Purdue News
Purdue News
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Faculty Fellows make halls a bit more homeyFor about 200 faculty and staff on the West Lafayette Campus, the lines between work and home are blurred by a volunteer activity known as the Faculty Fellows Program.
Gerald Krockover, Owen Hall Faculty Fellow and professor of earth and atmospheric sciences education, is among the group of people who take a few hours a week - sometimes much more - to befriend, counsel, accompany, entertain, reassure, listen to and generally spend time with residents of the undergraduate residence halls.
For Krockover, "extended family" has taken on new meaning as a result of the time he, his wife and their children have spent with Owen residents. A Faculty Fellow for the past 24 years, he has lost count of the close relationships he and his family have made over that time.
"Our two children are now grown, but they practically grew up at Owen Hall," he says. "I stay in touch with close to 100 people I wouldn't have met if I hadn't been a Faculty Fellow."
The program was started in 1965 by President Frederick Hovde, who saw the program as a way to bring together faculty, administrators and students informally, outside the classroom setting. The program since its inception has included staff members as well as faculty.
Fellows are matched with a floor - or wing of a floor in the case of several halls - and then it's up to Fellows, the resident counselor and the residents to choose activities.
Many Faculty Fellows involve their families in activities with hallresidents - from having dinner with residents to ski trips.
"Having your family involved reminds the students of the family and the home they left behind and miss," Krockover says.
Among the activities the Krockovers and Owen residents have shared over the years are picnics and pizza parties, pumpkin-carving at the Krockovers' house, Sunday dinner at the Krockovers' when dinner isn't served at Owen, and career nights at the hall. "
That doesn't include all the informal contact, the mentoring, the working with floor senators and hall officers, the chatting over dinner," Krockover says.
Marvis Boscher, director of university residences and until earlier this month the director of the Faculty Fellow Program, says Fellows benefit from the interaction as much as students.
"It can be difficult for faculty to balance the demands of teaching and research and at the same time stay current on the changing needs and habits of students," she says. "The Faculty Fellows Program gives faculty and staff members insight about our students that they can't get in the classroom or other formal setting."
Krockover agrees. "
As a Fellow, you spend time with students from various majors rather than just the group you see in class," he says. "It gives you a better picture of the students."
The mutual benefit of the program is obvious to Krockover.
"We've made lasting friendships at Owen Hall, gone to weddings of the residents and really just made it a part of our lives," he says.
Boscher says Krockover and other Fellows like him help round out the lives of on-campus residents.
"The point of the program is to make the University seem smaller to everyone by encouraging people to form relationships," she says.
Boscher and John Sautter, vice president for housing and food services, say the Faculty Fellows Program is a model for other universities.
When Sautter goes to professional meetings, he is sometimes sought out by peers at other universities to talk about starting programs similar to Faculty Fellows.
"Others have tried it, but they can't seem to get it going," he says.
Sautter points to two primary reasons the program remains strong more than 30 years after it was started:
*Every year, each Faculty Fellow receives a letter from President Steven Beering appointing or reappointing that individual as a Fellow. A copy of the letter is sent to the appropriate residence hall manager and the faculty or staff member's supervisor.
"For anything to succeed, you have to have commitment from the top," Sautter says. "That started in 1965 when Fred Hovde proposed the idea, and it continues today."
*The commitment by faculty and staff to include on-campus residents in their lives.
"We have a great number of faculty and staff in this community who are interested in the students, who want to get to know them and spend time with them," Sautter says. "We couldn't sustain this program without the ongoing interest of our Fellows."
Despite the success of the program, Boscher says vacancies exist in all halls, especially for younger faculty members.
"We know that the time of our newer faculty is in great demand," she says. "But in terms of representation of all members of the faculty and staff, we really could use more younger faculty members."
Lisa Tetzloff, the former manager of Hawkins Graduate House and now director of residential life, became director of the Faculty Fellows Program Sept. 1.
To find out more about becoming a Faculty Fellow, call Tetzloff at 49-47187 or any residence hall manager. Purdue News Service: (765) 494-2096; e-mail, purduenews@purdue.edu
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