With recent release of Quadmania tickets, most students only know the Campus Information Center as the place to get their tickets for Fetty Wap. Most of the year, though, the desk that has become a symbol of The Commons itself goes seemingly unnoticed by many in their duties.
Cody Sizemore, the facilities coordinator of the CIC, sat down to discuss the ins and outs of the CIC and the services it provides.
As facilities coordinator, Sizemore has about four main jobs which include overseeing the 10 student desk attendants, supervising the operations staff, providing information to those that need it and regulating the lost and found.
“Our main responsibility is to provide information to new, transfer and off-campus students which might mean giving them quick and easy information or directing them to various other departments that can help with their needs,” said Sizemore.
Another huge part of the CIC is the pay-for-print station. With this system, students are able to print out documents for 10 cents per page. The aim of this is to present students with an opportunity to print out their work while on the way to class.
“We are in a convenient location as we are right between residential and academic buildings so, students can easily print their work on the way to class,” Sizemore said.
The desk also has a lost and found. Items that are found around campus are turned in to the desk and logged. If the item has any form of identification, the owner is then notified via email that their belonging is in The Commons.
Sizemore mentioned how the system had been “revamped in the past five years, moving from a notebook to an online log and making the system easier.”
Through the lost and found, students can also make claims for items they have lost in hopes of getting them returned.
Regarding the people that are looking to grab some free things, there are many steps in place to prevent any theft.
“If they are not a UMBC student that’s usually the first red flag and then we ask them to describe it in great detail,” said Sizemore, “and if they cannot describe the item to a tee, we do not give it to them.”
Despite their other vital services, the CIC is arguably most popular for their sale of both SEB and student organization event tickets.
“The big issue with that is we only accept cash,” said Sizemore. “It limits how we can help people if they want to pay by a credit or debit card,” said Sizemore.
As for the future, there are a couple improvements on the horizon for improving ticket sales and printing. The first is to introduce a system where, for events that are free for UMBC students, their red cards can be swiped and their free ticket can be accounted for in that manner, rather than manually putting it into a spreadsheet.
The other planned change is wireless printing. With this, students will be able to connect to one of the printers from their own devices instead of having to use the computers at the desk.
Maybe you’ve visited the CIC, maybe you haven’t. Either way, it’s there when you need it. But good luck trying to print something for your 10 a.m. with five minutes to spare.
