The Office of Residence Life is planning to launch two new ambassador programs in residence halls in the fall of 2017. One program will be related to academics, and the other will be focused on health and wellness.
Director of Residence Life Chris Haug explained that the aim of both programs is to connect students in residence halls to resources on campus that will improve their university experience, such as tutors in the Learning Commons or information on how to live a healthier lifestyle.
“Academic success ambassador” and “peer health ambassador” are the working titles of the positions, though they have not been finalized.
Applicants for the volunteer positions will submit their applications in October and begin to meet with the organizations on campus relevant to their positions, such as the Health and Counseling Center and the Shepard Academic Resource Center, after fall break. In the spring, both sets of ambassadors will take a class that will aid them in their work and leadership skills.
“Their job is to connect the dots on campus for the students, so they become the lines,” Haug said. “They’ll be trained to identify when to connect students to resources.”
The ambassadors will also be responsible for organizing some programs, such as coordinating an event addressing a dorm-wide concern or arranging a larger event for all of the halls in a quad.
The two positions had been on Residence Life’s agenda since 2014, but Haug said the office lacked the bandwidth to bring them to fruition until now.
“This is not a knee-jerk reaction,” Haug said. “This is something the University had been planning. It’s been on our wish list."
The academic success ambassador program was piloted in Villa Maria Hall this year. Junior mechanical engineering major Ben Kallen was inspired to combat what he saw as a lack of academic focus in Villa, and pitched a position to partner with the Shepard Academic Resource Center (SARC) and connect students to academic resources, without knowing that Residence Life had already been planning such a position.
Kallen has served as an academic ambassador in Villa this year, teaching other residents about the SARC and hosting tutoring nights in the library.
“The biggest benefit I’ve seen to Ben’s position is that academics is now part of the conversation,” Matt Connolly, director of Villa Maria Hall, said. “Now we have someone who’s the go-to for tutoring help or connecting people with other students or the Shepard Academic Resource Center.”
In addition to linking students to resources, Haug said he looks forward to having additional people in the dorms looking out and caring for new students.
