Residence Life and Housing have combined departments with a goal of increasing residency rates and retention. 

A new position was created to oversee the merged departments. John Lauer, the senior director of residence life and housing, began his position as the lead of the joint department at the beginning of this semester. 

Lauer said he plans to ensure residential students’ needs get addressed by making changes within the department that unite students and emphasize collaboration. 

Uniting students 

Lauer said his vision for the department is to unite students with each other and with the residential life and housing staff. 

“My number one emphasis is for our staff to know and become known by students … and to help students know each other, we are going to be more strategic in placing students in the dorms so that they are all living together in a community,” Lauer said. 

According to Lauer, students are spread out in the dorms, often separated by empty rooms because of low occupancy and housing retention rates. 

With upcoming maintenance plans to refresh and renovate Summit Village, Lauer plans to place students closer together. During this renovation, most of the rooms in Summit Village will be unavailable, which will fill the empty rooms. 

In addition, Lauer said the department wants to utilize common spaces better and create more popular hangout areas like Monkey Ridge in Summit Village. 

Department collaboration 

Residence Life and Housing plans to collaborate with several departments, including Dining Services, Parking, Maintenance, Student Life and the Admissions Office, to create a more interactive feel among students and faculty. 

These collaborations will include regular consultations with each department head to receive feedback on ways to improve the residential experience.  

“Another key for me is to be working really closely with admissions and our enrollment management process … a part of our identity needs to be with residential. If you don’t live on campus, you’re missing out, instead of student’s feeling like, ‘Oh, I have to live on campus because it’s a requirement,” Lauer said. 

By placing more emphasis on collaborative efforts, Lauer hopes to create a version of residence life that functions as one unit.  

“The desire is for us to be perceived by the students as one, one department and one university … If we get these changes right, it’s going to make a huge difference to students.”  

A bridge in Summit Village. Photo by Josiah Dolan.