Ripon College Days

Residence Life is currently in the process of hiring three new hall directors, two to fill the positions that will be vacated by Scott Mundro and Julie Waldvogel, and one new.

According to Director of Residence Life Josh De War, the fourth hall director position is one that was eliminated during substantial budget cuts in 2000.

"The institution is finally at a position where it is able to rehire that fourth person, and is committed to providing ongoing quality residential services for students. Bringing a fourth hall director is one thing the college is able to do to make that happen at the next level," he says.

Historically the fourth hall director was housed in Tri-Dorms. However, De War says a current proposal may place a second hall director in the quads, where the student to hall director ratio is the highest and there are more conduct-related problems.

"Scott Mundro has the highest level of conduct concerns to address," says De War. "And so we're trying to balance that out so that one hall director isn't always the bad guy, having to do the majority of the conduct."

While college officials consider where to put the fourth hall director, the search is ongoing.

"So far we have a number of wonderful candidates who have come forward to be part of the application process," says De War.

They hope to get more applications at the Oshkosh Placement Exchange, a national residence life job placement conference in the beginning of March.

The new fourth hall director will also become director of a new office for multicultural and international student affairs.

"We're one of the few ACM schools that doesn't currently have a multicultural center or office on campus," says De War.

As director of this office, the individual would be responsible for conducting workshops, programming and special events on multicultural and diversity related topics.

They would also help coordinate new student receptions and mentoring programs for traditionally under-represented groups.

De War expects final hiring decisions for all three positions to be made by commencement.

As for Mundro and Waldvogel, both note it will be hard to say goodbye to Ripon.

"This being my first position after I graduated from college, I've really gotten to know a lot of people and it's going to be tough those last couple of weeks," says Mundro, who's seeking another hall director position, potentially at a school where he can pursue a graduate degree at the same time.

Waldvogel, who recently earned a master's in library science, says she is looking for a position in library science or another area of higher education.

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