Make a Difference Day on Oct. 24 provides the campus community with a great opportunity to help its neighbors. Mike Patterson, director of student activities and union services, said the day of national service is about neighbors helping neighbors.

“We have a unique ability to make a large impact on the community that we are part of,” said Patterson. “By making a commitment to Make a Difference Day, we as a college can continue to make a difference in the local region.”

Having faculty, staff and students engaged in the program is vital in this effort, he added. All members of the campus community are encouraged to participate by donating goods or their time, or both.

The college’s involvement in the program begins on Friday, Oct. 23. Donations will be accepted in the Student Union, room 100. College employees received a shopping list of needed goods with their paychecks on Oct. 14. The donations will benefit such local non-profit organizations as Family of New Paltz and The Queen’s Galley.

On Saturday, representatives from the college will volunteer from 3:30 to 6:30 p.m. at more than 11 off-campus service sites, including Village View for Seniors and the New Paltz Fire Department.

The entire event will conclude with a reflection dinner on Saturday beginning at 7:30 p.m. in the Student Union, room 100. The dinner is an addition to the program that Patterson hopes will help spread the spirit of service across campus.

“Through the experience of sharing and processing the day’s events, we hope that students, faculty and staff will be inspired to continue giving back to their communities,” he said.

For more details on the full program, visit www.newpaltz.edu/sub/madd.html.

Michael Patterson, director of Student Activities and Union Services (left), and Naomi Voight, keyboard specialist, in the department's new offices in the Student Union.

The Student Union’s Purple Lounge is no more.

In mid-June, the offices of Student Activities and Union Services and the Disability Resource Center relocated to newly renovated spaces. The offices were permanently moved to make way for the building’s 11,000-square-foot addition. The first, second and third floors on the north side of the building are currently undergoing demolition in anticipation of the erection of the new Student Union addition.

The Office of Student Activities and Union Services is now in room 211. All telephone extensions remain the same.

“We’re the same friendly folks,” said Michael Patterson, director of Student Activities and Union Services. “We’re just on the opposite side of the building now.”

The Student Activities and Union Services suite has an open reception area where Naomi Voight and student employees work, as well as four private offices and a storage room.

“Our new reception area is definitely more conducive to students,” said Patterson. “It is much more accommodating for student traffic.”

The Multi-Purpose Room in the Student Union was closed down at the end of the spring semester and into the summer. Patterson said the space will be fully functional by the fall. He advised those thinking of planning an event there to keep in mind the construction noise.

The space once known as the Purple Lounge in January 2009.

The new Disability Resource Center is adjacent to the Student Activities offices. The center has a reception area and three new offices. All telephone extensions for the center and its staff will remain the same.

Meanwhile, a temporary information desk has been set up in the second floor hallway outside of the new offices. The desk will be staffed, but some services – such as Trailways bus tickets – are being offered in the Student Activities office.

Both offices will be hosting open houses in the fall.