Information Desk, Sign & Design, Building Managers, and Administration.  The Student Manager will serve as the primary representative from their area.  If the Student Manager does not serve on the team, another student may be selected.
  • One (1) representative from the Center for Student Involvement and Leadership.
  • Loading Dock Club Manager
  • Marketing student
  • Accounting Intern
  • Two (2) “Members-at-large.” 
• Any student employee may apply for one of the Member-at-Large positions.  An application and selection process will be established by the Student Leadership Team.  It is preferred that students serve in these positions for a one year term (for a school year), giving more students an opportunity to apply.
• The Student Leadership Team will select a Chair (or co-chairs) to serve for the school year.  The Chair will serve as the group’s main contact for the Director and the full-time staff, and coordinate communications among group members.
• Supervisors will approve all members on the Student Leadership Team.  Items supervisors should consider include (but not limited to): job performance, shift scheduling considerations; academic schedule, etc.

Benefits:

• Paid organizational meeting times
• Opportunity to attend the annual Association of College Unions International regional conference (classes and budget permitting).
  

Examples of activities planned by the Student Leadership Team:

• In-service orientation sessions for the fall and spring semester
• Homecoming Parade
• Professional development (educational sessions)
• Other activities

Sub-Committees:  Small groups may be formed to work on specific projects.  When this is the case, membership on sub-committees may be open to any Memorial Union student employee who wishes to become involved.

Community Learning Outcomes Project

Beginning in the fall 2007 semester, the Student Leadership Team will undertake a project to help develop a set of “community learning outcomes” or values that student employees can adopt for the Memorial Union.  They will help determine what kind of “community” we envision in our workplace, and what steps have to be taken to make this vision come true.

Student Leadership Team members will work to answer the questions:  “How can we build community at work, and what would that mean?”  How would our student employees define “community” as it relates to the workplace, can we measure our progress; how will we know when we’re there?

Several steps that would be included in the project:

• Members would each receive a book on “community building” as it relates to the University experience, and it would be a book they would all read throughout the year.  Readings would be discussed at team meetings.
• Since this group will be tasked to plan and facilitate the in-service orientation sessions for all 60+ student employees, we would encourage them to incorporate a community building activity into these sessions.
• Members will be encouraged and mentored to present a program at the ACUI regional conference at South Dakota State University (fall 2007) on this project.  This provides an opportunity to make a presentation and share their experience with students from other campuses (contributing to the overall learning experience of attending the conference).
• At the end of the 2007-2008 school year, we would have a facilitated discussion with the Student Leadership Team on how this activity went.  Each member will also be asked to submit a reflection paper on their personal experience.  Both these activities will be designed to flush out what the students learned about “community building” from the project.

Our overall goal is for the Student Leadership Team to result in both a learning experience and a rewarding team-building opportunity for its members.

2007-2008 Memorial Union Learning Outcomes for Student Employees