Employee Tour Handout | Nov 2022

MIKAL KENFIELD

Assistant Dean of Students, Director of Residence Life

BA, Concordia College (Secondary Education)

MS, NDSU (Educational Leadership)

EMILY MEYER

Assistant Director for Residential Education

BA, Ripon College (History)

MA, University of St. Thomas (Leadership in Student Affairs)

CARLOS MATA

Assistant Director for Operations

BA, Ball State University (Telecommunication - AA in Spanish) MA, Ball State University (Student Affairs Administration)

MARK WELZENBACH

Housing Specialist

SEAN PAYETTE

Area Coordinator, Park Region and Fjelstad

BA, Concordia College (Music Education)

MA, UW-La Crosse (Student Affairs Administration)

EMILY MOYER

Hall Director, Erickson Hall

BA, Concordia College (Psychology)

GRACE VETRONE

Hall Director, Livedalen Hall

BA, MSUM (English: Publishing and Writing)

MA in progress, MSUM (Educational Leadership)

MEGAN DOLEZAL

Hall Director, Hallett Hall

BA, Montana State University (East Asian Studies and History)

MA, Sarah Lawrence College (Women's History)

STUDENT STAFF

Residence Life provides a number of opportunities for students to engage in leadership and employment.

Resident Assistants—Returning students who mentor and support their floor members while creating a safe and inclusive community. ($5200 yearly stipend)

Director’s Assistants—Juniors/Seniors who manage the hall desk, mentor the RAs, and provide general administrative support for the hall. ($5900 yearly stipend)

Building Managers—Juniors/Seniors who manage the campus apartments/townhouses. ($5500 yearly stipend)

Desk Workers—Assist residents and provide security to the building. (Campus hourly wage)

HALL DIRECTORS/AREA COORDINATOR

Hall Directors are professional, full time, 10 month employees They live in a fully furnished apartment in each residence hall, and many have Master’s degrees in Student Affairs/Higher Ed Administration

No week (or day!) is ever the same, but typical Hall Director responsibilities include: Supervision of student staff, conduct meetings, meeting with students of concern, departmental/divisional committee work, and emergency response. HDs share in a weekly 24/7 on call rotation.

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FOR OPERATIONS

Provides oversight for the new and returning student housing sign-up processes, coordination with Facilities Management, oversee move-in and move-out processes, manage special housing accommodations.

ASSISTANT DIRECTOR FOR RESIDENTIAL EDUCATION

Provides oversight for student staff hiring and training, implementation of Residential Curriculum and other educational initiatives, student leadership opportunities and coordination of departmental PEAK.

HOUSING SPECIALIST

Frontline customer service in the Residence Life Office, student assignments and billing, housing software administrator.

ASSISTANT DEAN OF STUDENTS; DIR OF RESIDENCE LIFE

Oversee curricular approach for SDCL Division, ensure Residence Life systems and initiatives are equitable, set departmental initiatives, manage budget and revenue projections, coordinate emergency reponse processes, supervision of all residence life professional staff.

Living on campus is part of a student's educational experience, so we structure our work around the Student Development and Campus Life Division's shared Learning Goals and Outcomes.

Below are the shared SDCL Goal and Outcomes. When we think about the work we do with students, we ...

focus less on 'let's fill up the calendar' focus more on 'how can we help students learn these things?'

PROGRAMS

In-person group activities facilitated by RAs help us meet learning goals. We use lesson plans for our staff to follow to ensure learning outcomes are aligned with our division's goals. These can be for individual floors, or entire buildings.

BULLETIN BOARDS

Most boards are created by following a lesson plan and are specifically chosen to provide useful content for that time of year, and for that floor’s resident population. We often partner with other offices in our division to help get timely information to our residents.

NEWSLETTERS

Hall Directors send regular communication to their residents - also using intentional lesson plans. This ensures that students are getting consistent messaging about relevant information.

COBBER CONNECTS

Twice a semester, RAs have thoughtful and intentional one on one meetings with their residents. They use a lesson plans to engage their residents in conversation about topics that are timely for that part of the year.

CONDUCT SYSTEM

If a student violates a disciplinary policy, the conduct process is another method we use to help the student reflect on their decisions and develop their critical thinking skills. Most students choose the Restorative option, which means they accept responsibility and work with a conduct officer to identify harm caused and a plan to repair that harm.

ROOMMATE AND FLOOR AGREEMENTS

Even a document like a roommate agreement can be a teaching tool. Students use these agreements to identify and share their needs, create plans to responsibly share space with others, and set out expectations for addressing conflict.

Assessment: We utilize a variety of indirect and direct assessment methods to determine if we are meeting our goals and objectives. Most commonly, this includes surveys, collection of student ‘artifacts’, focus groups and observation

We have a number of ways to 'teach' our residents. Here are just a few!

I m p a c t o n s t u d e n t s

We ask our students (through surveys and bulletin boards) how they have changed since living on campus. Here are a few of their answers.

L o g i s t i c s a n d d e t a i l s

FIRST YEAR STUDENTS

First year students live together on floors in Hallett, Erickson, Livedalen and Park Region. This allows us to align our work to support other first year components, such as Orientation, FYT Labs and Inquiry. About half of new students use our housing software to search for and select a roommate. Our office matches those who do not use this option. Nearly all first year students have roommates.

RETURNING STUDENTS

Returning students live on dedicated floors in Hallett, Erickson, Livedalen, Park Region and Fjelstad. They are also able to live in the College Apartments and Townhouses. They use an online housing sign up to select their roommate and rooms and there are more options to have their own room.

SPECIAL INTEREST COMMUNITIES

The Sexuality and Gender Inclusion (SGI) floors in Park Region are home to 24 students. The rooms and bathrooms on these floors are gender neutral. Students looking for an especially welcoming and inclusive housing option have found a sense of belonging in this community.

First floor of Fjelstad is home to the Multicultural Living Community (MLC) - with 21 students this year. A student-led initiative, the MLC’s mission is to provide a supportive, inclusive space that engages with different perspectives, identities and experiences, while promoting belonging. MLC is a space that cultivates community, collaboration, and connection while teaching and learning from one another.

MEETING OUR RESIDENTS NEEDS

We continue to work toward increasing access and equity with our housing options.

Special Accommodations:

Students with a diagnosed disability/medical need receive accommodations such as single rooms, emotional support animals, access to a kitchen, housing with minimal stairs, housing in a building an elevator or air conditioning. We recently started a Religious/Spiritual practices accommodation process for students who may need access to prayer spaces, permission to burn sage, etc.

Gender and Identity

Our housing options (and bathrooms) still tend to be organized around a gender binary. although we have added additional options for mixed gender or gender inclusive housing, Students can indicate their preferred name on their housing application, but this information is not connected with Banner or other campus processes

Student Requests and Facility Needs

There is increased demand for single housing options (rooms and apartments) Only one of our traditional halls is air conditioned, and fully ADA accessible

STUDENT SUPPORT - IT CAN BE A LOT

When you live with students, you see them at their best and their most vulnerable. Our staff handle a wide variety of resident concerns and issues, such as:

Roommate conflicts

Anxiety/depression

Suicide/self harm Vocational crises Homesickness Identify exploration/formation

Grief/loss Poor academic progress Stress

Alcohol/drug abuse Sexual assault/relationship violence

Our philosophy is to approach these situations with curiosity and compassion and to partner with the student (rather than do things for them). We then work to connect the student with the appropriate campus resources

DORM VS RESIDENCE HALL

At some institutions, 'dorm' is a dirty word instead, 'residence hall' is preferred. In part, this is because 'dorm' can be see as just a dormitory without acknowledgement of the key role living on campus plays in students' education. But here at Concordia, we don't get too worked up about which word you use. We usually say residence hall, but students tend

Partnering and Collaboration