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February 2008
The University of Southern Maine’s Lewiston-Auburn College announces it has started to offer online messaging through their Advising and Student Services department. This new service will allow potential and current students the ability to use online chat to ask questions and get information about programs and offerings at USM LAC while they are online.
“Current trends show that people want various options to get instant answers as they browse the web,” says USM LAC Director of Marketing Dan Philbrick. “By offering the ability to chat online with an advisor, we are reaching a segment of our student population that feels more comfortable communicating this way.”
The service will start with preset hours, but the University will be able to add hours if the need warrants. Users may also use a form on the same webpage to send their questions to the advising staff during offline times. These inquiries are answered within two business days. “Our goal is to be able to help people and answer their questions as soon as possible,” says Philbrick. “Even if we don’t have the answer we can direct the student to the proper people that do.”
The online chat feature is available through the USM LAC web page at www.usm.maine.edu/lac/ask Users have the ability to chat using a interface on the page or they may add the username “usmlacadvising” to their own chat client, such as AOL Instant Messenger or Yahoo Messenger. |
