By Jessica Mize
UH’s Printing and Postal Services has been working hard with the city of Houston and the United States Postal Service on a project to assign each building on campus a physical, locatable address.
Conveniently coinciding with the campus wayfinding project, the plan to give each building a unique address, rather than relying on 4800 Calhoun Road, the address that has been historically used across campus in the past, has been in the works for some time and will benefit the campus community in several ways.
“There are a lot of reasons we’ve been working to make this change,” said Sally Rowland-Ketley, director of UH Printing and Postal Services. “For one, there’s the issue of convenience. Any time a student, faculty, staff member or visitor to campus needs specific directions to their campus destination, all they’ll have to do is type the address into a navigation application.”
The change, which meets the requirements for 911-enhanced dispatching services, will also improve the general public safety response on campus. Now, when life safety professionals such as firefighters and police officers respond to calls on campus, they won’t have to second guess where they’re supposed to be. They can simply use a GPS to get them exactly where they’re needed.
In addition to assigning new addresses across campus, part of the project has included gaining official national recognition of UH’s 77204 zip code.
Set to go into effect on Saturday, Aug. 1, the new addresses already have been incorporated into FAMIS – the facilities work order system – as well as PeopleSoft and UIT to help make the transition a smooth one for everyone. Printing and Postal has notified UHPD and the Environmental Health and Life Safety department of the impending changes, which will ensure their operations are not hindered when the switch takes place.
Although the new addresses will be ready to use at the start of next month, individuals should continue to use any stationery items they have with the soon-to-be outdated address information on them, as mail items will continue to be internally sorted.
“We want people to understand that they don’t need to rush and throw out their old supplies,” said Rowland-Ketley. “We know there are still a lot of printed materials with the old information on them and we’re working to ensure everyone gets their items in a timely manner. Everything they have is still useful and should be used until depleted.”
While individuals are encouraged to continue to use any current University stationery they have, now is a great time to stock up on updated materials for the future. From now until Monday, Aug. 31, Printing and Postal Services is offering 15 percent off all stationery orders placed through the following form.
In addition to stocking up on updated stationery supplies, departments will need to update any contact and location information located on their websites, marketing collateral and forms. University employees and students should also be mindful of any UH addresses in their email signatures.
“We greatly appreciate everyone’s patience and cooperation during this transition,” said Deborah Davis, director for Auxiliary Services. “This change is a long time coming and will only benefit the University and its partners.”