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Residence Life and Housing Experience
ACUHO Intern, Conference Housing Services, Columbia University
Community Assistant, Nittany Apartments and Suites, The Pennsylvania State University
Two experiences have contributed to my learning as it relates to Residence Life and Housing, the first one was an ACUHO internship with Columbia University during the summer of 2010 and the second has been serving as a Community Assistant for Nittany Apartments and Suites at The Pennsylvania State University during the 2010-2011 academic year. The combination of these two opportunities has provided me with a well-balanced experience of year-long operations of both Residence Life and Housing.
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Last summer I served as a Conference Housing Manager for Conference Housing Services at Columbia University. This was my first experience with Residence Life and/or Housing as an employee. In my position I had multiple responsibilities and was able to gain a hands-on understanding of the functioning of a Housing department during the summer months. Throughout my time at Columbia, my main responsibilities were twofold: supervisory and programmatic. I was able to collaborate with other staff to develop and implement a week-long training program for our eight Conference Housing Assistants, supervised the Housing Assistants during business hours and their duty rotations, and provided professional development opportunities for all employees. I took the initiative to engage in other projects outside the scope of my stated responsibilities. For example, I developed a mid-summer peer evaluation to use as a reference for assessing the quality of our work. I also, in conjunction with one other manager, developed an organizational chart for the department because one was not already available. Because I believed that our staff meetings were not as effective and beneficial as they could have been, I began to incorporate more learning-centered initiatives such as activities for developing effective communication. I also often reflected on what the organizational structure said about the University. I found it interesting that there was no Residence Life Office, just Housing, and I often wondered if it was indicative of the student body or simply the Student Affairs structure that maybe student development as part of communal living was not as important to Columbia as simply housing the students. These are all my own personal thoughts however but served as reflection material as I worked there. I believe my experiences with Columbia tied most closely with the CSA Professional Competencies learning outcome in that I gained very practical experiences. I also believe it provided me with a good grounding and understanding as I began my residence life position at Penn State.
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I have now served as a Community Assistant (CA) at Penn State for almost a full academic year. This has been my first exposure to a more traditional Residence Life department than my experiences with Columbia University as a Manager for Conference Housing; however I do not live in a traditional residence hall setting. I am a CA for Nittany Apartments and Suites, an apartment-style living area that houses mostly upperclassman students with a large student-athlete presence. In this capacity I oversee a residence area of about 100 students and serve as the primary liaison between their apartments and the Nittany Apartments Community. I participate in a scheduled duty rotation with other Community Assistants, create advertisements for the Community, participate in weekly staff meetings, and fulfill other responsibilities as assigned.