While students settle into their residence halls on campus, they may find a new and somewhat unexpected neighbor living next door.
Residental Life has adopted a new Faculty-in-Residence program in an effort to integrate University faculty into residential communities.
Res Life Associate Director of Education Jonathon Hyde said the program places faculty members in residential communities in hopes of fostering learning outside of the classroom in an informal environment. Faculty-in-Residence was modeled after other colleges with similar programs like Vanderbilt and Cornell.
Johanna Dunaway, associate professor of mass communication and humanities and social sciences, and Paige Davis, engineering instructor, were the first to be chosen and will serve for two years. Dunaway has been assigned the west side of campus and Davis has the east, Hyde said.
Res Life went on a competitive search to find two qualified faculty members to be the first participants of the program.
Candidates had to have six years of experience as a faculty member, letters of recommendation and the approval of the dean of the college they worked under. They then went through an extensive interview process, according to Jay High, associate director of Res Life.
Participating faculty members don’t receive a paycheck for participating in the program, but they do have day jobs at the University where they earn a salary, according to Res Life Director Steven Waller.
Res Life provides Dunaway and Davis with a rent-free apartment on the side of campus they are assigned, a meal plan to host meetings with students and other faculty members, and they can choose to purchase reserved parking near their apartment, Waller said.
The faculty members participating in the Faculty-in-Residence program also receive a budget so they can plan events for the students.
Dunaway recently hosted a news watching party in her apartment living room Sept. 5. The mass communication students who live in the residential college were able to talk about how the media covers events and other important topics in an informal setting.
Dunaway plans to have events twice a month, but not all will be in her apartment. She plans to also partner with the residential communities to host events and will hold office hours in Kirby Smith Hall.
“[I’m] not sure how to measure success, but we hope we can make a difference and have our presence felt,”
The apartment is designed similarly to a townhouse with the bedrooms upstairs and a kitchen, dining area and living room downstairs. Making the areas separate creates privacy for the family while still allowing the faculty member to host students.
Res Life hopes to expand the program to have more faculty living on campus, said Waller.
Faculty-in-Residence program unites students and faculty
By Desiree Roberston
September 11, 2013