OSL making changes to reach more students

Written by Samantha Burgess, managing editor

The Office of Student Life is in the process of moving staff to new positions in the attempt to reach more students.

Tim Shetter, starting next semester, is expanding his role as Assistant Dean of Student Life to include intramurals, the commuter program and campus events. Nick Pacurari will take over Shetter’s role as Resident Director of the townhouses. Shetter will aid Pacurari as he also takes on the role of Director of Resident Life and Student Engagement.

Shetter explained that his new role will allow him to be interactive with a variety of student groups, such as commuters, who have less of a voice at Bryan. The biggest challenge for Shetter will be working with the commuters.

“To be honest, as someone who lived on campus during my time at college, I don’t really know much about the commuter aspect of campus life,” said Shetter. “But I want to learn more about why people choose to commute and how I can better meet their needs.”

Part of the process for Shetter includes reaching out to the various student groups and hearing what they have to say. “I hope to work with SGA to be more intentional in planning events for everyone,” said Shetter. “Allowing students to form more clubs will be a part of the inclusion process as well.”

Current Resident Directors Rachel Dee and Matt Williams will be leaving their positions at the end of the semester, while Jenny Swafford will remain as the RD of Robinson. With the loss of the RD’s, Pacurari has hired two new RDs, Stephen Ricketts and Kasey DeMichael. He is interviewing for the final male RD position.

“I still want to uphold the core of resident life at Bryan, which includes connecting with and discipling students,” said Pacurari. “ But, I’m excited to have a new team to work with who can bring refreshing ideas to the table about what things we can improve on.”

With the new vision for resident life, Pacurari plans for RDs to return to campus July 15 instead of August 1 as they did previously. “My hope is that instead of leaving RDs to scramble into their new roles a couple days before the semester, we can give them time to learn more about what their responsibilities will entail,” said Pacurari.

Pacurari explained that the focus will be on forming relationships between students and RDs as well as creating opportunities for events that are geared towards discipleship and spiritual well-being. “One of the initiatives that I’m working on in partnership with Jack Saunders and my wife Rachel [the campus counselor] is a mental health initiative,” said Pacurari. “It will be an ongoing initiative to help promote emotional wellbeing for students.”

In transitioning to his role as RD of the townhouses, Pacurari plans on creating weekly newsletters to encourage townhouse residents to participate in townhouse events. Some of these events will include “adulting classes” that teach residents skills from cooking to finance.

Pacurari and Shetter hope that the changes happening within OSL will help shape Bryan  students’ college experience in a positive light.

Samantha Burgess is a junior majoring in communication with an emphasis in digital media and is managing editor for the Triangle. Her interests in writing include profiles and feature articles. Burgess can often be found curled up with a good book, writing, listening to music or watching TV.