UAH debuts new and improved campus life app

HUNTSVILLE, Ala. (August 8, 2014) - The University of Alabama in Huntsville (UAH) is pleased to announce the launch of its new UAH Campus Life app, a free branded platform hosted by Guidebook that offers students a convenient, easy, and interactive way to keep track of activities and events hosted by Student Affairs.

"We wanted a one-stop shop for students where they could follow our programming and engage with other students without having to pick up a paper program or going to multiple websites," says Jenny Russell, Assistant Director of New Student Orientation & Family Programs.

The app, which is available in the App Store for iPhone and the Google store for Android, features four guides: New Student Orientation, Week of Welcome (WOW), Students in Transition, and Student Life. Students can use it to view upcoming events and then customize their schedule based on their interest areas.

"With WOW, for example, events are flagged as Tradition Events, Academic/College Events, Registered Student Organization Events, or Fraternity/Sorority Life Events, so students have the option to see all 120 events at once or to sort them and see only the ones they want," says Kacey R. Schaum, Assistant Director for Student Life. "They just tap the identifiers or tap the event they want to go to and the app creates a whole new schedule for them."

This is not the first time UAH has used a Guidebook app to share events and information with students. But it is the first time it has offered a branded platform. "Before, students had to download the Guidebook app to access UAH's student life programming," says Russell. "But now they can go directly to the UAH Campus Life app and download it."

This year, however, the app is even more robust than it has been in the past, with a shared database of photos, social media integration, and customizable links to websites. It's also tied to Google maps, which recently launched a Street View of the UAH campus, making it easy for students to identify an event's location. And it can be used by the students to check in at events and share contact information, and by event planners to send location changes or other updates.

"I hope it's something that our students are proud of and they see that we are investing time in our student programming," says Russell, adding that if they do have feedback she is more than open to hearing about what they'd like to see. "This is for students and they should feel like they're a part of this campus life app."