Student service enhanced through My ASU


July 10, 2014

Arizona State University is committed to fundamentally advancing the way in which student service is delivered across ASU.

In order to deliver excellent service to our students, ASU is moving toward an integrated service model that allows for greater collaboration between departments, students, faculty and staff. This will provide ASU with greater insight into our students needs, and allow the university to deliver more proactive service. My ASU Service Center Download Full Image

It can be overwhelming for students to figure out who has the answers to their questions and how they can get them. Providing students with a one-stop-shop for service that is available at any time of day and from any device will reduce their frustration. Making it easy to navigate the university will increase student satisfaction, as well as improve retention and graduation rates by allowing students to focus on their academics.

ASU students have asked the university to advance the overall quality of service by providing better communication and access to information through technology. In response, on June 26, ASU released an online service center to all students. The objective was to integrate, personalize and streamline service for ASU students.

The service center in My ASU provides students with one place to ask questions, report issues and get immediate help. The service center is easily accessible online, and available to students 24/7.

My ASU is an online portal and the university's central hub for student communications and information. Through the My ASU Service Center, students can:

• Search the knowledge base for help

• Submit requests online by creating a case

• Check the status of their open cases anytime

• Get questions answered 24/7 through live chat

To view the students' My ASU Service Center experience, watch this video tutorial.

The My ASU Service Center enables students to save time by submitting their question or request for support online. The system automatically connects the request to their student record and routes it to the appropriate team at ASU. Students can check the My ASU Service Center anytime to track the status of their open requests and view an archive of their resolutions.

In the service center, the ASU Knowledge Base currently features more than 600 help articles answering students' most frequently asked questions. Students can easily search the knowledge base with their question and provide feedback directly on articles to rate the quality of the information.

These knowledge articles have been created by experts at many different levels across the university. The students' ratings provide university staff with the opportunity to consistently improve the quality of ASU's knowledge base.

Contact:
Crystal Gustavson, crystal.gustavson@asu.edu
assistant director of Student-Centric Communications
(480) 965-5914

ACE Academy brings young students to ASU's aviation program


July 10, 2014

About 20 middle- and high-school students from the Phoenix area – participants in the Aviation Career Education (ACE) Academy – used flight simulators, learned about piston engines and even used riveters on a recent visit to the aviation program at the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering at Arizona State University.

The ACE Academy is sponsored by the Archer Ragsdale Arizona Chapter of the Tuskegee Airmen, Inc., and the Organization of Black Aerospace Professionals. Download Full Image

The campus tour, hosted annually by ASU, was facilitated by Jim Anderson, a senior research scientist in the School for the Engineering of Matter, Transport and Energy, and a retired Southwest Airlines captain.

“We want to expose the young students to college education,” said Larry “Jet” Jackson, director of the Academy, who had a 20-year career as a fighter pilot in the U.S. Air Force and is now a captain for Southwest Airlines. Jackson and Anderson knew each in the Air Force, and regularly share their experiences with youth.

“Aviation is just the hook,” Jackson said. “Some of the students may be interested in aviation, others may not be. We want to encourage them in the STEM areas: science, technology, engineering and math.”

Earlier in the day, the students visited Southwest Airlines at Sky Harbor Airport where they saw a Boeing 737 up close, and learned job interviewing skills and airline operations. They also visited Luke Air Force Base to see the military side of aviation and military life. The ACE program culminated with Young Eagles flights provided by the Experimental Aircraft Association at Glendale Airport.

Later in the year, the students will take a flight aboard Sky Harbor’s 161st Air Refueling Wing’s KC-135 tanker aircraft to observe inflight refueling of F-16s.

During the Academy activities, students also met African-American pioneers in the field of aviation, including Lt. Col. Robert Ashby, the first black captain for Frontier Airlines and one of the Original Tuskegee Airmen.

The Tuskegee Airmen, the first African-American pilots in the U.S. armed forces, began serving in the U.S. Army Air Corps when the military still was segregated and many states still had Jim Crow laws. Their exemplary service helped pave the way for the desegregation of the military in 1948, eventually opening the doors for minorities and women in commercial aviation many years later.

Students also met Col. Richard Toliver and Capt. William Norwood, both trailblazers. Toliver flew 231 combat missions in Southeast Asia during the Vietnam War, and was among the first pilots to fly the F-15. Norwood was a B-52 pilot in the U.S. Air Force before becoming the first black pilot hired by United Airlines, where he flew for 30 years. Ashby, Toliver and Norwood are all members of the Archer Ragsdale Arizona Chapter.

During the ASU visit, professor Jimmy Kimberly demonstrated how piston engines work and had students calculate engine power, using a formula he provided.

“For many of the students, this is the first time they’ve seen anything like this,” Jackson said. “They have no idea what’s under the hood of a car or inside a jet engine. Seeing things in a book is one thing, seeing them in a classroom or lab means a heck of a lot more.”

In a nearby lab, Anderson demonstrated how a gyroscope works, using a bicycle tire on a loop of rope. Students also used a riveting gun to put two pieces of metal together.

Nick Pagorin, 14, who will be a ninth-grader at Chaparral High School in Scottsdale in the fall, said he wants to be in naval aviation.

“I’m thinking of going to Embry-Riddle (Aeronautical University),” said Pagorin, whose father, a pilot for Omini Air International, accompanied the group to ASU.

Jonathan Nash, 13, who will be an eighth-grader at Cotton Boll Elementary School in Peoria, had never flown in a plane or seen one on the ground before participating in the Academy program.

“I want to be a safety director in the Air Force,” Nash said. “I want to travel the world. I like the science behind aviation. And I like the idea of climbing up into the sky and seeing the scenery from up there.”