On the third floor of the Alumni Center resides an office you soon may be hearing from. This office is the Auburn University Call Center which makes around 4,000 calls each shift. The Call Center runs from 5 to 9 p.m. five days a week, totaling around 80,000 calls per week.
Over the summer, the Call Center underwent a change in management. The center changed from the for-profit company Ruffalo Noel Levitz to become an official part of the University.
The Call Center has hired 40 more students since this change in management, making the total number of students employed to reach 70.
The Call Center tries to contact alumni, parents, and friends of the University--anyone who has made a past donation to Auburn, to encourage future funding and partnership. Despite the past, the Call Center no longer calls “past parents” or the parents of students who used to attend Auburn.
“[The] objective is to see if they would like to get involved with the University once again… with a donation,” Byron Lowe, the manager of the Call Center, said.
The caller first confirms their address, email, employer information, and the number of the person being contacted. If the caller does choose to donate he or she then has the choice of giving a general donation or choosing a particular college or scholarship.
The change of management has also brought in the tighter supervision of callers. Employees were told that they would have weekly meetings with their supervisors as well as monthly meeting with Lowe. Veteran employee Rebecca Price believes the new management will be more concerned with the number of donations their employees attain than before.
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