Staff

Your resident assistant (RA) will be one of the first people you meet upon arrival to your residence hall floor. RA’s are students just like you who work to create a better living and learning environment in your hall by providing programming, building community, and being available to you.  As a current student, your RA is a great resource for you, full of helpful tips and friendly advice. Also in the halls are senior resident assistants (SRA’s) who monitor maintenance requests and supervise the front desk where applicable. Each hall is also staffed with a residence director (RD), who is an upperclass student that supervises the RA’s and the building, also serving as another resource for you. Resident assistants, senior resident assistants, and residence directors work together with the director and assistant director of Residence Life, professional staff whose offices are housed in McIntosh Center.

Philanthropy: Dolly Parton Imagination Library (Hardin County Chapter)

Started in 1996 by country artist Dolly Parton, this foundation fosters child literacy throughout the United States, United Kingdom and Canada.  The program partners with local community organizations to deliver an age appropriate new book to children each month through the mail from birth until age five, at no cost to their families.  According to the 2009 foundation report, over 23 million books have been distributed in over 600 communities.   As the foundation continues to grow and reach new communities, nearly 561,000 children have been given the opportunity to read their very own books in the last year alone.

How does Residence Life help? 

A community must make the program accessible to all preschool children in their area. The community pays for the books and mailing, promotes the program, registers the children, and enters the information into the database.  Through a partnership with Ada Rotary and United Way of Hardin County, Residence Life raises money to aid with these overhead costs so area children can enjoy the benefits of the Imagination Library.  Money is raised through each all-hall campus program and through various other means, such as student room lock-outs.  Last year, Residence Life raised over $3,000 for Imagination Library.  Our goal for 2010-11 is $5,000.

For more information on Imagination Library, check out their webpage at: http://www.dollysimaginationlibrary.com/

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