GCC gives students affordable services

The Gruenhagen Conference Center provides affordable lodging and gives students opportunities by hosting events to meet with local businesses.

Marc Nylen, the director of GCC, said the conference center gives student groups and organizations a place to hold their meetings and also offers people visiting students and faculty an affordable place to stay.

Front Desk Manager Andy Schumacher said GCC's rentable rooms are busiest when the weather is bad or at the end of the semester when the residence halls close.

"We'll have quite a few [students] that need to stay an extra night before they go home," Schumacher said. "They work, or they have something going on in town or they have class late, so they will stay during that time."

Although the availability of rooms depends on what events are taking place, Schumacher said, many people take advantage of the lodging offered by the conference center.

"During any time when we are not hosting a conference, we have what is called a ‘daily floor,' and we allow students, staff, faculty and alumni to stay with us," Schumacher said. "That is kind of our hotel-style floor that we have. On any given weekend, I would say it is between 50 to 100 percent capacity."

Nylen said students like GCC because of its location on campus and the ease of working with the staff.

"Students know it's just a simple walk over here to make a reservation or a simple phone call," Nylen said.  "We are accessible from seven in the morning to midnight every day of the year."

Nylen said there are multiple types of rooms available. The Student Service is $25.50 per night, which includes bed linens, a pillow and a mini refrigerator. The Full Service is $35 per night and includes towels, bed linen, a made bed and a mini-refrigerator, and the Plus rooms for $43 include everything the Full Service has, as well as a television, air conditioning, a telephone, an iron and ironing board, and a coffee pot.

The prices are set so family members of students can have an affordable place to stay, according to Nylen.

"We like to be priced where students, faculty and staff would not say ‘That is just too much, I'd rather have them bunk in my apartment or house off campus,'" Nylen said. "We definitely see our lodging as it's a comfortable environment that is affordable."

Although it is part of the Department of Residence Life, Nylen said the revenue earned by GCC is used to pay staff and to make upgrades to the conference center itself.

"All of the revenue we make stays within our property," Nylen said. "We have a large amount we pay out for student wages. We have about 17 staff  members who are students. Then obviously reinvestment into our property to make sure it is at the highest standard possible."

Carol Kozlowski, an event planner for GCC, said the conference center also offers event planners for customers who would like to hold an event at GCC. These planners can assist students by setting up things needed for their event, which include food services, lodging and coordination with other campus services.

"It is like a one-stop shop," Kozlowski said.  "Somebody can come to me and we can discuss dates. Somebody or group might have a range of dates or a single date that they are looking at. Based on the information that I have, I know what else is going on, on campus, that might conflict with what they might be doing and suggest that one date might be better. That would be the initial kind of thing."

Nylen also said GCC works with student groups, community members and other campus services to plan events that link students to local businesses and organizations.

Kurt Johnson, director of program development at Clarity Care, said Clarity Care has a program called Chance for the developmentally challenged adult population, which uses GCC every Tuesday, and draws student volunteers from South Scott Residence Hall to assist with the program.

"We have a partnership with South Scott where a lot of those volunteers come down," Johnson said. "They can pop down for the night and come in and then just go back to their dorms. It is a win-win with location as well as partnerships."

Oshkosh Placement Exchange draws people from 40 states and has been held in GCC for 33 years in a row. This national event gives students a chance to meet with potential college employers from around the country, Nylen said.

"There is only a handful of these events in the United States, and ours is always hosted at UW Oshkosh," Nylen said. "Our competitors, if you will, a number of those events will travel from city to city, and so we are very consistent in terms of location."

Nylen said he thinks connecting the community to UW Oshkosh's students is an important function of Gruenhagen.

"It really is a marriage between the campus and the resources of our students, and their talents and interests [in] getting connect[ed] to serve the needs of the community," Nylen said.