Faculty and Staff Present Several Sessions at the 6th Annual Residential College Symposium

Elon University was well represented at this year’s Residential College Symposium, the annual conference of the Residential College Society whose mission is to “transform higher education by providing a learning network for faculty and student affairs educators to share knowledge, build community, and advance scholarship about the residential college experience.”

The sixth annual Residential College Symposium was held Nov. 7-9 at Baylor University in Waco, Texas. Elon has emerged as a leader among institutions with residential colleges and campuses and this was evident at this year’s symposium where Elon faculty and staff presented numerous sessions.

Shannon Lundeen, director of academic-residential partnerships and associate professor of philosophy, serves as the Residential College Society’s co-chair and noted that “the symposium has grown over the past several years to include a wide array of institutions and we are excited to see the program sessions become increasingly focused on evidence-based practices and emerging research in undergraduate residential learning.”

Program sessions featuring Elon faculty and staff included:

• “Residential College Faculty Roles,” a roundtable discussion facilitated by Shannon Lundeen
• “Creating Living-Learning Communities within a Residential College,” a panel presentation featuring Aliana Harrison (Associate Director of Residence Life for Residential Education and Community Development), Nicole Galante (Graduate Apprentice for Academic-Residential Partnerships) and Lundeen
• “Meaning-Making and Discovering Purpose: The Residential College LLC Model Deepens Learning and Supports a Self-Authored Life,” a roundtable discussion facilitated by Eleanor Finger (Assistant Vice President for Student Life, Dean of Campus Life and Assistant Professor)
• “Scaling Community: Working with Large Residential Learning Communities,” a panel presentation featuring Amanda Alberti (Community Director for Global Neighborhood) and Jennifer Eidum (Assistant Professor of English and Faculty Director for Global Neighborhood)
• “The Faculty Factor: What Faculty in Residential Learning Communities Need to Know,” a panel presentation featuring Eidum and Lara Lomicka Anderson (University of South Carolina)
• “Families in Residence: An Analysis of the Experiences of Faculty and Families Living on College Campuses,” a poster presentation by Eidum
• “Homemaking: Forging Partnerships and Creating Guidelines that Make Your Campus a Home for Live-on Faculty and Staff in your Residential College,” a poster presentation by Harrison, Galante and Shannon Lundeen

Elon has long been recognized as a leader in engaged and experiential learning, including learning that happens outside the traditional classroom. On Elon’s campus, this learning takes place in residential buildings, in dining halls, and on the field, among other places.

This is not by accident but rather by design. Elon has worked to integrate students’ residential, academic, and social experiences so that our students are living and learning in an intellectually challenging and socially supportive environment. Elon’s living-learning communities are a prime example of this and several of the presentations at this year’s Residential College Symposium highlighted different aspects of those communities.

Elon has been consistently recognized by U.S. News and World Report for its excellence in residential learning communities and, in 2019, Elon was ranked #1 among all universities in the country for its living-learning communities.  The Center for Engaged Learning just wrapped up its 2017-19 research seminar on “Residential Learning Communities as a High Impact Practice” and the multi-institutional research that began through that seminar is continuing.

For example, Eidum, along with Lara Lomicka Anderson from the University of South Carolina, is co-editing a volume under review at a publisher, which examines the impact of faculty involvement in residential learning communities and how universities can foster faculty members’ sustained engagement in those communities.

Lundeen and Associate Professor of Sport Management Cara Lucia, with Mimi Benjamin (Indiana University of Pennsylvania) and Jody Jessup-Anger (Marquette University), are co-editing a special issue of the journal Learning Communities Research and Practice that will showcase new research on residential learning communities.

This is an exciting time at Elon where the commitment to the residential campus has resulted in the university becoming a leader not only in practices related to fostering student engagement and learning in a residential setting, but also in fostering multi-institutional research and producing new scholarship in this field.

To learn more about Living and Learning at Elon and the many faculty and staff who are making Elon a leader among its peers, please visit the Living and Learning at Elon website.