Masters of their DORMain

Elusive lives of hall directors unveiled

It comes with the territory — you might be called at 12:30 a.m. on a Monday morning by a Resident Adviser who says that the water is spraying out of the sink in a hall bathroom, and your assistance is needed. You also might be awoken in the wee hours of the morning by a towel-clad resident who has locked him or herself out of a dorm room. On the other hand, you very well could have a rough night and have three fellow staff members stop by for a friendly chat.

Such experiences exist in the life of a hall director. For Mandee Buchholz, the professional hall director of Potomac Hall, these situations are just part of the job.

"I’ve been doing this for five years," Buchholz said. "I have lots of stories."

Depending on whom you ask, what students think a hall director does varies. Some do not know what one is, or think of a hall director only as a disciplinary force or a supervisor for the Resident Advisers.
The three types of hall directors are undergraduate, graduate and professional, and what their job entails depends on which type they are.

Junior Andy Caso, a hall director in Chandler Hall, falls into the undergraduate hall director category.

"The Office of Residence Life recognizes that the undergraduate hall directors are still students here, and our staffs tend to be smaller," Caso said. "Graduate students and professional hall directors take on extra responsibilities as part of their programs."

The College Student Personnel Administration assigned graduate student Kristina Powers to the job of hall director for McGraw-Long.

"Through our program, you get an assistantship," Powers said. "You interview and rank the different assistantships, [which include the] First Year Involvement [Center], being a hall director and academic advising, and they place you in the one that fits you the best. We apply what we learn in class to our assistantship."

Professional hall directors have prior experience in residence life and a Master’s Degree in either a counseling-related field or higher education. Buchholz has her masters degree in clinical social work.

When it comes to choosing hall directors, Stephanie Carr, assistant director of the Office of Residence Life, said, "ORL typically looks for candidates who have strong interpersonal, leadership and administrative skills, who have a positive attitude and are willing to learn."

The process to becoming a hall director involves applications and several interviews. "There were a lot of interviews and applications, but ORL was thorough in deciding who they wanted as hall directors," Caso said. "A lot of it was based on our experience in ORL, other forms of leadership, group facilitation, supervision skills and the ability to work with other people."

Once hall directors are hired, they are placed in buildings based on into which area they fall.

"Most of the graduate [hall directors] have staffs of [about] nine and are put in buildings that are typically more challenging," Powers said. "We are also on call for the entire campus once a semester, as are the professional hall directors." Buchholz said the more challenging buildings are ones with more residents and, therefore require more time commitment.

Hall directors have many additional duties on top of their day-to-day tasks. They must be on call for graduate and professional hall directors. Also, professional hall directors teach Psychology 100 and are required to advise an organization.

"Supervision is probably the biggest [duty]," Powers said. "We have administrative duties, [such as] weekly reports and maintenance requests; we have weekly meetings with our supervisors and those that we supervise, staff meetings and one-on-ones with each staff member. [If] anything goes on in the hall, I know about it." She said that she can be a support system for the RAs, as well as do the things that the RAs do. They also advise their respective Community Councils.

The job of hall director consists of interacting with the residents, an aspect that most of them enjoyed as Resident Advisers.

"I’m very passionate about educating students outside of the classroom," Buchholz said. "I also really enjoy working with students who are in the transitional environment. I love doing developmental work with students as they have different experiences."

For some hall directors, the experience is rewarding, but there remains the challenge of getting to know all of the students in their halls.

"I want the students to know that there’s one of us in every building," Powers said. "We are here for you, and [you can] use us as a resource for lots of different things. Get to know us; it’s hard to get to know 200 people."

.