Many universities and colleges across the country, including Marquette, continue to find new ways to integrate technology into their day-to-day operations. Student organizations are the latest beneficiaries of this trend in the form of the new CollegiateLink program.

The application of CollegiateLink on campus will serve as a new form of social media branding for student organizations. Each organization registered with the program can create a customized profile, post discussions, promote events, hold elections and provide access to files on its page.

Student organizations can begin the process of registering on Marquette Involvement Link, Marquette’s application of the program, beginning Monday, April 16. Organizations can register events starting in August.

According to Katherine Trevey, assistant dean for leadership and vocation programs, students and organizations currently have to fill out the paperwork by hand and give it to an OSD staff member who then manually enters the data.

“By moving to an online form, we are eliminating all of those steps, saving an estimated 2,500 pieces of paper and saving students a trip to our office,” Trevey said. The platform for submitting forms and applications will affect the Office of Student Development the most.

The greatest benefits will be in helping student organizations plan events, present information and market them around campus using one central location.

“All students will be able to search a directory of organizations, and there is a function that allows students to find organizations based on interests they select,” Trevey said. “It’s like a virtual O-Fest that is available year-round.”

Arica VanBoxtel, Marquette Student Government president, reiterated that Marquette Involvement Link will help in organizing student groups around campus.

“Involvement Link provides a lot of great opportunities to improve efficiency and creates a central location for the many organizations on campus to provide information for members,” VanBoxtel said.

CollegiateLink is part of a network known as Campus Labs. The website was created in 2001. The goal for CollegiateLink, as stated on its website, is to “provide the tools for managing student organizations and encouraging growth and development as students engage in co-curricular activities.”

MUSG is working with OSD on the new software and has allocated $2,000 toward the effort, VanBoxtel said.

“With Involvement Link, MUSG is specifically working to include an online form submission for student organization funding,” she said.

Trevey said OSD is also focusing on helping students.

“Our office has a deep interest in connecting our students with experiences on campus that will help them learn and grow in ways that complement their classroom learning,” Trevey said. “This system creates that online presence, which is where students are connecting today.”