Get to Know Your Residence Life Staff

By Kalli Kauffman (BA 27)

Welcome to your new dorm! As you start to unpack your things and move in, you’ll meet many new faces. Two of these important people are your Resident Life Director and Assistant Resident Director. This dynamic team is a vital part of your first year at Grace. 

So, what does a resident director do? Your RD is in charge of all things dorm-related. They manage dorm events, resolve safety and maintenance issues, and find solutions to any conflicts that may come up in your hall or room. Perhaps most of all, they ensure you have the support you need in this new living and learning environment.

We reached out to the residence and assistant residence directors at Grace to share with you some fun aspects of their personalities. Keep reading to start getting to know these extraordinary people!

Resident Director for Apartments and Perimeter Housing

Do you have any unique hobbies?
I like caring for my indoor plants and watching professional bull riding. 

If you were a food, what type of food would you be?
A really good burger—there’s nothing better. 

What are you most looking forward to this year?
Getting to know all the students is the most fun part of the job. 

What’s your favorite college memory?
I love a good Purdue football game. I used to go with all my friends and teammates. I’ll always talk about the time that Purdue beat Ohio State.

Assistant Resident Director of Apartments and Perimeter Housing

If you could travel anywhere, where would you go? Why? 
I would travel out west to all the national parks in Arizona and Utah. I love being in nature and outside.

What is your favorite aspect of Grace? 
The easy answer is the community. I found my lifelong best friends here during my undergrad. I was in one of their weddings this summer, and we stay in touch daily, if not every single week.

What was your unrealistic dream job?
In kindergarten, I wanted to be an airplane pilot. In junior high, I wanted to be a sports statistician who worked for ESPN, but neither of those worked out because I studied youth ministry.

What are your goals for this year? 
Goals for this year are mentoring and encouraging. I’m really excited about the opportunity to disciple the residents and students on campus, get to know them, and build community.

Resident Director of Beta Hall and Indiana Hall

What’s an embarrassing college moment?
I accidentally mistook a guy for a girl based on the name I was given for Secret Santa. 

Do you have any advice for graduating seniors?
A new chapter is starting. Never forget that we’re never done learning and growing, and don’t expect everything to fall in place exactly how you want it to right away.

Do you have any surprising interests?
I’m a huge fan of the sci-fi/fantasy genre: books, movies, TV shows, or video games.

Any secret talents?
I’m deceptively good at Connect 4.

Assistant Resident Director of Beta Hall and Indiana Hall

What was your childhood dream job?
I wanted to be an IndyCar driver! This summer, I got to work around that league for a bit. There’s a young driver who goes to my home church, and I was able to travel to some races and sell merchandise for him, including the Indy 500, which was a complete blast.

What inspired you to continue your time at Grace as part of our Res Life staff?
I loved Residence Life as an undergrad student, and I didn’t want to let go of that campus ministry quite yet! It’s a wonderful opportunity to grow in discipleship while still learning through community.

Any embarrassing college stories?
I’m sure there are many, but that’s hard to think of right now. I never once ate the stir fry from Alpha. However, I did get pizza from the Little Caesars dumpster at least a couple of times a semester.

What is one thing that no one knows about you?
Okay, that’s a fun one. One thing that very few people know is that I wrote down what I did every day during my college years in a note on my phone! College flies by, and I have a poor memory, but I didn’t want to forget the fun day-to-day stuff. So I have three years’ worth of daily memories to look at anytime on my phone.

Resident Director of Alpha Hall

What is one thing you wish you had known in college?
I grew up in Arizona, so when I came to Grace as a student, I was a long way from home. I think I felt like I had to be strong, so I never mentioned how much I missed home! Really, it’s ok to tell others that you miss home. Odds are, they feel the same way!

Do you have any weird childhood stories?
One year at Thanksgiving, I went off by myself to the backyard and ate some grass because I really wanted to know what it tasted like. Then it became a tradition and every year for about five years, I would sneak out at Thanksgiving to eat some grass.

What motivates you in this position?
I want to give students the best I can give! In the words of Leslie Knope, “Work hard at work worth doing!”

You have the evening at home, what do you pick to do?
This is random, but I love picking up cheap paintings from Goodwill and painting my own additions in the background. 

Assistant Resident Director of Alpha Hall 

What is a random fact about you?
I’m actually allergic to camels. I can’t go near them. When I was at the zoo as a kid, l went on one of those camel rides and broke out into hives. I had to go to the hospital. My poor grandparents were watching me! My parents were on vacation and were like, “I don’t know what to do.” I haven’t ridden one since!

What hobbies do you pursue in your free time?
I really like making coffee. I have an espresso machine at my house. I like water coloring and spending time with people. And reading. I like reading too.

Do you have any advice for incoming freshmen?
Be gracious with yourself. College can be really hard, especially the first couple of months. Just be gracious with the time it takes to build new relationships and community, as it can be a long process.

What are you most excited about in this position?
The people. I’m really excited to get to know the women of Alpha really well and all the events we have coming up. I’m excited for the community that’s going to be built, and to be a part of that is really cool.

Resident Director of Omega and The Lodge

What was the biggest adjustment coming from Florida?
My undergrad experience was at Cedarville, and the biggest adjustment was the weather. There was one time I missed almost a whole week of classes because I assumed they’d be canceled for the snow!

Do you have any nicknames?
I had a friend in college who I went to everything with. We became known as Big Papi and Little Papi. So some of my friends still call me little Papi, which has become Papito or Paps.  

Have you ever been pranked?
In college, someone swapped out my underwear with my roommate’s underwear. I noticed the following morning when I opened my top drawer and did not recognize the tighty whities. 

What’s a piece of advice for a new student?
Failure is a part of life. It’s what you do with the failure that matters.

Assistant Resident Director of Lodge and Omega 

Do you have any embarrassing college stories?
This is more of a recurring embarrassing story, but I still, for the life of me, cannot figure out Westy when I go over there. I get lost in Westy. Every. Single.Time. 

Do you like any unconventional food pairings? (We won’t judge you — we promise)
I am not sure how odd this is, but every time I have soup, I like to have pickles with it. Not pickles in the soup, but pickles as a side dish to the soup. Specifically, garlic dill. 

Do you have any advice for your freshman self?
I would tell my freshman self to 1.) Get some sleep. Rest is important, especially a semi-consistent sleep schedule, and 2.) Get to know the faculty/staff! I wish I had reached out to more professors, the Res Life staff, etc., and just gotten to know them. The faculty/staff at Grace truly care deeply about the students and have a wealth of knowledge/wisdom to share. 

What is one bizarre thing that you did as a child?
I watched an OBSCENE amount of Tom and Jerry as a child. Truly, I think I have seen every episode of Tom and Jerry that has been made pre-2010.

Resident Director for Westminster Hall and Commuters

If you could only listen to one album for the rest of your life, which would it be?
Ahh, so hard to pick! I love music and listen to so many genres. If I could only pick one, it would probably be the Rumors album by Fleetwood Mac.

What are you most looking forward to this year?
The opportunities to build relationships and have conversations with Grace students excites me the most! I get a front row seat to seeing the Lord work in incredible ways in the lives of students and also walk with them in some of the hardest moments. Getting to take part in that is a privilege and joy for me!

If you were a salad, what type of dressing would you have?
Probably a strawberry vinaigrette because it reminds me of summer and is my go-to when I make a salad. And now I’m craving a salad!

If you could only use a longboard or roller skates as your main method of transportation for the rest of your life, which would you choose and why? 
I can’t say I’m confident in longboarding or roller skating, but if I had to choose one, then it would probably be roller skating because it always looks fun and impressive when I see people doing it, haha! Plus, you can’t say you’re in a bad mood usually when you’re on skates.

Associate Dean, Student Affairs

What are your favorite parts of your job?
Students!!  Love interacting with students!!- they make the job so fun and so worthwhile! I love seeing them grow and mature over their time as a college student and hearing what God is teaching them. Getting to step into such a transformative time in their lives is so special and is such a blessing!

If you were in the Olympics, what sport would you participate in? (Skills not required.)
Definitely swimming. Love to swim!  Especially freestyle and breaststroke.

If your life was made into a movie, who would you want to play you?
This was a hard one. Not sure. Maybe Rose Reid? 

What motivates you in your career? 
Students and my staff motivate me in my career. Ultimately, being a Christ-follower, I’m motivated to be a hard worker. “Whatever you do, work at it with all your heart, as working for the Lord, not for men” (Col. 3:23). The aspect that I’m working for the Lord is a huge motivator. 

Your resident directors are excited to welcome you to campus and get to know you better. You can reach out to them through email, conversations on campus, or their dorm social media pages. They would love to hear from you! 

Get to know more about residence life at Grace.