Staff Council members on Thursday discussed signs on campus during their April meeting. | Aisha Bouderdaben/The Daily Cougar
Members of the Staff Council spoke on a proposal for major updates to the signage at UH addressed success and concerns within the University in Thursday’s meeting.
“Many students complained that they don’t know the numbers of locations well enough to know how to get there,” said Associate Vice Chancellor and Vice President of Administration Emily Messa. “They expressed that naming locations would be more beneficial when trying to complete task such as finding parking.”
The council, which consists of elected staff from each department, meet monthly to work to voice concerns about the university and staff concerns. Using six standing committees and special committees, the members serve as an advisory board to the president and administration of UH.
Messa led the signage discussion, using the complaints of students on recognizing the current numbers system. Messa and other council members discussed plans to create signage around campus that includes numbers, colors and names to differentiate locations on campus.
The process to convert all of the current signs to the proposed signage would take up to three years, according to Messa. While many of the staff members were impressed by the proposal, there were several concerns as well.
Jay Parks, associate director of campus recreation, was one of the first members to address concerns about the proposed plan.
“With as many interior intersections as the University has, how will we prevent signage from popping up every fifteen to thirty feet?” Parks said.
Messa said that the one of the goals of the proposals was to reduce the current signage of about four signs per location to two signs. She expressed the benefits of the proposal, funding propositions and the time frame to create these changes.
“We are looking to have the proposal accepted this May, and from there introduce to signage to campus in five month blocks,” Messa said.
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