Housing picks start without director

As student after student begins to select housing for next year, the Office of Residence Life and Housing Services still lacks a permanent director to coordinate the process. RLHS has reopened its search for a new director of housing assignments and communications after declaring its initial fall effort a failure in early February.

The director is most visible at this time of year as supervisor of the housing lottery. The position has been slightly modified from its original definition, which entailed oversight of housing assignments, management of housing contracts and coordination of communications for the housing department. The refashioned position will include supervision of all communications for RLHS—from the website to published materials—in an effort to develop a unified identity and voice in all RLHS communication outlets.

“This is a tough position to fill,” said Eddie Hull, executive director of housing services and dean of residence life. “We didn’t find a person with the right blend of technical expertise and background and that had the ability to communicate at a high level. It’s not the easiest blend to find.”

The first search was headed by a committee that worked with Spelman and Johnson, a search firm that specializes in academic institutions, to find a set of finalists. Four finalists were selected, two of which were “good matches” but decided not to take the job for personal reasons, said Donald Love, manager of housing administration.

RLHS has implemented the same search method for its second hunt for candidates. Hull said the search committee and RLHS intend to be “more aggressive” in the second quest in order to find the proper candidate. Love added that more officials are looking for jobs in the late spring and summer than in the fall. The national deadline for applications for the position is March 22.

The position became vacant last April when previous director Bill Burig transferred to the registrar’s office. Love has been acting as the interim director and will continue to do so until a permanent candidate is found.

Love, however, has no interest in assuming the positron full-time. “I’m just much more interested in behind-the-scenes work,” he said. “It’s not a good match for my personality.”

There has been some flux recently in housing positions within RLHS. The job of housing assignments coordinator, now filled by Jen Frank, was created last January as Burig announced his move away from RLHS. Love said there was no correlation between the events.

The new director would oversee room selection but primarily concentrate on larger communication issues. Frank will coordinate housing picks.

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