Student Develops Official MU Apps

Are you on your way to a meeting with a professor and forgot to look up their room number? Or maybe you want to know what events are coming up on campus. Thanks to Millersville University student Ryan Garchinsky, you can now easily do these things and more with the Millersville University app (application) for Apple products and Android users.

“The apps eliminate having to navigate through Millersville’s website to find something you need, making it much easier and faster to get what you want,” said Ryan Griffith, web developer at Millersville.

Garchinsky, a senior computer science major, began developing the app for Apple to learn iPhone development. As he got further into development, he showed it to Dr. Blaise Liffick, professor of computer science, who suggested the idea of doing an independent study based on the app.

“I met with the communications and marketing office and information technology department to discuss the requirements of creating a product barring the University’s name,” said Garchinsky. “From there, it became official. After about three months of waiting for the Apple license, we finally received it, submitted the app and a week later it was approved and in the app store.”

As Garchinsky continued to develop the Apple app, he saw a need to expand to attract more users. The app has now been made available for those who do not have an iPhone, iPad or iTouch, but instead have an Android. The Android version of the app, which was officially launched in mid-August, has most of the same features as the Apple app but has a new design. “To date, we’ve seen 266 installs of the Android app,” said Griffith.

On September 2, a new version of the Apple app, V2.0, was released, featuring a new design that is more consistent with the Android app. “This release helps with content flow and organization by adding in new featuring such as grouped content and multiple “pages” on the home screen. There’s already been more than 400 installs of the newest version of the app,” said Griffith.

The Apple app and Android app contain quick links to websites a Millersville student, faculty or staff would want to access such as my’Ville campus portal, MAX banner portal, Desire2Learn, facility hours and much more. Events going on around Millersville can also be found, along with various Millersville news feeds (The Snapper, MU News, the Exchange, the Review) and Millersville’s radio station, WIXQ. There is also access to faculty and club directories, where users can lookup any faculty member by department or search their name, and browse University student clubs to find out information about them.

“It has been a fun experience and feels good now that the apps are finally out. I want to encourage organizations to make sure they submit their events to the University’s online event calendar so they show up in the apps,” said Garchinsky. “Likewise, I hope the apps will bring more publicity to University clubs and organizations, as well as more listeners to WIXQ. I can’t wait to watch the number of downloads and ratings rise.”

Millersville is the first PASSHE schools to have an official university app. Millersville is also one of a handful of universities in the United States who have an app compatible for both the iPhone and iPad. The Apple app is available for free in the app store on every iPhone, iPad and iPod Touch, and can be found by searching “Millersville University.” The Android app is also available for free, and can be found on the Android Market by searching “Millersville University.”

To view a video of Garchinsky discussing the app, click Millersville University App Designer.