Living on campus for at least part of a student's time in college is a longstanding tradition. Ask any WVU graduate about his or her experience, and you will probably hear a description of dorm food, faulty alarm clocks, and the dreaded "freshman fifteen" weight gain. Many alumni can describe in great detail a roommate who snored, borrowed clothes without asking, or had some other surprising habit. You might remember a roommate's musical taste that favored someone you couldn't stand (fill in the blank: Led Zeppelin/Bee Gees/John Denver/KISS/Michael Jackson/Van Halen/GarthBrooks/Madonna/ Eminem/ Britney Spears).

Of course, many memories are about less contentious subjects, and include the discovery of true friends. There's something about facing 8:00 a.m. classes, surviving all-night study sessions, and uncovering the endless possibilities of the future together that result in lifelong ties. While current WVU students still learn all of the things you learn by living with others in a close setting—sharing, compromise, respect—the University has created a residence hall experience that is about more than just renting a room.

Establishing a welcoming, safe, and supportive home on campus for thousands of students every year is a responsibility West Virginia University takes seriously. When you consider the logistics involved in housing, feeding, and maintaining the safety of 5,142 freshmen and returning students, it becomes apparent just how huge this responsibility is. Combining the personal attention and service that each student deserves with record enrollment numbers, and an occupancy rate of 140 percent, results in an immense challenge.

Why Live on Campus? Colleges and universities have believed for many years that incoming students need a transition stage between living at home and living on their own. Residence halls are a place where freshmen can learn independence while still being guided by a safety net of support services. Studies show that students who live in residence halls get better grades and have a better overall experience.

WVU knows that a true education involves more than academics, and is concerned about all aspects of student life. Helping to create a more home-like environment in the residence halls was one of the objectives of Operation Jump-Start, which is a unique series of student-centered programs. We have successfully turned our residence halls into neighborhoods that revolve around the needs of their residents, which has resulted in over 900 sophomores, juniors, and seniors choosing to remain after their freshman year.

Where Do We Put Them All? WVU currently owns or leases 15 residence halls: eight on the downtown campus and seven on Evansdale. In addition to the halls you might have lived in (Arnold Hall and Apartments, Boreman North and South, Dadisman, Stalnaker, and the Evansdale Residential Complex, or Towers), a new facility, Fieldcrest Hall, has been leased with the option to purchase.

Formerly a retirement home, Fieldcrest is located next to the Health Sciences Center and is within easy walking distance of Mountaineer Field and the Evansdale Residential Complex (ERC). Several other facilities are leased on an as-needed basis, including Summit Hall, which is only one block from the new Life Sciences Building downtown, and Pierpont Apartments, which is close to the ERC. Students who live in the leased sites benefit from the same support programs as residents of WVU's owned facilities.

While some of WVU's halls have housed thousands of students over many decades, the amenities are keeping up with the twenty-first century. All University-owned halls offer basic cable TV, Ethernet connections to the Internet, and convenient laundry rooms. Leased sites Summit Suites and Pierpont Apartments just added broadband Internet connections to their rooms. Stalnaker, Arnold, Brooke, and Boreman halls have Centers for Academic Resources and Education, where tutors can help with most freshman courses. Several sites have computer centers, including a newly expanded, 50-machine lab in Bennett Tower that features a wall-sized projection screen and software such as Adobe Illustrator, Photoshop, QuarkXpress, and AutoCAD.

Applying early gives students the widest array of options. Students can choose to live in a coed or all-female hall, request to room with someone they know, and pick either downtown locations that are close to classes or the convenience of the ERC's location right beside the new Student Recreation Center. To help introduce new roommates to each other, admitted students can find out easily who their roommate is by checking on the MIX, WVU's student Web platform.

What's for Dinner? And Lunch, and Breakfast . . . If you think that cooking a holiday meal for your in-laws is tough, try pleasing the palates of thousands of teenagers, each with their own particular likes and dislikes. While it's impossible to please everybody, WVU's Dining Services certainly tries. A variety of convenient and flexible meal plan options to fit any schedule or appetite are offered, and students can eat at any one of the twelve Dining Services locations. The Café Evansdale in the ERC is now open all day, so students can eat anytime.

Diners can partake of salad bars, fresh fruit bars, pizza stations, omelets made to order, daily waffle bars, garden burgers, carving stations with roast beef, chicken wing bars, slushies, deli bars, tofu stroganoff, and much more. Students with special dietary needs due to religious or health concerns can contact the staff dietician to accommodate their food requirements. The goal is to present a dining experience that is nutritious, flavorful, and fun.

One of the newest (and perhaps bravest) choices is sushi. Over the summer 2003 break, Dining Services staff attended a course to learn the intricacies of preparing California rolls, shitake maki, futomaki, dragon rolls, and rainbow rolls. John Birchman, food services manager, said "We're hoping to not only increase our menu items but to provide students with the opportunity to try food they've not tasted before."

Last fall, Dining Services held a contest inviting parents to submit their student's favorite recipe. Taking into consideration cost and the ability to translate a recipe into feeding thousands instead of four or six, the winning dishes will be added to the menu. To take the guesswork out of knowing what's for dinner, weekly menus are posted online (www.sa.wvu.edu/wvudining/locations/arnold.shtml).

Built-in Mentors Because new students need nurturing as well as nourishment, one of the first Operation Jump-Start initiatives President David C. Hardesty Jr. implemented was the creation of Resident Faculty Leader (RFL) positions. These are faculty members selected to live next to the halls. They serve as student advocates, mentors, and friends, and host a variety of activities throughout the year. All halls, both owned and leased, are assigned at least one RFL (most have a married couple). In addition to the RFLs, each hall floor has a resident assistant (an experienced upperclassman) and a professional hall coordinator.

David Stewart, who also is WVU's Dean of Students, has served as an RFL (along with his wife Shawna) since 1996. He describes their duties as "We help students become adjusted to college and make that transition from high school to college life. In order to do that, we provide them lots of activities and events and programs outside of the classroom, whether it be trips to a major city like New York or Washington, DC, or trips to the opera, symphony, and ballet up in Pittsburgh."

Creating a sense of belonging, and perhaps easing those early feelings of homesickness, RFLs make a special effort to get to know every student, and go to great lengths to help with any problems. President Hardesty describes the Resident Faculty Leaders as a "vital link between social and academic aspects of WVU life."

Freshman Interest Groups
How would you like to travel to the Mexican Pacific coast to go whale watching, tour Italy after studying Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci, or participate in a theater trip to London for college credit? These are a few of the activities of various Freshmen Interest Groups, which are arranged around a particular major or special enthusiasm. Each residence hall hosts its own Group, which means students can live with others who share their interests, making it easier to meet new friends and find study partners.

Whether someone is curious about human resources and education, the arts and humanities, business and economics, creative and performing arts, engineering and computer science, politics and legal studies, the health professions, or agriculture, forestry, and consumer sciences, there is an applicable Freshman Interest Group.

"Home Is Where One Starts From"
This quote from T.S. Eliot reflects WVU's approach to on-campus living. While a roommate's good musical taste remains a subjective topic, and 8:00 a.m. classes are still a somewhat harsh reality, by creating a unique, supportive, and safe residence hall experience, WVU provides a home where students can begin successful college careers that are the starting point for exceptional lives.

 Spring 2004 Contents

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