The University eliminated "several" staff positions to consolidate campus event planning, though no salaries were reduced, wrote Karen Davis, vice president for human resources, in an e-mail to The Herald.
The Organizational Review Committee recommended creating the Brown Conference and Event Center last February as part of efforts to cut spending. The new office, formally called the Office of University Event and Conference Services, opened last summer. It merges several departments on campus including the University Events Office, the Conference Services Office and the University Event Support Office, said Julie Haworth, director of the new office.
All campus event planning is now handled by either the Student Activities Office or the new 12-person University Event and Conference Services Office, a division of the Department of Facilities Management. "Previously, departments had to contact a number of different offices on campus … to plan their event," Davis wrote. "The creation of the new Events Center has resulted in a ‘one-stop-shop' — or single point of contact — for event planning and implementation." The new office streamlines internal billing and reduces paperwork redundancy.
Though Haworth originally worked in conference services, she was laid off and then rehired as the director of University Event and Conference Services.
The new office works closely with other departments. It reports directly to Facilities Management and also works closely with the Office of Public Affairs and University Relations as well as the SAO, Haworth said. "A lot of the major events that we do come out of Public Affairs and University Relations — presidential events, guest speakers, dignitaries … so it is really important that we keep a strong connection," Haworth said.
Haworth said her office also maintains a "very strong connection to students" who have to plan events. Depending on the event, students go through the SAO for planning logistics, but must schedule the space with the Scheduling Office, a division now within Haworth's office.
University Event and Conference Services meets twice a week with the SAO to discuss "what types of things are coming onto campus and what kinds of student events have come in, are there any concerns," Haworth said.
Some University departments also directly interact with Haworth's office when planning their events. For example, the Department of Music now works with the office around Commencement and Spring Weekend, according to Ashley Lundh, events coordinator for the music department. Events taking place in department spaces do not have to be approved through University Event and Conference Services.
In general, planning events with University Services goes smoothly, she said.
Ashley Jones '11, a member of Body and Sole, said that the student dance group sometimes uses the scheduling office website to reserve meeting spaces. "The feature that allows you to see which rooms are booked when is helpful," she said.
The Brown Concert Agency, the student group that plans Spring Weekend concerts, also uses the new office's services. "We mainly go through the SAO when scheduling our events," Serin Seckin '11, BCA's administrative chair, wrote in an e-mail to The Herald. But she wrote that BCA does directly contact Haworth's office to reserve the Main Green.
"We are in year one of building new efficiencies," Haworth said. "But we are already seeing the results."
