Housing and Residence Life: Community & Engagement | Competencies & Learning | Care & Case Management | Assessment
You spent time planning the program. You created the flyers, reserved the space, picked up supplies, and maybe even told your supervisor this would be the event to watch out for. Then the start time arrives, and instead of a packed room, only a handful of residents walk through the door. I’m talking five people... Continue Reading →
If you’re anything like me, there’s nothing like summer reality TV to help us unwind and switch off after hectic summer workdays filled with learning, training, and project planning. As an avid lover of all things reality TV, I had a moment of introspection while watching Love Island USA this summer and reflecting on many... Continue Reading →
When conversations about student loneliness and isolation come up, we often reach for the same culprit: phones. Students seem disconnected? Phones. Nobody is talking in the elevator? Phones. Attendance is down? Phones. Relationships feel shallower? You guessed it: It’s the phones. The appeal of this explanation is that it's simple, but the problem is that... Continue Reading →
Bring On Opening! As residence hall opening season approaches, we've got updates for you and some helpful information to make sure you're prepared and ready. First things first, check out the opening checklist to make sure your Roompact environment is ready to go: Review The Opening Checklist ⬆️ Software Updates ⬆️ We've made a number... Continue Reading →
What comes to mind when you hear the word “supervisor”? That was a question posed to several other incoming graduate assistants and me during our onboarding. Many of the initial reactions were less than positive, ranging from the person who conducts your evaluation to the person who can terminate you from your job. What a... Continue Reading →
In this episode of Roompact's ResEdChat, host Paul sits down with Roompact Fellow Natasha Monteith to discuss simple actions departments, supervisors, and administrators can take to get better at operationalizing the use of assessment data. This includes collecting the "correct" data, while balancing staff time and effort, and integrating it in to daily practice.
If you’ve chosen to serve as a student leader, aside from the financial benefit, you were likely drawn to the role because of a desire to help people. You have likely found yourself to have tips and tricks for your friends or have been willing to be a listening ear to someone in need. However,... Continue Reading →
One thing we know for sure is that no Residence Life job is forever, unless you made it all the way to the top that is. If you’re at the top and reading this article right now, hello and welcome. I’m happy to have you here. For the rest of us, this article’s intended audience... Continue Reading →
Commonly, the advice given to students experiencing loneliness is encouraging them to join a student organization or other group. This isn’t necessarily bad advice, but it is definitely not enough. Students experiencing loneliness are generally seeking out connection and support from a social lens, and when we as professionals just encourage joining an organization, it... Continue Reading →
In this episode of Roompact's RA*EdChat, we go behind the scenes of residence life to explore how strong staff relationships shape the RA experience. “Behind the Scenes: Working With Your Team” dives into collaboration, communication, and peer support, highlighting how successful communities are built not just through resident connections but through trust and teamwork among staff members. We meet with Katelyn Neeley, a community director who shares knowledge and personal experience on the topic, as well as advice for RAs.
When you’re working in Residence Life or Housing, you’re going to interact with people you might not usually choose to hang out with in your personal life - it's part of what makes the job challenging and meaningful. Through this, one of the most common situations RAs run into is realizing they don't have a... Continue Reading →
As I hope this post’s title indicates, I love The Lord of the Rings universe. I also love duty and on-call work. While I always hope that students never experience crises, it’s important that we are able to be there and facilitate the community’s navigation through these impactful moments. I find on-call work an engaging... Continue Reading →
With the release of Toy Story 5, and topics floating around on student loneliness, I couldn’t help but notice a connection. I remember seeing the fourth Toy Story in a drive-in and thinking “that’s it, this is the last of these amazing movies.” But the creators saw a market years later that I had never... Continue Reading →
Creating a sense of belonging and an atmosphere that we often describe as a student’s new “home away from home” is central to the work that we do as Housing and Residence Life practitioners. But, there isn’t a singular “right” way to do it– if there was, wouldn’t we all be doing so uniformly? And... Continue Reading →
In this episode of Roompact's ResEdChat, join our host Noah Montague and guest DJ Harris-Sumrall as they talk about the job search. Whether you love it or hate it, the sometimes dreaded job search is a part of every Residence Life Professional's story but what does it really look like? In the changing landscape of higher education, how people job search and how people experience interviewing is changing as well. Listen as Noah and DJ tell stories, discuss interview prep and give advice, and also think about how to center the self in the job search as well.
If you've found yourself browsing job postings while preparing for summer, you're not alone. For many student staff members, summer employment in Housing and Residence Life comes with a significant benefit: housing. Depending on your institution, you may also receive a stipend, meal plan, or other compensation. Because of this, there can sometimes be an... Continue Reading →
As the United States approaches its 250th anniversary this Fourth of July, colleges and universities across the country will likely join in the celebration. There will be patriotic social media posts, historical reflections, and conversations about progress, democracy, and the opportunity education affords us. And to be clear, there has been progress. More students from... Continue Reading →
Abstract Oftentimes, RAs will resist a new process or complain about how a problem is solved, but asking for their input does not always lead to a positive solution. This session will show supervisors how to use design thinking with their RAs to solve problems and create processes. Outcomes Participants will be able to define... Continue Reading →
