Name Change: Student Activities Center Is Now Memorial Union Student Engagement

The Memorial Union is pleased to announce a name change within our department. Effective August 20, 2021, the Student Activities Center will be Memorial Union Student Engagement.

The name Memorial Union Student Engagement more accurately captures all the programs and services we provide, including leadership workshops, event authorization, late night alcohol alternative programming, community service experiences, art exhibits, student organization support and management, entertainment programs, and recreational activities like bowling paint your own pottery.

Our programs provide students with opportunities to learn and engage with valuable skills such as event planning, networking with peers and colleagues, and collaborating with people different from themselves. We can map our programs and services across the five Student Affairs Co-Curricular Learning Domains of Civic Engagement, Intrapersonal Development, Justice, Equity, and Inclusion, Leadership, and Wellness. Student development theorists and higher education scholars including Alexander Astin (1984), Vincent Tinto (2001), and George Kuh (2009) support engagement in co-curricular experiences as a key contributor to desirable outcomes for students and the University. Students who are engaged on campus are more likely to be retained, show positive academic performance, and persist to graduation.

Renaming the Student Activities Center (often shortened to SAC) to Student Engagement also reduces confusion with other “SAC” offices and other centers on campus. The name change also brings the office into alignment with the other departments in the Memorial Union and helps to show that the programs and services that Student Engagement provides are sponsored, staffed, and organized by the Memorial Union.

The name change is effective August 20, 2021. The Memorial Union will reflect the change on our resources, documents, signage, and marketing as materials are updated throughout the year. Please update any materials you may have accordingly. When referring to the office, please use Memorial Union Student Engagement. Our website will update to studentegagement.iastate.edu soon, and our email will be studentengage@iastate.edu. The old site and email address will redirect for a short time. 

Questions and comments can be directed to Kristine Heflin, the Associate Director of the Memorial Union for Student Engagement, at kheflin@iastate.edu.