Campus PRIDE Promotes Effective Service Delivery

VALDOSTA -- After a year of success, Valdosta State University’s new program Campus PRIDE (Personal Responsibility in Delivering Excellence) continues to promote positive, efficient service delivery through customer service initiatives and training opportunities.

Campus PRIDE is VSU’s signature program within the University System of Georgia’s Professional Development Consortium (PDC). The program is an extension of the university’s Partners for Campus Excellence and focuses on student retention and service delivery improvement.

Every semester, the program offers courses in advanced service techniques for VSU faculty, staff and student employees. Representatives from VSU also provide training classes at ABAC, Albany State University, Bainbridge College, Darton College, Georgia Southwestern State University, South Georgia College and Waycross College. Themes for courses include: “Dispelling the Myth: Students are not my customers, ” “Best Practices to Promote Better Customer Service,” “Re-thinking Stress: Managing Me” and “Providing Service in a Budget Friendly Manner.”

“We are constantly recruiting students and enticing people to support our university financially, and the reason they want to support us is because of the job we do to make them feel like an integral part of the VSU community,” said Training Specialist Timothy Yorkey. “Everyone can benefit from practicing some type of service delivery skills. If you enhance your skills, you are in a better position to represent the university. If we leave a bad impression on potential students and donors, they will go where they feel they are important.”

Yorkey said that Campus PRIDE participants learn techniques that help them successfully deal with “moments of truth” within departments, in the classroom and on campus. Registration for Campus PRIDE courses can accessed through the Employee and Organizational Development web page ( http://www.valdosta.edu/finadmin/training/index.shtml ).

The University System of Georgia’s PDC is a product of the Board of Regents’ sixth strategic goal, which is to increase efficiency working as a system. The consortium fosters collaboration throughout the university system to facilitate benchmarking, share development resources and implement best practices.

For more information on Campus PRIDE, contact Yorkey at teyorkey@valdosta.edu .