ANNUAL REPORT
2019 | 2020
WWW.RESLIFE.UMD.EDU
@UMDRESLIFE
INTRODUCTION Many staff members in Resident Life (and Residential Facilities) remember in great detail, the challenges associated with mold issues in our residence halls in Fall 2018. At the time, many staff members noted that weather-driven event as one of the greatest challenges of their professional careers. In retrospect, much of the knowledge and skills that grew from managing the challenges of Fall 2018 turned out to be excellent training for the onslaught of challenges posed in 2020. As we learned in both crises, relationships, teamwork, and communication are the hallmarks of effective organizations and institutions. Resident Life staff, in collaboration with our partners in Residential Facilities and other Student Affairs units and under the guidance of Division of Student Affairs leadership performed admirably this year in the midst of a global pandemic.
ACCOMPLISHMENTS IN FY20 AND EARLY FY21 While COVID-19 was the dominant and driving force in calendar year 2020, Resident Life staff had many accomplishments in the run up to the pandemic and throughout the COVID-19 crisis. Space limitations prevent listing all of those accomplishments.
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Continued the implementation of the StarRez housing management system in Resident Life functions that proved invaluable in the support of the campus’s response to COVID-19, including:
• Completed and engaged DRL staff in the results of the second DRL Climate Survey. • Expanded the Multicultural Advocates program from three MAs in two communities to six MAs in five communities. These MAs coordinated 59 programs and 18 RA training sessions in one and a half semesters.
• Virtual P3 Open Leasing events in April • Virtual Room Selection • Move-out Appointments (completed twice in March and again in May after the initial move-out program was postponed). • Move-in Appointments in August • All aspects of Quarantine/Isolation housing management including communications with residents, building access, check-in, and check-out, etc. • Tracking of cases, clusters, and outbreaks of COVID-19
Continued the implementation of DRL’s Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan (DIAP), including: • Training and engagement on the annual thematic area of implicit bias through three all-staff and two optional engagements. • Support to all DRL staff members in the development and execution of their Individualized Learning Plans (ILPs).
Completed the Departmental Review • Hosted an external review team in November 2019. • Received the review team’s draft report in January and provided feedback and comments and a final report was received in April. • Just prior to COVID-19, the Departmental Review Committee to prioritize internal and external recommendations. • Work on the Departmental Review was suspended with the onset of COVID-19 and the necessary response.
In alignment with the recommendations in the internal and external review reports and in support of our housing strategic plan, we began the process of re-organizing our departmental staffing structure • In order to enhance our service to students by creating greater continuity and consistency across our
• Consulted with Karla Benson Rutten in January to check-in
community operations, we brought together all six
on progress on the plan and provide opportunities for
residential communities under the leadership of one
engagement with a variety of departmental groups.
Associate Director.
• Developed the Diversity in Action newsletter to keep
• Dennis Passarella-George was named Senior Associate
department staff apprised of news and developments in
Director for University Housing Partnerships to assist in
the area of diversity and inclusion.
leadership of the department and to provide departmental
• Supported the formation of additional affinity groups within the department. • Provided regular updates on progress on the DIAP at all major departmental meetings and gatherings. • Began a program of members of the DIAP Steering Group acting as stewards and meeting with various staff groups to answer questions and support the efforts of individuals
and divisional leadership and oversight for the planning, operations, relationships, and programming of the UMD Public-Private Partnership (P3) housing program along with other strategic partnerships including those with our Living-Learning Programs. • Other planned structural changes were postponed at the outset of the response to COVID-19.
and teams.
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Accomplishments in FY20 and early FY21
Responded to the demands of the global COVID-19 pandemic • Coordinated the needs of more than 600 students who had or newly requested Spring Break housing at the beginning of the pandemic.
developing a plan for providing quarantine and isolation housing beginning in Spring 2020 and extending to a more robust plan for Fall 2020. • In summer 2020 established departmental work teams to
• Supported the transition to an emergency housing program
plan for implementation of campus plans for the fall 2020
for about 100 of the students that had originated in break
semester. These work teams included: Assignments and
housing and who needed to stay in residence halls even
Billing, Move-in, Service Desk Operations and Physical
after the move to online classes for the remainder of the
Distancing in the Halls, Duty and Conduct, Student
spring semester was announced.
Engagement and Academic Support, Staff Training, Office
• Supported the quick transition to remote work for all DRL staff members in March. • Worked closely with campus units to respond to novel and emerging challenges arising from the global pandemic.
Operations, and Support to Students with Cancelled Housing Agreements. All aspects of our program had to be reconsidered and these work groups did most of that work. • Collaborated with partners from Intercollegiate Athletics
• Planned for and then postponed an initial plan to facilitate
to develop a fall move-in program that originated at Xfinity
students returning to campus to retrieve their belongings
Center. Move-in planning included support for Dining
in late-March to early-April.
Services bioscans of new students and the distribution
• Collaborated with Capstone On-Campus Management to
of Student ID Cards by the Registrar’s office. Those two
conduct virtual leasing meetings for the 2020-21 lease
activities are typically completed as part of the summer
year.
orientation program.
• Conducted online room selection for students returning to residence halls between Spring 2020 and Fall 2020. • Facilitated move-out in late-May to early-June with support from staff across the department as well as colleagues from Residential Facilities. • Developed multiple contingency plans for multiple scenarios for the Fall 2020 semester - including those related to occupancy, staffing, programming, support, and other services. • Responded to thousands of phone calls and email from students and parents regarding all aspects of residence halls in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic from March and through the summer and fall.
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• Worked closely with staff from Residential Facilities in
• Supported campus priorities in managing COVID-19 by re-assigning multiple staff members to areas such as COVID-19 Testing, Q/I Housing, The HEAL Line, and Student Ambassadors program. • Re-assigned staff responsibilities in the communities to account for the transition to an all-singles program in Fall 2020. • DRL Staff adapted to constantly changing circumstances with grace and a deep commitment to the health and wellbeing of our students and staff.
Welcomed and supported a new Director, Vice-President, and President in their transitions to important Leadership positions at UMD.
• Continued coordination of efforts to support our community development strategy across departmental units, enhanced training for staff and creation of new documentation to support RAs in implementing community development strategies on their floor or unit. • Among the many successes of the student leadership organizations in residence halls, RHA and NRHH members attended the Central Atlantic Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls' annual regional leadership conference hosted at the University of Pittsburgh in November 2019. RHA and NRHH submitted awards bids for Commitment to Sustainability, Commitment to Service, and Student Award for Leadership Training. All of these bids were voted as the best in the region. • The Residence Hall Association (RHA) transitioned from in-person Senate meetings to virtual means after spring break for its final scheduled meetings, the election of the President and Vice-President positions, and selection of the Executive Board for 20-21, and the annual end of year celebration program. • The Resident Assistant training course, HESI 470, was converted to an asynchronous online course for the remainder of the semester following Spring Break. • As the result of the transition to virtual learning following Spring Break, the Math Success program converted to an online resource at the end of March 2020. Coaching sessions for the highest demand classes--Math 120, 136,
Provided important community development, programmatic and educational opportunities for residents.
140, 141, and 241--were conducted via ZOOM. For the year, the program documented 3,040 visits, which was a decrease from the previous year's total of 4,522. This drop was largely attributable to the transition to the online
• Continued staff and student development in the area
program for the remaining period of the spring semester.
of restorative practices that included two DRL Circle
Data demonstrated that students with undecided majors
Communities, optional circles at the DRL Student Staff Pre-
were the most frequent users of the program.
Service Inclusion Institute, training for RAs working with Substance Free floors and RAs in expanded pilot buildings. • Implementation of new Cannabis education efforts and policy changes in fall 2019 including a new poster series, expansion of new follow-up protocols, and inclusion of cannabis-related items on the Spring Research
Resident Life staff provided service to the Division of Student Affairs and the University of Maryland through service on more than 45 divisional and campus committees.
Project survey.
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Accomplishments in FY20 and early FY21
Conducted a successful Fall Opening in August 2019 • Welcomed 11,942 students to residence halls and Public-Private Partnership Communities. • More than 4,600 of those students participated in one of UMD’s highly-regarded Living-Learning Programs. • Fall 2019 began with more than 500 students on the housing waiting list. • As part of planning for Fall 2019, we converted double bedrooms in Carroll, Caroline, and Wicomico to singles. • DRL staff planned and executed a spectacular Fall Welcome Program that hosted more than 26,000 cumulative attendees. Programs included Welcome to the B1G Show, Late Night Terp Thing, Make it-Take it, RHA’s Block Party by the Pool, RecWellcome, Sunset Yoga, FreeFest, FreshCon, and many more.
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Collaborated with colleagues from across campus in the planning for construction of two new residence halls on North Campus. Responded to the 2020 Decennial Census on behalf of all UMD “Group Quarters� that included residence, University-owned Greek Houses, South Campus Commons and The Courtyards apartments For the first time, UMD was able to respond to the decennial census with a data upload that allowed our students to be counted in the largest number ever with most students not required to complete a census survey. It is estimated that each person counted represents about $18,000 of federal funding for the city of College Park over a ten-year period.
Created a DRL Handbook for professional staff that provides information and resources to support staff in their work in our department.
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ISSUES AND CHALLENGES As noted above, COVID-19 is at the center of the most difficult challenges and issues faced in Resident Life. Beyond the immediate crisis, the fiscal impacts of the public health crisis will have long-lasting impacts on our housing program. We are heartened by the knowledge that at some point in the future this crisis will end and the foundations of excellence that exist at UMD and in our department will aid in our recovery.
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COVID-19
safety procedures, responding to student and parent
Residence halls work, as much as any other endeavor
tracking clusters and outbreaks in the halls, planning for
on campus typically relies heavily on hands-on, in-per-
upcoming break periods, and working to provide all resi-
son activity. Students choose to live on campus for the
dence hall students with an experience that is both safe
once-in-a-lifetime experience of living and learning in an
and engaging.
immersive environment among their diverse peers. More than ever, we see that UMD students crave the oppor-
inquiries, supporting the Quarantine/Isolation Program,
Fiscal Challenges
tunity to live, study and learn in close proximity to each other. The transition to online education in March was
Directly tied to COVID-19, the fiscal challenges that our
abrupt, fraught with challenges and absolutely necessary.
housing program (Resident Life and Residential Facilities
Resident Life staff continued to do everything they could
combined) faces are immense. Spring 2020 refunds of
to support the success of our students and are continuing
more than $23 Million, Fall 2020 occupancy at slightly
to adapt on a daily basis to the twists and turns of a global
more than 40%, and a similar occupancy projection for
pandemic.
spring 2021 have created the most significant fiscal challenges in the history of UMD residence halls.
Zoom fatigue is real. Adapting to remote work was easier for some than for others. For all staff, learning new ways
Resident Life is a Human Resources driven organization
to interact and engage and accommodate each other was
with almost 90% of our expenses related to salaries,
and remains a difficult task. As with many challenges, it
wages, and benefits for full-time, graduate, and student
also represents new opportunities as we seek to harness
staff members.
what we’ve learned over the last seven months and combine that with more traditional ways of engagement to
It should be noted that as the pandemic began, Resident
imagine a new way of operating, post-COVID.
Life preemptively cut operating budgets across the
As the campus made decisions related to in-person
challenges of lost revenues. We have kept vacant lines
classes and services for fall semester, it was a challenge
open at the professional staff level while at the same
for our staff to find the balance between our desire to
time, transferring staff members to key COVID-related
help and support our students and our need for personal
positions on campus in support of Q/I Housing, Case
health and safety. Because residence hall work is such
Management, COVID-19 testing, The HEAL Line, and
a hands-on enterprise, we are still learning to discern
supervision of Student Ambassadors. We cut our student
between low-, medium-, and high-risk activities. Staff
staff roughly in half - from about 625 student employees
collaborated throughout the summer to implement a
to 325 student employees for Fall 2020.
gradual return-to-campus plan that addressed these issues as thoughtfully and carefully as possible. More work remains in this area.
department by 25% as a precursor to managing the fiscal
Facilities Issues Deferred maintenance, buildings nearing the end of their
Resident Life staff remain deeply involved in multiple
useful life, student demands for new-and-improved facil-
aspects of UMD’s efforts to conduct in in-person semes-
ities, and many buildings in need of a “refresh” are some
ter including the daily work that is done in the halls
of the facilities challenges that we face.
holding students accountable for abiding by health and
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Issues and Challenges
Mental Health Issues Even prior to COVID-19, Resident Life staff face daily challenges in responding to the mental health needs of our students. COVID-19 presents a new layer of challenges for our students to learn to cope with and our staff will need to be prepared to support them. All of this occurs in a context where our staff are learning to cope with the “triple pandemic� of COVID-19, Overt racism across the country, and the fiscal challenges accompanying the global pandemic.
Challenges for students living at South Campus Commons (SCC) and The Courtyards (CTY) The UMD P3 housing program has long been a valued partnership and asset to our campus both in terms of offering much-needed on-campus apartment housing for upper division students and financially through long-term ground rent revenues. In Spring 2020, MEDCO and COCM agreed to align with USM and UMD guidance; closing the apartments and allowing UMD students with leases at SCC and CTY to cancel leases, receive refunds, and move out in mid-March due to the emerging pandemic. While helpful to students and their families at that time, these actions left managers, owners, and investors with drained operational and capital reserves. Summer 2020 presented unique challenges for students with leases at SCC and CTY due to the pandemic. Although leasing and the management of those properties is not the responsibility or authority of the Department of Resident Life or the University as a whole, DRL and DSA staff dedicated significant time and resources to offering options, support, and assistance to students looking for re-leasing options, to on-site COCM staff, and to communicating to students, families, and other stakeholders who contacted the University with questions and concerns.
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GOALS FOR FY21 Adapt to the short-term and long-term realities of COVID-19 and a post-pandemic world. • Develop a plan for addressing our fiscal situation • Continue to provide the best possible housing experience for students who choose to live in our residence halls. • Protect the health and safety of staff and students • Begin to imagine how our operations might look different in the future when a vaccine or other medical treatments allow a return to more normal operations.
Revisit our Housing Strategic Plan and update strategies for achieving the goals of the plan despite the reduction in resources available to us. Reinvigorate our work within the department to provide every staff member with the opportunity to do their best work every day on behalf of our students and our mission. Act on recommendations in the internal and external reports of the Departmental Review Redouble our efforts to implement our Diversity and Inclusion Action Plan Continue with our implementation of the StarRez Information Management System and harness its power to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of our operations. Create a strategic plan for Resident Life’s educational efforts that enhances the residence hall experience and maximizes engagement during pandemic conditions.
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Director of
Valron
Exec. Administrative Assistant Janet Archer
Chief of Staff/Assistant to the Director Michael Glowacki
Associate Director Student & Staff Development Steve Petkas
Associate Director Administrative & Business Services Scott Young
Assistant Director Student & Staff Development Daniel Ostick
Assistant Director Housing Management Matt DiCicco
Manager for Staff Development & Services Meredith Carpenter
Manager for Assignments & Public Inquiry Glenn Smith
Program Management Specialist for Staff Development & Services Joelle Campbell
Assistant Manager Michelle McCubbin
Payroll Administrative Specialist Sylvia Thomas Coordinator for Staff Development & Services Kia Weeden Graduate Coordinator Brian Bock Manager for Student & Community Development Programs Damien Franze Coordinator for Academic Enrichment Programs Christa Casazza Coordinator for Recruitment & Outreach Dan Hairfield
Public Inquiry Coordinator Anthony Prosseda Public Inquiry Coordinators Linda Dye, Robert Bernhard Business Manager Margaret Holt Assistant Director Communications & Marketing Tracy Kiras Manager for Creative Services Ronald Molina Coordinator for Creative Services & Graphic Design Maria Gelfond Coordinator for Multimedia Design Gabriela Teran Aguilar
Assistant Coordinator for Student & Community Development Programs Stephanie Olson
Assistant Di South Campus C Genevieve Co
Residential Case Dana Calan
Community D South Campus C Ryan Mann
Resident Dir Edwin Aguilar, Ma Raymond Ward, Aver
Community D South Hill & Leo Chamika E
Resident Dir Karlena Walker, A Vacant, Tynesha
Community D North H Laura McC
Resident Dir Bria Jacks Vacant, ElBonit
Coordinato Sustainability P Lisa Alexan
Coordinator for Student Leadership Development Aaron Hood Director Research & Assessment Joann Prosser
Assistant Director Resident Student Conduct Keira H. Martone
Coordinato Administrative O Allison Pan
Research & Assessment Analyst Khris-Ann Small
Manager for Rights & Responsibilities Ray Nardella
Assistant Coord Administrative O Zak Mellen, Dau
Program Director Diversity & Inclusion Nicole Mehta
Assistant Coordinator for Rights & Responsibilities and Research & Assessment Madeline Reich
Coordinator for the Common Ground Multicultural Program Benjamin Beltran
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Graduate Coordinator for Rights & Responsibilities Vacant
SUMMER 2020
Resident Life
nica Scales
Updated on July 6
Senior Associate Director, University Housing Partnerships Dennis Passarella-George Associate Director Information Technology Dai-An Tran
Associate Director Communities Laura Tan
irector Communities onway
Assistant Director North Campus Communities Vacant
e Manager ndrino
Residential Case Manager Leslie Krafft
Director Commons ning
Community Director Cambridge Jack Breffle
rectors ary Breaker, ry McNaughton
Resident Directors Brittany Marxen, Tiffany R. Harris, Markell Saunders
Director onardtown Ellis
Community Director Denton Erin Schlegel
rectors Angie Major, McCullers
Resident Directors Chris Carter, Aspen Shackleford, Amanda Bogdan, Jordan Adams
Director Hill Culley
Community Director Ellicott Cory Hibbetts
rectors son, ta Elliott
Resident Directors Vacant, Katie Wilhelm, JorgĂŠ Almonte-Florimon
or for Programs nder
IT Manager for Network & User Support Linh Nguyen IT Coordinator Keith Smith Assistant Director for IT Enterprise Architecture Tom Lamp Systems Programmer Gidon Rosenthol
Assistant Director Housing Partnerships Tiffany Gaines-Ekwueme Manager for Housing Partnerships Jennifer Lindstrom Graduate Coordinator Taylor Wilds Program Management Specialist Jiema FortĂŠ
Program Management Specialist for Cambridge and Ellicott Carol Benedek
Assistant Director Community Administrative Operations Donna Metz
or for Operations nila
Coordinator for Administrative Operations Candace Daniels
dinator for Operations unece Cox
Assistant Coordinator for Administrative Operations Ashlyn Newton, Melissa McDaniel
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SECTION NAME
WHAT DO YOU MOST WANT VPSA COUNCIL TO KNOW ABOUT YOUR DEPARTMENT? THE NECESSARY AND APPROPRIATE RESPONSE TO COVID-19 HAS DIVERTED RESOURCES AND ENERGIES AWAY FROM SOME MISSION CRITICAL ACTIVITIES: • We are holding open at least 21 (and growing) vacant positions and that human resource deficit challenges our capacity to be responsive to the wide variety of student needs that our students express and exhibit.
• Our plans to re-assign resources within our budget to provide greater support to critical functions were interrupted due to the onset of the COVID Pandemic.
• Our Department continues to support the University and Division in a variety of ways including budget support in prosperous years and the reassignment of staff members to support COVID-19 related work despite the unprecedented fiscal crisis brought on by COVID-19.
• Resident Life can not fix the massive deficits associated with the pandemic and still fulfill our mission of serving students without the support of the campus as a whole.
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