Housing professionals are well accustomed to the process of handling a crisis. When your work involves maintaining the everyday homeostasis and safety of an unpredictable community, your ability to maintain calm and handle a situation can become almost uncanny. In our roles, we encounter a variety of urgent issues, from the most ridiculous of situations... Continue Reading →
What ResLife Professionals Can Learn From The Manga/Anime “Naruto”
My favorite show of all time is Naruto. If any fans out there want to get into the specifics, I'm especially a fan of Naruto: Shippuden. If you're unfamiliar, Naruto is a Japanese manga series written by Masashi Kishimoto. Its anime companion aired in 2002 and was completed in 2007. Subsequently, Shippuden began in 2007... Continue Reading →
Cruisin’ Through College: What Residence Halls Can Learn from Cruise Ships
My undergraduate friends and I decided it was time for a reunion this winter break. Since graduating in 2021 and 2022, our crew had been experiencing the inevitable scatter that comes with leaving college life behind. No more meet-ups at dining halls. No more easy, late-night walks. Pre-funded and pre-organised events obviously became obsolete as... Continue Reading →
The Black Woman in Residence Education
Black women make up 64.1% of bachelor’s degrees earned by Black college students. When it comes to masters degrees, the figure becomes 71.5%. As for doctoral, medical, and dental degrees, 65.9% of them have been obtained by black women. In other words, Black women have arrived on the scene of higher education, and we have... Continue Reading →
We Create The Culture In Our Residence Life Environments
How are you thinking about your impact on your university's environment? What about your university's environment and its impact on your students? As Residence Life professionals, we often focus solely on the environments that we actively create in our own buildings. However, the campus environment is a complex and nuanced factor in a college student's... Continue Reading →
All Aboard ResLife! Keys to Successful Staff Onboarding From The Perspective of a Higher Ed Grad
Many professionals in residence life begin their professional staff journey with time as a paraprofessional under their belt. Some served as an RA at their undergraduate institutions. Others took on a different residence life role, perhaps navigating front desk operations or in-hall mentorship relationships. However, many professionals enter the residential world with little to no... Continue Reading →
In ResLife, Who is Going to Help the Parents?
We signed up to work with students. At least, the majority of us did. Why, then, are we haunted by the lurking voicemails of parents? Many of them are miles away from our buildings. Some are as close as a hop onto the highway. All of them just want the best for their child. Well,... Continue Reading →
Jen’s Declassified School Survival Guide For First Year Assistant Hall Directors
So you were a student leader, huh? You did everything in college. In fact, it's likely that you were so involved on your undergraduate campus that there wasn't a page on the university's website that your face wasn't plastered on. It might still be there to this day. You were a stellar student. You were... Continue Reading →
If You’re a K-Pop Fan, You Should Become a Hall Director
I first embarked upon my journey into the realm of ResLife in August of 2022. Having worked in just about every facet of my previous institution besides Housing, the culture shift was most certainly an adjustment. The acceptance of late night phone calls and last minute improvisation both became new and helpful additions to my... Continue Reading →
Arts-Based Practices in Res Life: Residential Curriculum
This is part of a multi-part series on utilizing principles and techniques from arts-based research practices and applying them to the residents life setting. Explore more parts in the series:Introduction and Strategies | Community Building | Residential Curriculum The residential curriculum is on the rise. There's a chance that such an initiative has yet to... Continue Reading →
Arts-Based Practices in Res Life: Community Building
This is part of a multi-part series on utilizing principles and techniques from arts-based research practices and applying them to the residents life setting. Explore more parts in the series:Introduction and Strategies | Community Building In the previous segment of this series, Arts-Based Research (ABR) was demystified. Definitions, readings, and examples were provided to help... Continue Reading →
Arts-Based Practices in Res Life: Introduction and Strategies
This is part of a multi-part series on utilizing principles and techniques from arts-based research practices and applying them to the residents life setting. Explore more parts in the series:Introduction and Strategies | Community Building | Residential Curriculum The history of residential life on college campuses spans far back into the 1600's. One of the... Continue Reading →
What is The Future of RAs? It’s WILD… Old Roles, New Tricks
This blog series features different writers responding to the prompt, "What is the future of the RA role?" Read More From The Series Guest Post by Jennifer Watley, Graduate Student Staff Member ResLife staff members are certified shapeshifters. If the residential environment of our buildings and communities represent the wild, then we staff represent the... Continue Reading →