Residence halls were swarming with faculty and staff on Tuesday, September 21, while the second annual “Opening Doors: Linking Living and Learning” program was underway. Whereas the program was initially created for freshmen to help them adjust to college, this year it expanded to include some upperclassmen as well.
Signs posted on each door in the residence halls alerted students of the “fantastic opportunity” being offered, a chance to meet and speak with RPI faculty and staff on anything from studying for IEA exams to getting a broken door fixed in a dorm room.
Trent Gillaspie, a freshman mechanical engineering major living in Bray, thoroughly enjoyed the experience. “When they visited the residence halls on Tuesday, they came right in and acquainted themselves with my roommate and I,” Gillaspie said. “They made a good effort to get out and make us feel a bit more at home here at RPI. Even if someone wasn’t in their room, they left a contact number and name for any questions.”
One of the two-member faculty and staff teams visited students eating in the Commons Dining Hall, telling them they would be visiting residence halls during a two hour time period. Many took advantage of the opportunity, as Residence Life said that teams met with about seventy percent of their “target audience,” all students seeming very receptive of the company.
Pete Snyder, director of Residence Life and coordinator of the Opening Doors program, pointed out that answering any questions students might have was just one of the many goals he was aiming to achieve with the program. However, the purpose was not just to “check up” on students; it was to “reach out to students,” according to Snyder, making them aware of the facilities and resources available on campus.
“The students reacted pretty well. One student even tracked down the team visiting his residence hall when he heard he had missed them visiting his room,” said Snyder.
Although it is only the second year of the program, Snyder feels it is a real success. With thirty teams, the same number working as last year, they managed to cover more residence halls than the previous year, including Nugent, Davidson, and all of the Quad.
Like the students, the staff and faculty also benefited from the event. Snyder commented that there was definitely “energy sparked” when “the faculty and staff reached out to the students.” When asked if he felt the program was effective, he replied, “Oh yes, very much so!”
Part of the success, Snyder believes, can be attributed to broadening the focus from only the transition to living in a residence hall, as was done in the first year. He pointed out that, “This year the focus was more on academics.”
Last year, the program took place on the second Tuesday in September, shortly after the start of classes. Due to the opening of the new Biotech Center and then “Meet Your Advisor Day,” the event was postponed until the third week in September. A few residence halls were not visited, but Snyder is looking to change that next year.
