On the Front Line

Faculty Teams with Housing Staff to Mentor Students

Helping students “imagine” themselves into the life of the mind and spirt of the University is how Judith Rodby, one of the first faculty members to volunteer for a new faculty mentoring program in the residence halls, described her motivation for signing up.

William Loker, dean of Undergraduate Education, recently accepted a proposal from University Housing and Food Service and Thia Wolf, director of First Year Experience, for the new faculty mentor program. The program will be valuable for both students and faculty. “While large class size and faculty status can limit students’ sense of ease with faculty, meeting students on their own turf in informal interactions can facilitate supportive relationships,” said Loker. “Such work is valuable for faculty as well, in helping faculty come to better understand students’ out-of-classroom experiences and how these influence their learning.”

David Stephen, director of University Housing and Food Service, agrees with Loker: “Opportunities for students and faculty to get to know one another outside the classroom can help to demystify faculty and facilitate connections on a variety of levels.”

One of the roles of University Housing and Food Service is to provide quality out-of-classroom experiences for residence hall students. As director of First Year Experience, English professor Wolf coordinates all existing programs for freshmen with a primary concern for helping students integrate their social and academic lives. Together, UHFS and FYE are seeking ways to increase faculty-student engagement and dialogue by providing an open community within the residence halls.

With these shared goals in mind, Wolf, along with Hemlata Jhaveri, associate director of Housing and Food Service, and Sesha Tobiska, coordinator for Residential Life Programming, wrote the proposal for the faculty mentor program. “The program is an effort to help faculty become more involved with students outside the classroom,” stated Wolf. “Repeated studies have shown that a key marker in student success is a connection with at least one faculty member who takes an interest in them. Faculty also serve as models to students of living lives that are thoughtful across multiple terrains.”

Resident assistants (RAs) living in the residence halls currently work the “front line” of University Housing, cultivating direct relationships with and among students through the organization of a variety of student activities. Faculty mentors will work with resident assistants in planning activities, which can vary widely according to the special interests of faculty—from book clubs to science experiments to skydiving. Assigned a particular floor or complex in university housing, mentors will visits students on a regular basis, share meals, provide talks or programs in areas of interest to students or faculty, and arrange for at least one social activity with students each semester. First Year Experience will support the work of faculty mentors by providing $500 to each mentor to fund the required programmed activities.

Religious Studies professor and faculty-in-residence Micki Lennon had some helpful suggestions for new mentors: “Get to know the RA with whom you’re working really well, and talk to him or her frequently. The RAs live with students ‘24-7’ and really understand what they’re interested in. In general, if an RA is enthusiastic about working with you, that’s going to convince residents to be enthusiastic.”

The pilot program will begin soon. “We would like to have five faculty mentors signed up,” said Jhaveri. “Three have volunteered already, and three more are considering doing so.” Rodby and professor of Art Education Teresa Cotner were two of the first to volunteer. Asked what appealed to her about being a faculty mentor, Rodby replied, “I think life at the University can be so rich in ideas and experiences, but I’m not sure that students always have access to those ideas and experiences. Knowing a faculty member in a more informal setting might make it easier for students to imagine themselves as a part of that life.”

—Amy Runge Gaffney