This finals week, Binghamton University students will no longer have to synchronize their watches to ensure they get a study spot on campus.
StudyBing, a website pioneered by BU’s dean of students office, will assist BU students in their search for the perfect individual or group study spaces. The initiative was part of a collaborative marketing campaign between BU’s libraries, the dean of students office and community partners to promote locations across the BU community where BU students can study, snack and de-stress during finals week.
“We worked to bring more building administrators together, including all of the campus libraries, so we could have a more comprehensive list of all buildings, dates and hours available to students, 24/7,” Linda Salomons, BU’s student development program coordinator, wrote in an email. “Even though the libraries already have extended hours, it helped to put all of the campus and UDC locations on one calendar so students only need to go to one webpage.”
The StudyBing website launched on May 3 and features a live calendar listing hours for campus study locations and complimentary food deals along with information about overnight parking services and stress management techniques. According to Salomons, the project came in response to an especially hectic finals week in fall 2015.
“We heard a very valid need and concern back in December, and we immediately wanted to respond. Clearly there is a lot of stress among students as the semester comes to an end and as they prepare for finals,” Salomons wrote. “The Division of Student Affairs and especially the Office of the Dean of Students, wants to do the best we can to alleviate any of that stress or concerns students may be experiencing.”
Off campus, the University Downtown Center (UDC) is keeping its doors open until midnight every night this finals period. But for off-campus students looking to stay up even later, community organizations in the city have also teamed up with StudyBing to lend a helping hand. The City Lights Café, an offshoot of the Binghamton First Assembly of God church will be open next week from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m. to provide free coffee and pastries to studying students.
The café, located on 254 Washington Street in Downtown Binghamton, can hold roughly 205 people and will be extending its hours for the second time this academic year. On the heels of a successful student turnout in December, Associate Pastor of Outreach, JJ Hefley, is ready to welcome students back.
“Our whole purpose for doing this, for students, for anybody, it just to serve the community and communicate the hope that we have and the love that we have,“ Hefley said. “[We wanted to] communicate that we care about the students and we care about the University and that we’re here to serve.”
As the University continues to expand its reach — both across the region with satellite campuses and across the world with an expanded enrollment — Salomons hopes that StudyBing and all of its partners can assist in guiding students through the most hectic week of the year.
“As the campus community continues to grow, we need to make sure that we continue to meet the needs of the students,” Salomons wrote. “We are here to serve and help them to be successful.”