The Union Programming Board launches a program to provide outreach to University of Oklahoma registered student organizations.

The Oklahoma Memorial Union serves as a cornerstone for campus events and UPB is working to further relations with student organizations with its new Ambassador Program. The program, which launched late last year, is meant to encourage usage of the 25,000 square feet of meeting and event spaces the union has to offer in order to serve organizations with a multitude of resources such as lighting, room sponsorship, and funding.

According to the Oklahoma Memorial Union website, there are over 20 different rooms open for usage in the Union. The room capacities range from large, fitting 90-875 guest, to more intimate rooms meant to fit 30 guest max. A lot of which, students don’t realize the rooms even exist according to Christine Robb, UPB Outreach Director and head of the Ambassador Program, “people pass by them (rooms) all the time, but they don’t know they can use them.”

The unused rooms are the focus of room sponsorship, an element of the Ambassador Program, which allows registered students organizations to bypass the cost of renting a room, which can cost an upwards of $1000, as long as the event is free and open to all OU students. According to Robb, this is especially important for organizations who wouldn’t otherwise have the available funds or resources.

Robb hopes by the end of the year OU student organizations have a solid knowledge base of the resources the program has to offer.