Institution
Public
Level
4-year
Students
About 25,000
Office
Student Affairs
Launched
July 2026
How they chose
Through a formal bid
WEBSITE
unr.edu
Background
The old platform worked against students and staff
Student affairs departments replaced Anthology Engage with Lounge in summer 2026, moving clubs, student government, FSL, club sports, graduate organizations and campus departments onto one platform. In the opening weeks, five times as many events were posted and the department had half its admin time back.
At UNR, every registered club has to go through the student engagement platform to reserve space, host events and file forms. On the previous platform, that meant a browser-first system students avoided on their phones, review routes partner offices couldn’t see into, and a department buried in manual review.
When that contract ended, UNR ran a formal bid. Its scope asked for a mobile-first student experience, integrations, customization and responsive customer service. The goal behind all of it, in Maddy Wilson’s words: “we need students to be engaged on this campus.”
Challenge and solution
Three problems with the old platform, and how each was fixed
Admin overload
“I'm spending 20 to 30 hours of my week in our previous system reviewing events, reviewing forms... It was just so monotonous and it was wasting a lot of the time that I wanted to actually spend improving the system and working with students.”
Maddy Wilson, Assistant Director, Clubs and Organizations
A review route for every event type
Each event type asks its own questions and goes to the right reviewer: a club sports trip, an off-campus event and a guest speaker each collect what that office needs. Conditional logic shows students only the questions that apply, and departments can update their own forms instead of waiting on the department.
Requests got lost
“I couldn't see half of the things I needed to see. So... students would have to then also screenshot it and email it to me.”
Shannon Prina, Programming and Marketing Coordinator, Recreational Sports
Every office sees its own requests
Approvers and viewers are set for each form, so Recreational Sports reviews every space request for its fitness center, fields and pool in one place. Clubs must be approved in Lounge before they can book any space on campus.
Students avoided it
“It's not great on a phone because it's set for a browser.”
Shannon Prina
An app students open on their own
Events, tickets, group chat and direct messages live in one app, with reporting for conduct issues. At their first training, student government officers singled out messaging: the year before, they had rescheduled a week of programming with no way to reach the students who had RSVPed.
One semester on Lounge vs. a full year on the previous platform
Time to reach 8,700 active students
10 months
2 months
Events in the opening weeks of the year
234
1,200+
Student organization pages
271
297
Announcements sent inside club pages
Not available
595 in 2 months
Weekly admin time, department
20–30 hours
~10 hours
Figures from UNR, fall 2026.
Impact
The implementation team then presented the first results to the whole Division of Student Services. Word travelled outside UNR too: another university contacted UNR to ask about Lounge within weeks of launch.
What worked at UNR
Three moves behind the numbers
Adoption
Require it where it matters
Clubs register in Lounge and book space through it with the offices that have moved over, and first-years join through new student transition.
Rollout
Go office by office
Student government, graduate students, club sports and scheduling services each got their own setup sessions, then shared templates.
Training
Let students show students
As Shannon Prina puts it: “I don’t like to sell them things. I like to show them.”
Students noticed the difference first
“We've had a lot of positive feedback from the students on Lounge. They love it. 10 times easier for them to use than Anthology Engage was, especially that they use it on their phones.”
Lindsay Harris, Scheduling Services
“Finding something that they could do on their phone that they already are doing. They're already on the phone. So... meeting them there has been really crucial and important.”
Shannon Prina, Recreational Sports
“I think it's a safer way for students to message with each other, especially if they're not best friends, but a one-off at events or things.”
Maddy Wilson, on in-app messaging
