Chico State announced its launch of two new apps Aug. 26 in a student-wide email from President Steve Perez.
The apps are “designed to enhance your experience on campus” said Perez.
The app was developed by The Enterprise Applications and the Technology Equity and Inclusion departments said Monique Sendze, Vice President of Information Technology, in an email.
“The University contracted with a 3rd-party vendor, which licenses the platform that the University used to build that app. The cost of that contract is $88,000/year, which was funded via the Division of IT’s General Fund Operating Budget” said Sendze.
The development process began in April 2024 but more updates are still being made. Different “personas” will be available for parents, employees, community members and alumni.
“We should have additional personas developed in the app by the end of November” said Sendze.
Chico State app
The Chico State app, offers students:
- Quick access to their dashboard
- Campus events
- Campus map
- Canvas announcements
- Student fees
When students sign in and allow the Chico State app access to student records, they can make tuition payments, use their dashboard to view contacts for their advisors, see Canvas notifications and their current GPA.
The events shown on the campus calendar include official university-sponsored events and CatsConnect events from student clubs and organizations.
The main menu connects students to a variety of links around the university website. From there students can also select the Safety and Emergency feature to connect to quickly shift to the Safe Chico app if they have downloaded it.
Safe Chico app
The Safe Chico app provides important safety information, resources and a Friend Walk feature that will help students navigate campus.
From the dashboard, students can:
- Call 911
- Call the University Police Department
- Report incidents
- Access a list of emergency procedures
- Activate Mobile BlueLight
- Activate Friend Walk
The Mobile BlueLight feature allows any student to turn their phone into a BlueLight Phone. When activated, UPD can see the student’s location and automatically calls UPD dispatch.
The Friend Walk feature allows students to share their location and route with a friend via text similar to Uber’s Trip Status feature. The app also shows a demo to students with detailed instructions.
Both apps allow students to send feedback to app developers so that they can continue to improve user experiences.
Students can expect frequent updates based on user feedback and as new features become available.
Jessica Miller can be reached at [email protected].
Correction: Quotes have been properly attributed to Monique Sendze.
To read the article in Spanish, go here.
