TiShawn Polk: Housing and Residence Life – Week 4

Activities:

-Attend new Residence Directors trainings

-Attend Weekly RLT committee meetings

-Meet with supervisor

Experience:

Since the last blog, training for the new residence directors has begun. Beginning these trainings, I really did not know what to expect. As discussed during our online class, not knowing what to expect makes me feel a little bit uneasy. I suppose this feeling would also be held by incoming residence directors. However, the RLT committee has done an excellent job in making sure new RDs feel at home. They do this by their interaction with them, Partners in Crime (PIC), and planned social events. I often remark of how accommodating and sociable the individuals from the Department of Housing and Residence Life are. The Partners in Crime or PIC concept is one developed by the RLT committee. In this system, veteran RDs pair with incoming RDs and become a friend, an informant, and someone that new RD can rely on in case they become lost in the housing world. It’s this intentionality that makes housing so successful. Further evidence for housing’s success are its interactions away from work. Because RDs in particular cannot leave work, they can become creative in socializing with one another outside of the work environment. Part of the training was a welcome pool party to help socialize the new RDs into the group. Throughout the training process thus far, there have been intentional times to make the new RDs feel more comfortable. Interestingly enough, I have been reading articles for my Human Resources class. It mentions that the amount of money paid is not a significant indicator of whether or not an employee remains at that company, but it is dependent upon their level of comfort or fitting into that environment. Housing and Residence Life seeks to make everyone feel at home. No pun intended.

The chapter 2 reading section I thought was most applicable to writing this blog was the one on strategy. It discusses the unwritten rules of universities and the departments within that university. In my brief experience as a student affairs student, I understand that every office and division has a set of codes that it runs by, but what was attractive about housing was how well it was run on such a large scale. I was sure there were some unspoken rules, but after attending only a few trainings I have seen that many things are very transparent and written for everyone to see. Now, my idea about the success of a division has been challenged because I can clearly see that when divisions operate on a larger scale the majority of procedures or rules need to written and followed by everyone. It seems this strictness would tie the hands of its employees, but RDs operate with, in my opinion, more autonomy than other GAs on campus. These have been my thoughts in the beginning sessions for training. I am waiting to see if this will change further.