Faculty and staff share their experiences of living close to campus
Dr. Alexandra Hill (Jackie Jeffers | The Beacon)
By Kate Stringer, Staff Writer stringer14@up.edu
German professor Alexandra Hill was standing with her husband in their backyard when the music started.
They found the increasingly loud music pounding throughout the afternoon amusing. Her husband joked that the music makers were Hill's students. At first Hill brushed it off, pointing out that they really didn't know who the early party-goers were.
And then they heard people yelling in German.
"So then I said 'Yeah, those are totally my students,'" Hill said.
For the 86 faculty and staff who are part of UP's Employee Home Loan program, interaction with students is a daily occurrence, even after classes are dismissed.
The program gives UP employees financial assistance on homes purchased within a certain radius of campus. In exchange, the University hopes to build its surrounding neighborhoods, cut down on transportation and retain and recruit employees, according to the Human Resources website.
John Orr, assistant to the provost and associate professor, was one of the first professors to benefit from the program.
"It's an absolutely brilliant strategy because you have people invested in the neighborhood who live here and you help people out," said Orr. "It's a win-win."
Maureen Briare, campus ministry associate director for music, loves the brief commute to campus.
"I joke that I probably live closer to the campus than the students in Fields and Schoenfeldt," Briare said. "My walk is only three minutes and theirs is five."
Living close to campus has its challenges too. Anonymity is hard to come by, according to Orr.
"I'll be out in some shorts and an old ratty t-shirt mowing my lawn and somebody walks by - 'Hi Dr. Orr!' - Ok, here I am," said Orr. "At one point that was kind of weird - I was being seen in my other life, but at this point I've gotten used to it."
Hill also finds the lack of anonymity challenging when living next to dozens of students and faculty.
"I run in the mornings before anyone else is awake, and I partly do it on purpose so people won't see me," said Hill.
Because living close to campus can make the separation between work and home life difficult, Hill sets rules for herself to create distance.
"My walk [home] is my process of letting go and separating. It's funny, I guess I have these little rules for myself like don't go to campus on the weekends," said Hill. "I try hard not to check email on weekends to create a sense of separation."
Even though Hill wants a distinction between work and home, she enjoys running into students in the neighborhood.
"There's a rental home around the corner and last year one of the students living there had taken [my] classes before," Hill said. "Every time I came home and he was outside I would hear him say 'Guten Tag Dr. Hill!' That was fun."
Even though Hill notices the noise from student parties, she finds more humor from the situation than negativity.
"One weekend, [the student] had a big party and so the next week I saw him and said 'Did you have fun over the weekend?' and he said 'Oh, did you hear it?' and I said 'I think everybody heard it,'" said Hill. "It wasn't disruptive; they were very friendly and respectful."
One of the most positive experiences Orr had living so close to the UP community came during a fire on The Bluff in 2001.
"I was standing in my yard thinking my house was about to burn down, hosing off the roof, and that might be the moment when living close to UP was the most wonderful," Orr said. "People showed up - students, priests, were carrying stuff out of our house because we thought our house was about to burn down. It was just magical being right here because people were just coming and helping us."
Briare appreciates the UP family she finds reaches beyond her office desk.
"[UP] is a community that extends beyond the campus boundaries and sometimes there is the privacy [issue], but if you really need more space I guess you live farther away," Briare said. "For me it's kind of fun to see familiar faces and connect with people outside of their role at UP."
Home Loan Program
The home loan program gives grants depending on the area the employee lives in. The closer to campus, the greater the grant.
Area 1: $15,000
Area 2: $12,500
Area 3: $10,000
The loans are forgiven after five years of continuous employment with the University.
Source: UP Human Resources website
Dr. John Orr (Jackie Jeffers | The Beacon)
Maureen Briare (Jackie Jeffers | The Beacon)
