From expanding campus to Main Street to overhauling the dining services, Montevallo has been working in high gear over the past year to improve the university in a multitude of ways. Student Life is no exception to these upgrades with the introduction of OrgSync, eliminating outdated systems used by student groups and Greek organizations alike.
OrgSync is software for managing organizations, student government and more within a college or university.
Jenny Bell, director of Student Life, oversees Greek life, SGA, UPC and student organizations on campus. Prior to the switch to OrgSync, managing groups and organizations was a paperwork-heavy job for Bell and a foot-heavy job for students.
Go to student life. Pick up an event request form. Take it home. Fill it out. Contact an advisor. Meet with them. Get their signature. Take it back to student life. Turn it in. Go home. Wait. Approved!
According to Spectrum president Lydia Clements, this was the previous process of getting approval for an event on campus. Clements was very familiar with all the old methods that weighed down the running of a student organization.
“Now it is all done electronically. I go nowhere; they go nowhere. I don’t have to schedule any appointments with advisors because they just get an email. Making everything paperless and doing it all online has saved everyone a lot of time,” Clements said.
Along with electronic forms being quicker and easier they also eliminate human error and are helping make Montevallo a greener campus.
Facebook, Twitter, ForUM and Canvas are already a lot to keep up with. Adding another website to keep tabs on is a lot to ask, but Abigail Bradley, president of Alpha Delta Pi, thinks OrgSync’s capabilities make it worth it.
Bradley has been using OrgSync since its introduction in August. One of the features she has found most useful is mass messaging. If users opt-in to text messages from a group on OrgSync then they will be able to get text alerts sent to their phones, a feature ADPi previously had been paying separately to have.
OrgSync is filled with other features too, Bradley said, like collecting payments from members with PayPal and organization-wide check lists.
“I think people just need to know how to use all those features to be able to utilize it fully because it is a pretty awesome website,” Bradley said.
Student Life conducts OrgSync training sessions on request. Bell said she has been doing several every week since its introduction three months ago.
Montevallo has more than 90 organizations now registered on OrgSync, including residence halls and College Night sides. While OrgSync won’t become the next Facebook, it gives student organizations a place to congregate online where they won’t get lost in the newsfeed.
