October 15, 2009
Residence life manager enjoys variety, excitement of role
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There's no such thing as a typical day in the life of a residence life manager at Purdue's residence halls, and that's exactly why Kelley Wood loves her job.
"You never know what's going to happen or who's going to walk in the door," says Wood, who worked as an RLM at Shreve Hall last year. "A student may come to you with a problem they need help with or to share something good that's happened to them, or there may be some type of crisis or emergency. That's what makes it exciting. This job is never, ever boring."
It also can involve long hours.
"What many people may not realize is that RLMs may not be in until 9 or 10 in the morning, but they may have been in the hall until 10 or 11 the night before," Wood says. "You have to spend the time with the students to get to know them and work with them.
Wood is now an auxiliary RLM within University Residences.
"Some of the projects that I am currently working on include training, RA selection, RA staff evaluation, working with the University Residences Parent Advisory Council, and advising the Residence Hall Association," Wood says.
The job of an RLM is multi-faceted, Wood says. RLMs help train and then supervise resident assistants, advise student organizations in residence halls (often called hall clubs), deal with housing issues such as roommate preferences, and serve on multiple committees in University Residences.
They also take care of all the conduct in residence halls.
"RAs write a report on misconduct, give it to the RLM and the RLM talks to the students involved," Wood says. "We try to educate them. RLMs don't impose fines, but they try to help them learn life lessons from the experience."
Interacting with students is another reason Wood enjoys her job.
"We love working with students," she says. "We see students grow because of their residential experience at Purdue, and that is when we know we've done our job well."
Christopher Stier, who has worked as an RLM the past two years, says students like to work with Wood, too.
"She is very approachable from a student standpoint. She's easy to talk to," says Stier, who has served with Wood on committees and projects. "That's what helps her connect with the students and work together with them, whether it's in clubs or just in the hall.
"She puts effort into it. She very much wants to do a good job and is willing to put in extra hours to make sure a job gets done and gets done correctly."
Her experience in college led her to become an RLM. Wood received both her bachelor's degree in communications and public relations and her master's degree in human service administration from Bradley University. She held her first professional position, as a coordinator in fraternity and sorority life, at the University of North Florida before coming to Purdue in 2008.
"I had an awesome experience in college. I was involved in athletics, a sorority, and residence halls," she says."I did some research on working in residence life and got a master's degree. I hope I can make at least one other person's experience in college as great as mine was."