The Office of Residential Life has restructured the Residential Peer Leader program this year, adding two full-time professional community directors and four graduate advising fellows, who will replace the nine graduate CDs that have advised RPLs in past years.
New CDs Michelle Thrasher and Sarah Linz live in residence halls and serve as the "primary contact to the RPLs," Associate Director of Residential Life Natalie Basil said. "They also work as a liaison to the (ResLife) office."
The change was driven by recommendations from the Committee on the Residential Experience that there be an adult presence in residence halls. The committee's report, published in May 2008, said that Brown students reported having good contact with faculty but little opportunity to meet other adults. The report recommended the change especially for upperclassmen, who have less residential advising than first-years.
"Including the Minority Peer Counselors with other RPLs, our ratio of students to counselors in first-year units is 1 to 19," the report said. "By the sophomore year, our ratio of counselors to students is 1 to 90."
Thrasher attended Quinnipiac University as an undergraduate and received a master's degree in higher education from Old Dominion University. Linz attended Beloit College and Michigan State University for graduate school. Both have experience working in residential life at various schools.
Thrasher, who worked two summers ago as a CD for the Summer@Brown program, said she "really enjoyed the environment" at Brown.
"One of the things I really enjoyed was the atmosphere and community," Thrasher said. "Brown has a unique system and I think it's really exciting to be a part of that."
Linz also said she enjoys the college environment.
"I like getting to know college students," Linz said. "One of my favorite things about working in residential life is that every single day is completely different. It makes the job very interesting."
Thrasher and Linz are more available to RPLs than CDs have been in the past because they are available both during the day and in the evenings, Basil said.
"They're definitely a strong support system for us," said Jamal Hill '11, who is a Residential Counselor this year. "They have expertise on how to build a safe, open community on college campuses."
The CDs each advise about half of the RPLs on campus. They also collaborate with the MPCs, who work through the Third World Center.
The four graduate advising fellows, who live in Hope College, Olney House and Morriss and Perkins halls, serve as a "resource and role model for residents as someone who is a continued learner," Basil said. The fellows work with the Faculty Advising Fellow program and with RPLs.
Although ResLife has not solicited any feedback yet about the new CDs and graduate advising fellows, RPLs so far have expressed appreciation for the extra support and feel that the CDs have been very responsive, Basil said.
