Action Proposal

To recap, my issue pertains to the dining services and how they are always over crowded with students who do not have enough time to wait and get their food. The time between classes is very limited and students need to have the time to enjoy a good meal so they can have the energy to excel in the classroom. While tackling this issue, I am considering the issue at hand, the community and the project guidelines that will allow me to identify appropriate actions I could take to implement/move forward the plan that I have already outlined in research Report II.

There are three Action Proposals that I think are essential to me being successful in completing this project…

Implement another Grab and Go at the Noble Center

Put in a Café in the new Residence Hall when it is built

Talk with other schools dining services and friends and compare them to SLU

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Action Proposal 1: Implementing a Grab and Go at the Noble Center during lunch hours.

Specific Audience

The specific audience that would be affected by this new proposal is the St. Lawrence Students as well as the Faculty members. Students and Faculty, especially who are in the Noble Center can use this new Grab and Go to get their food before their classes. This would allow for them to not walk all the way to the Pub or Dana to grab food and come all the way back for class. This specific area for the Grab and Go can also be very convenient for students and Faculty who are in Gaines Residence Hall, Hewlett and Jenks Suites as well as Villas.

Goals/Intended Outcomes – What I want to happen as a result of this

My goal for this proposal is to have the Grab and Go in the Noble Center up and running by April 15th.I really think that this would be possible and places like the Pub and Dana would start to see less crowding and more room as a result of this new opening.

Action Description – What would I do, including logistical considerations such as: How I would coordinate the action and how I would promote it if appropriate. What materials I would need for the action?

There are a number of things that I would do to start coordinating this proposal…

I would first email Cindy Atkins(Director of Dining Services and Conference Services). Her email is and I would send her the following email…

Hi Cindy,

I would love to speak with you again about the dining services issue. More specifically, I would like to talk to you about potentially opening up another Grab and Go in the Noble Center during lunch hours. I believe that this would be a great way to alleviate some of the chaos that goes on at our other dining areas. I am free on Mondays and Wednesdays between 9 am and 11 am, Tuesdays and Thursdays between 9 am and 11:30am and on Fridays between 10 am and 1 pm. Please let me know if any of these times work for you and I look forward to speaking with you soon.

Thanks a lot,

Oliver Dennis

I plan to send this email on Monday, March 18th at 9 am. She is pretty good with emails so I would expect her to respond back on that same day. Once we figure out a mutual meeting time, I would go to her office, which is in Lee Residence Hall and talk with her about this potential new Grab and Go. I would ask her the following questions…

Would it even be possible to implement another Grab and Go in the Noble Center by April 15th?

If possible, what would be the best way to go about starting up the Grab and Go at the Noble Center?

What were the steps that Dining Services took to put in the Grab and Go at the Johnson Hall of Science?

Can the same steps be done for the potential of one in the Noble Center?

Where would the best place be for the new Grab and Go in the Noble Center?

Is this a plan that could easily be done to alleviate the issues that we are currently having?

*Based on her answers, I might have to come up with some other questions on the spot in order to get the answers that I am looking for.

*Following the interview and hope that it goes well, I would like to share my proposal with David Geleta (Associate Director of Dining and Conference Services) as well as with Alec Cote (VP University Relations). These two people are involved with the dining services issue and I think would be very helpful in pushing for the Grab and Go at the Noble Center. With hope that my meeting goes well with Cindy, I plan to share my proposal with David and Alec by no later than March 22nd. I think that if I bring this up with Alec, he could help me promote the idea to Thelmo who could really provide the backbone that I would need to go through with the Grab and Go at the Noble Center.

Dear Alec,

As you already know, I am working on a plan to help the dining services deal with the overcrowding and craziness that goes on in the dining areas. I wanted to sit down and talk with you about my plan of action and see if it would be possible to get any help that you can offer me and potentially help promote what I want to do. I am excited about this project and think that it can easily be done. Thank you for your time and I look forward to speaking with you soon.

Sincerely,

Oliver Dennis

*For this action, I would need to do a couple of different things that would allow for this new Grab and Go to be successful.

Make flyers – I would make flyers and post them up around the school that would make people aware of the new Grab and Go that is being put in and the times that it is open. I would make the flyer very catchy by putting it on bright paper that would grab student’s attention when they would walk by it. I would also put one in each student’s mailbox so that they could read it when they go to check their mail.

School Wide Email – I would talk with the President’s office and see how I would go about someone sending a school wide email out that would make students aware of this new opening and encourage them to go and eat in the Noble Center during lunch hours. I would probably send an email to Dayle Burgess (Assistant to President) and ask how I would go about doing that. My email would say…

Dear Mr. Burgess,

We have spoken before about dining services, but I was wondering how I would go about someone having someone send out an email to the whole school to make them aware of the new Grab and Go that would be set up at the Noble Center. If you could direct me to the right person for that, I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks a lot,

Oliver Dennis

What obstacles I may encounter and how I would handle them?

With every proposal come obstacles that you have to overcome in order for it to be successful. One of the things that I would have to deal with is everyone’s worst nightmare and that is BUDGET. There may not be enough money to fund another Grab and Go at this time or even be able to hire employees to work at it. This could potentially end or halt the proposed action that I have come up with. There are a few things I would do to handle this obstacle if it did become an issue. I would go to dining services or whoever deals with the budget and show them how effective this new Grab and Go can be. I would tell them by having this, it would allow for more students to get food during the lunch hours on campus, which could generate more money. It would alleviate the craziness that goes on during prime hours and would lower the amount of food that gets wasted. A result of over crowding is that people take other people’s food or just abandon their food, which is a huge economic consequence. It causes the dining services to make more food, which is just simply a waste of money. This new Grab and Go would alleviate this problem allowing for only the right amount of food to be made and less waste to happen. This new Grab and Go would make more money and start to create less problems in the dining areas during prime hours.

Strengths/Weaknesses of the proposed actions?

Strengths

It would allow for less crowding to occur during the main eating hours
The new Grab and Go would create jobs for students as well as other members of the community
It would generate money that could be used to update the dining facilities (possibly ahead of schedule).

Weaknesses

It would cost more money that the school does not have right now
A lot of people may not use this Grab and Go and the school could loose money by trying this proposal

How would I document the action?

The way I would go about documenting this action would be by keeping a very specific log of everything that I do. It would be very detailed with times, emails, actions that I have taken and what has come of it. Also, I would take pictures of the new Grab and Go set up in the Noble Center and show how successful it has become by the number of students that are going to it.

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Action Proposal 2:Putting in a new café in the new Residence Hall when it is built.

Specific Audience

The specific audience that would be affected by this new proposal is the St. Lawrence Students as well as the Faculty members. This new dorm that we are going to build is going to be right at the bottom of the quad and will have a lot of traffic in and around it. This would be a perfect place for a café so students and faculty members in and around the area can come and enjoy a drink and a meal on that side of campus. Our actions of letting more people in each year have caused us to build a new Residence Hall in the near future. This means more students and even more overcrowding in the dining areas. This is why I want to propose that a café be built in the new Residence Hall building.

Goals/intended outcomes – What I want to happen as a result of this action?

My goal for my second proposal is to have a café be built inside the new Residence Hall that will be put in at the bottom of the quad. Once I figure out a rough date for completion, I would start to work on potential dates for this café to be put in.

Action Description – What would I do, including logistical considerations such as: How I would coordinate the action and how I would promote it if appropriate. What materials I would need for the action?

There are a number of things that I would do to start coordinating this proposal…

I would first figure out when the new Residence Hall plans to be built exactly. I would email Residence Life to figure the date out exactly and my email would say…

Dear Residence Life,

My name is Oliver Dennis and I am currently a senior here at St. Lawrence. I am currently working on a class project that involves the dining services issue that we have here on campus. One of the things that I would like to propose is that there be a café incorporated in the new Residence Hall when it is built. I know that there is talk about it, but I want to make sure that it gets done. If you could give me more information about this new building or when the school plans to have it completed I would greatly appreciate it.

Thanks a lot,

Oliver Dennis

I would also email Cindy Atkins (Director of Dining Services and Conference Services). Her email is and I would send her the following email…

Hi Cindy,

I would love to speak to you more about the dining services issue, but more specifically about putting a café in the new Residence Hall when it gets built. I am free on Mondays and Wednesdays between 9 am and 11 am, Tuesdays and Thursdays between 9 am and 11:30am and on Fridays between 10 am and 1 pm. Please let me know if any of these times work for you and I look forward to speaking with you soon.

Thanks a lot,

Oliver Dennis

Is a new Café a plausible idea that could be put into the new Residence Hall when it is built?

How would dining services go about making sure a café can get built in this new Residence Hall?

Are there more health codes that the school has to pass in order for more food places to be open on campus?

Is there a limitation to how big this café could be?

*Based on her answers, I might have to come up with some other questions on the spot in order to get the answers that I am looking for.

*Following the interview and hope that it goes well, I would like to share my proposal with David Geleta (Associate Director of Dining and Conference Services) as well as with Alec Cote (VP University Relations). These two people are involved with the dining services issue and I think would be very helpful in pushing for the café in the new Residence Hall. With hope that my meeting goes well with Cindy, I plan to share my proposal with David and Alec by no later than March 22nd. I think that if I bring this up with Alec, he could help me promote the idea to Thelmo who could really provide the backbone that I would need to go through with the Café in the New Residence Hall. I want to get this idea flowing so it can actually happen when the new Residence Hall is built sometime after I have graduated.

*For this action, I would need to do a couple of different things that would allow for this new Café to be successful

Extended Hours– I would like to have this new Café open from about 8 am until about 2 pm. This could allow students to get breakfast and lunch at their disposal and free up places like the Pub and Danaeven more. I think that a lot of people would go to it if it werea very relaxing place where music would be playing in the background. I am also thinking that the café could open back up around 4:30 pm and serve simple dinner food like sandwiches, salads, or burgers. I think that people would like to go to the Café for dinner that is near them instead of walking all the way to the Pub or Dana. This would also stop the overcrowding and long lines at the Pub and Dana during the dinner hours.

What obstacles I may encounter and how I would handle them?

There are definitely some obstacles that I may encounter when trying to implement this new Café in the Residence Hall. One of the problems is that the new Café has to wait for the Residence Hall to be built. With any structure being built comes delays and if the building gets delayed then the Café gets delayed. I am going to figure out who is in charge of dealing with the new Residence Hall and make sure that they stay on track with the building the best that they could. Another obstacle that I could deal with is that, the school may not be able to afford at first to keep it open as long as I would like because of money issues. To be honest, I think that the new café will generate enough money for the school to see some profit form it.

Strengths/Weaknesses of the proposed actions?

Strengths

Allow for more space to be available at every dining area during the main eating hours
Be able to make just the amount of food so nothing gets wasted and costs of creating more food goes up

Weaknesses

Not enough people use the café and cause for it to not generate any profit from it
There are to many delays with the Residence Hall and causes for the Café to not get built

How would I document the action?

The way I would go about documenting this action would be by keeping a very specific log of everything that I do. It would be very detailed with times, emails, actions that I have taken and what has come of it. I would also speak with someone like Alec Cote to hopefully take pictures of the progress with the Residence Hall as well as with the Café and maybe upload them to the website. I want people to see how successful this new Café is in the new building when it gets built.

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Action Proposal 3: Talk with other schools dining services and see what they do, the problems that they face and what they are doing to deal with the problems and then share it with St. Lawrence’s’ Dining Services.

The Specific Audience

The specific audience that would be affected by this new proposal is the St. Lawrence Students, the faculty, the surrounding community as well as people who work in the dining services. Based on what I find from other schools, the employees who are in dining services might want to change the way they do things at St. Lawrence in order to be like other schools that are successful.