Andrew Hibel, HigherEdJobs: Ms. Grace, can you please describe your current role on campus and the path that led you to this position?
Krystal Grace, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: I am responsible for the conference operation and the student dining and residential programs building for University Housing. I started my conference career as a student working as a desk clerk for several summers and never left. After I graduated I worked as the coordinator for conferences and special events.
Andrew Hibel, HigherEdJobs: Mr. Parsons, what does your position entail and what was your professional route to this position?
Steve Parsons, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign: I have overall management and operational responsibility for Housing’s two graduate upper class residence halls on the campus. I have worked in housing at two other universities in various residence director, assistant area coordinator, and area coordinator roles before coming to UIUC. When UIUC combined the two graduate upper class halls into one system/unit, I became the first staff person to lead the area.
Hibel: Even though most students aren’t living in residence halls during the summer months, these buildings aren’t empty. They are often filled with camps and other events. What are some of the types of special events that UIUC houses in the summer months?
Grace: We house camps and conferences of varying ages and purposes on campus. We house sports and music campers as well as students attending academic-based camps sponsored by various departments and colleges on campus. We also house adult groups attending science symposiums and library workshops.
Hibel: How does UIUC recruit and select which types of organizations or events will be utilizing the residence halls or other campus buildings during summer months and who makes these decisions?
Grace: We serve a lot of internal UIUC groups. We utilize Unique Venues to advertise our services and we get a lot of business based on word of mouth recommendations from our university partners. Within the Big Ten we also refer business to one another when we are unable to accommodate a group or if they are looking for a change of location.
Hibel: How are these programs tied into regular campus life or programming?
Grace: Several groups are sponsored by colleges or campus departments such as Intercollegiate Athletics, School of Music, Architecture, and Graduate School for Library and Information Science to name a few. Campers and guests get to experience what living and eating in a residence hall is like. They use the same facilities that our residents use during the school year. Each camp or conference is responsible for their own programming. We offer suggestions such as swimming nights at Campus Recreation Center East or bowling and billiards at the Illini Union for evening programs. But ultimately we do not offer programming for conference guests.
Hibel: How does a resident director, who often has a nine-month appointment, utilize the summer months and turn their role on campus into a twelve-month position?
Parsons: For my area, I supervise a residence director (RD), who is a staff member of the Family and Graduate Housing unit. This RD basically operates during the summer as [if it were] a third semester of the school year. Since one of our residence halls houses all the students here for the summer term, the RD supervises the Summer RA staff and all summer programs, activities, events, etc. The summer includes for us, everything that would occur during the school year: weekly staff meetings, supervisory meetings, program planning and events, room safety inspections, a fire drill, weekly socials, etc.
Grace: Residential Life Directors (RDs) are given summer assignments that range from working with Conferences and Special Events to assisting in our Housing Information Office or serving on a panel for Summer Registration. RDs rank their preferences and assignments are given in March/April. These assignments give the RDs an opportunity to work in other areas of Housing while still allowing them to plan for their upcoming year.
Hibel: How is staffing organized for the summer conference services positions and events? Specifically, what percentage of the summer staff are residential life professionals during the academic year and what types of positions do they occupy in summer?
Grace: Besides myself there are two other full-time Conferences and Special Events staff members. We have a full-time coordinator and a full-time office support specialist. Though our work changes from the academic year to the summer, we work with conferences year-round.
Hibel: Housing options for family and graduate students on campus is different than a typical undergraduate. Does family and graduate housing utilization or capacity change in the summer and, if so, how?
Parsons: [At UIUC] Family and Graduate Housing consists of three different and varied apartment communities with full year leases that operate year-round. Our apartments never close, and lease assignments are on-going. We have two graduate upper-class residence halls as well. One hall operates all year long and never closes. We house our twelve month residents in this graduate upper-class residence hall and we utilize any empty spaces and rooms by using this same hall as our annual summer housing residence hall. It’s also a popular hall with different room options, so we are usually at full occupancy year-round. The second residence hall does not close during the holiday break periods. Students seeking a place to live that doesn’t close during breaks and holidays are housed there. During the summer, this second hall is turned over to Krystal’s group to use for conferences and camps.
Hibel: Once the camps and other extracurricular activities and organizations are done utilizing the residence halls and other housing resources for the summer, what is the process to prepare the residence halls for the incoming fall students and what staff members do this?
Grace: Our Facilities staff starts prepping for fall move in the day that students move out in May. All summer they work closely with our office to schedule deep cleaning and make any necessary repairs around our conference groups. We work with each complex’s Area Secretary/Housing Representative to inventory room keys and return room keys to them. There is a bit of a rush at the end of the summer as some buildings are open into mid-August. We are lucky to have such great staff that work together to make sure that everything is ready for our residents when they come to campus.
Hibel: What tips would you offer to someone who may be interested in working in residential life in the housing area and, specifically, conference services?
Grace: Customer service, sales, and staffing are big parts of working with conferences. We not only provide hotel-like services to our guests but we train students to provide these services in a professional manner. Our ultimate goal is to provide guests with such a great experience that they choose to attend the University of Illinois and live in our halls with us. Then they can experience a Living Learning Community, attend a program and learn something new, or try new foods in our Dining Halls.
Hibel: What different advice would you provide in regards to working in the summer months compared to the academic year?
Parsons: A staff member should use this time to develop and refine skills that they would not have the opportunity for during the regular school year such as working in the Housing assignments office, working with Conferences and Special Events, or with Housing’s apartments/family and graduate housing unit. If the time is used effectively, it provides a new, fresh, and sometimes different perspective on Housing operations.
Hibel: Our final question to both of you–what aspect of working in academia are you most passionate about and why?
Parsons: For me it’s working with our graduate and international students and welcoming them to our university and community. These students will be the future leaders of the world and are sometimes not given the attention and care that first year domestic students are given. Their time in our country will frame and develop their world perspective and views and will leave lasting and profound impressions, either for the positive or the negative. The individuals have much to offer and are worth our time and investment, just as much as first year students.
Grace: My favorite part of my job is the students I get to work with. I enjoy watching them grow as students and as employees. I especially enjoy hearing from them years down the line when they contact me to share something that they learned during their time with Conferences that helped them in their current job. I also enjoy meeting students who went to camp and stayed in one of our halls. It is especially rewarding to hear that they loved their camp so much that they knew they wanted to become a UIUC student. I try not to feel old when I discover that I worked a check-in at the camp they attended.