This year Residence Life has several changes in leadership positions, including changes to the former hall receptionist position, a new director of Residence Life and a new associate director of Residence Life.
The position of hall receptionist and hall intern has been merged into one position called community assistant. Rather than checking students in at the front desk as hall receptionists did, community assistants will work with the resident assistants and hall directors on projects, events and programs for their dorm and general upkeep in the hall.
Although this means that students can now gain access to their residence halls only by swiping their student ID, it will help increase security on campus, according to Associate Director of Residence Life Alex Hermanny.
Public Safety will know who is accessing each hall at all times, and because hall stickers will not be issued on ID cards, if a card is lost, someone who doesn’t belong on campus will not know which hall the card can access.
“The idea is to create a scenario that is as open as possible and as safe as possible,” Hermanny said.
The University hired Christopher Haug as the new director of Residence Life, replacing longtime director Mike Walsh, who is now interim director of Housing and Residence Life at Portland State University. Haug comes from the University of Notre Dame, where he served as assistant director of Residence Life.
Haug has helped rethink these positions within the halls and is very passionate about the mission that UP has to offer.
“It is great to work at a place that has such a desire to serve students and walk with them along their journey,” Haug said.
Hermanny, the former Schoendfeldt hall director, has been promoted to associate director of Residence Life to work on administrative tasks so hall directors have more time to work and interact with students that live in their hall. He replaces Jon Merchant, who left UP earlier this year.
“I’ve always felt supported at UP,” Christie Hall Director Joe Burke said. “But now we have more flexibility in having a variety of programs that are weekly events for the students living on campus.”
These events will help hall directors and resident assistants customize their respective hall, creating a stronger identity for each of the dorms.
“We had a smaller budget last year,” said third-year Christie Hall RA Alex Lazo. “Now this year we have access to more funds to have more retreats and events.”
The administrative office of Residence Life also changed Natalie Shank’s role from judicial coordinator to associate director for community standards, where she will reach out to students to promote awareness of standards on campus.
“This process is very pastoral,” Haug said. “We want to help mold the students to feel engaged and connected to the community early on in their college career.”
As Haug and Hermanny are welcomed to the Office of Residence Life, they are excited to increase the feeling of community so that students feel as comfortable as possible while they live on campus. “Already, I feel at home here,” said freshman Dustin Moore of Schoendfeldt Hall. “There are ways we unify our hall. We have events that make us feel like we belong here.”
