Residence life staff fosters community on campus

College campuses are melting pots of different personalities, styles, cultures and values.  When all of these characteristics are forced to coexist under the same roof, let alone possibly the same room, living experiences are bound to be interesting. 

Augustana College requires students to live in college-owned housing for their first three years on campus, a policy stricter than at most other colleges and universities.  However, with approximately 50 percent of this year's senior class choosing to live on campus after their required time, Augustana's Residence Life program can boast success.

"The faculty at Augustana College understands that moving away from home and living on campus in college can be a crash course in self-discovery," Associate Dean of Students Tracy Riddle said.  "The Residence Life program seeks to make campus life a positive experience and an opportunity for students to integrate into a community of peers.  If people have something to connect to, whether it be one friend or a football team of people, they'll keep coming back because they have that connection."

Riddle supervises the hall directors, the first-year program coordinator and the director of housing.  She credits her staff with helping students make the necessary connections to feel at home on campus. 

"I think that the communities we work to facilitate are extremely appealing to students," Director of Housing Corey Kopp said.  "Each building (dormitory) has a unique identity that is certainly formed by those living there, but also through the work we do with programming and facilities management. Especially when you consider the age and condition of some of our residential areas, it is particularly impressive that so many seniors choose to live on campus and remain connected to those communities they were a part of their first three years."

Senior Majken Eckels has lived in campus housing the past three years she has been at Augustana, and resides in the college's Duluth Apartments this year. She believes the commitment and flexibility of Augustana's Residence Life program helped make the campus feel like her home.

"I like living on campus because it's important for me to stay involved in the campus community; they have become a sort of secondary family for me," Eckels said.  "And with all the options Augie offers for housing outside of the dorms, I can stay close to everything and still have some independence."

Some of the key players involved in developing communities for students are the dormitory hall directors.  Each of the six dorms is overseen by a hall director who supervises the residents in their building, handles judicial issues that arise and helps with programming activities. 

"I became interested in working in Residence Life full-time when I was in undergraduate study working as a resident assistant," Stavig Hall Director Whitney Brown said.  "It was a lot of fun and my supervisor really impacted my time in college, so I wanted to go into a profession that could benefit students, too."

Being in charge of supervising a full dormitory doesn't come without sacrifices.

"The most challenging thing is balancing your relationships with students with ensuring their development," Brown said.  "Nobody wants to be the bad guy, but sometimes it must be done. The rewarding thing is finding out what students are passionate about and helping them find a way to center their college experience around that."

Hall directors are necessary parts of any college or university that offers on-campus living.  However, not everyone can be cut out for a job that requires them to be available all the time just in case a situation arises.  And, not everyone would jump at the chance to live in a dormitory surrounded by hundreds of 18-22 year-olds.