After a two-year search under interim leadership, a new director for the Office of Residential Life may be appointed as early as next week. The appointment comes after two searches for "a visionary," Associate Dean of Students Marisel Perez said.
Two of the four candidates - who come from Babson, Oberlin, and Eckerd Colleges, as well as Worcester Polytechnic Institute - have already visited campus, and the remaining two will visit this week.
Perez is the chair of a search committee that includes students and representatives from various University divisions, such as Facilities and Dining Services. She said she is "positive that we are going to have a positive outcome this week."
Each of the four candidates has spent or will spend a full day on campus, during which they meet with various administrators, interim ResLife director Lorraine Toppi, the ResLife staff, human resources representative Sue Smoyer, and the search committee. They are given a tour of the residence halls before attending an informal dinner discussion with students.
The four candidates were chosen from a second search held after the committee did not reach a consensus on a candidate from the initial search pool. The first search's pool visited campus early in the semester, but the search was then reopened and reposted in educational publications across the nation.
The candidates' backgrounds were examined prior to their invitation to campus. Each has had at least ten years of experience in residential life at the associate level. Perez said that while all work at private institutions, it was not a requirement.
Perez said the second search produced a slightly different pool than the first, with candidates more experienced in residential life operations. After the first search produced no results, Perez said she "wanted to make sure that there was clarity about what the role of that person was going to be." The failed first search provided an opportunity for more extensive discussion among committee members of their expectations and vision of a new director, she said.
The position demands a leader who will oversee ResLife projects such as the recruitment and training of Residential Advisors (RAs) and the annual housing lottery, Perez said. She hopes the person will work "to enhance the intellectual experience of students in the residential halls," and that he or she will work with the administration to gradually achieve that goal.
The new director will play a key role in advancing a variety of programs that correspond with President Larry Bacow's plan to increase the "community feel" on campus, Perez said in February. Other elements of the director's position will include new dorm designs and working with the Task Force on Undergraduate Education.
Demands from students to release housing lottery numbers earlier may greet the new director, as well as calls for increased availability of campus housing and a decrease in the number of forced triples.
The committee will "definitely have a clear finalist" and a runner-up, in case the first choice does not accept the position after this week's visits, Perez said. "So far we have met two great people... so I'm encouraged, and I have a wonderful search committee that has stuck with me through all this."
After identifying the finalists, the committee will make a recommendation to Dean of Academic Services and Student Affairs Kristine Dillon and Dean of Students Bruce Reitman. The administration will then negotiate to secure the applicant.
Perez is anxious to come to a decision in order to give the office the leadership and support it needs. She also wants to take pressure off Toppi, who has continued her duties as associate director of occupancy management while serving as interim director. She said ResLife "has been doing a great job of taking care of everything short-staffed" since it lost director Anne Gardiner in the summer of 2000 and Bob Clark, coordinator of community standards and judicial process, at the end of last year. The Office recently hired a temporary worker to ease the strain.
All students are invited to attend one or both of the remaining dinners with the candidates. One will be held tonight at 6 p.m. in the conference room of Dewick-MacPhie Dining Hall, and the last will be Friday at 7:45 p.m. in Dowling Hall.
