Keeping the 7,093 undergraduate commuter students of Stony Brook University involved in activities on campus is one of the goals of Commuter Student Services. To increase the likelihood of a commuter student participating in on-campus activities, Commuter Student Services recently set up an e-mail system to inform commuters of the activities on campus.

‘We wanted a new way to reach out to commuter students,’ said Shannon Kelly, Commuter Student Services’ Senior Advisor. ‘We knew it was convenient and we could get immediate responses.’

Kelly added that the e-mail system has been a success since it was instituted, making it considerably easier to conduct surveys and find out where commuter students’ interests are.

‘Yeah, it’s very informational,’ said Dimitar Royanov, a sophomore. ‘It’s nice to receive the e-mail. It keeps me up-to-date with things I may want to do on campus.’ Royanov, who lives five minutes away from the University on Nicholls Road, added that he would like to be more involved on campus, but does not have a lot of time.

‘I didn’t receive an e-mail, but it may have been my spam blocker,’ said Heather Miller, a junior. Miller was not the only commuter student who was left out of the e-mail loop. Several commuters were surprised to hear that there was an informational e-mail just for commuters.

‘I might’ve got it, but I don’t really check the school e-mail,’ said Cory Callender, 26.

Kelly said the reasons some commuters have yet to receive the informational e-mail is because the e-mail addresses provided on SOLAR are incorrect or not checked on a regular basis. These discrepancies with e-mail addresses can be easily changed on SOLAR.

Kelly also noted that Commuter Student Services has a lot of other programs in the works, improving on many programs already available, such as Lunch and Learn workshops, the Traveling Star Award and the group posting on Blackboard.

The Lunch and Learn workshops are held several times a semester and cover a variety of topics, including time management, stress relief techniques and healthy relationships. The Traveling Star is a way through which the Office of Commuter Student Services recognizes an undergraduate commuter student who has positively impacted SBU by contributing to the success of a campus department or office.

But the efforts of Commuter Student Services are not always received so graciously by all commuter students. ‘I honestly don’t care,’ said Sean Han, 23. ‘I might’ve been interested in free food but I really don’t care about campus events. After all this time I felt isolated from the campus events, I’m not about to start participating now.’

Miller said that Han was in the minority with his sentiments. Regardless of relying on her brother to carpool with her to and from school, she is involved in a couple of clubs on campus. ‘If you want to be involved in clubs on campus, you can find a way or they work with you,’ said Miller.

In response to commuters feeling isolated on campus, Kelly said, ‘Our office offers a lot of programs and services for commuter students. In addition we focus on outreaching to commuter students to make sure they know not only about our programs but other opportunities as well. It’s the students’ responsibility to take advantage of the opportunities.’

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