Residential Synergy

Turning Academics into Education

Building and maintaining the physical environment to support a vibrant residential community is a planning priority at Susquehanna.

Committed to having 80 percent of students live on campus, the University values a living and learning community as one of the foundations of a Susquehanna education. Close contact with faculty in and outside of class, a thriving extracurricular program, and leadership opportunities in campus organizations all serve to elevate a rich academic environment into an even richer educational experience. "Learning at its best involves informal debate, encouragement and criticism, challenge and support," says University President Joel Cunningham. "Susquehanna's residential campus offers valuable social, emotional and educational resources."

The Research Proof
The evidence goes beyond supposition. Dean of Students Dorothy Anderson '62 shares the data from How College Affects Students, a 1991 volume by Ernest Pascarella and Patrick Terenzini summarizing 2,600 studies over 20 years of research. When compared with commuting students, students who live on campus are more likely to stay in college and graduate. Other studies have also linked living in a residence hall with an increase in esthetic, cultural and intellectual attitudes and values. More research points to an increase in altruism and support for civil liberties and racial integration.

There's also the anecdotal evidence of the benefits of lifelong friendships, adds Anderson. "There are alums out of here 20 years who come back and want to be together because they all lived in 600 University Avenue."

Members of Senior Friends Volunteer Project House meet in the Messerli Atrium of Seibert Hall to plan activities for a fall event.

Achievement, Leadership and Service
The living and learning community supports the Susquehanna mission: to educate capable undergraduate students for productive and reflective lives of achievement, leadership and service in a diverse and rapidly changing world. The residential environment offers students numerous opportunities for increased contact with faculty outside of class and the chance to develop unusually close, mentoring relationships. One example of the resulting achievements is the annual Senior Scholars' Day spotlighting student/faculty research, particularly in the sciences but increasingly across other disciplines. Outstanding students also go on to report significant results at regional or national scholarly meetings.

Participation in more than 100 co- and extra-curricular activities -- from varsity and intramural athletics, fraternities and sororities to academic clubs, music and theatre productions -- help students develop connections and leadership abilities. There are also numerous campus government opportunities including an active Student Government Association plus more specialized Chapel Council, Diversity Council, and the Susquehanna University Neighborhood SUN Council, which coordinates the University's award-winning Project House volunteer system.

Project House students live together based on participation in 14 approved volunteer projects including Senior Friends, Student Association for Cultural Awareness and Big Brothers, Big Sisters. More than two-thirds of Susquehanna students performed community service in 1998-99, including 300 who received academic credit in service learning courses.

Living and learning together on a residential campus promote numerous opportunities to develop lifelong friendship.

What Susquehanna Students Gain
"An important voyage that students take in college is a voyage of self-discovery," says Sarah Johnson '89, senior associate director of admissions. "A lot of what's really important in college is about finding out who you are and what your role is in the world at large. It's hard to do that in a vacuum."

"One of the best parts about my life on campus has been the diversity of my friends -- they are not all the same kind of person, they don't all come from the same place. They have different ideas and different majors," says Elizabeth Dollhopf '00. "Diversity, even on a small scale, really broadens your horizons. That's why I came to college. It's all part of the education."

A Richer, Deeper Learning Experience
The residential campus can also enhance the academic experience by encouraging interdisciplinary activities. The 1999 student musical, Kiss Me Kate, for example, prompted several English faculty to propose teaching Taming of the Shrew, the Shakespeare text that inspired the musical. "I think there's a real willingness on the part of faculty, staff and students here to make those connections," says Associate Professor of English Karen Mura.

Mura has experienced residence life from the inside out. She and her family made their home with students in West Hall for three years. Unlike some other schools where live-in faculty may take on responsibilities for operations, discipline and even maintenance, the role of Susquehanna faculty masters is "to assist with community, participate in programs and be available for conversation," stresses Dean of Students Anderson.

Laurence Roth currently lives in the University's new Jewish Studies House with his wife, Mary Bannon, a lecturer in communications. "My classroom style at UCLA was based on the premise that I was only going to see students at the appointed hour," he recalls. "Here at Susquehanna you can actually make the informal social interaction part of the learning experience, which I think makes it that much deeper and richer."

Jeanne Mielke '03, Scott Spector '03, and Cindy Schlier '03, left to right, are among the first-year students making their homes in newly expanded and refurbished Smith Hall.

Investment in Facilities

Building and maintaining the physical environment to support a residential community is a priority at Susquehanna. The University offers a choice of living experiences with eight residence halls, four townhouses, eight social fraternities and sororities, and ten smaller Project or theme houses. Susquehanna has made a sizable investment in the past five years to meet needs posed by a growing student body and the pressure to remain competitive in a market where residential amenities, such as more bathrooms, are increasingly expected.

The ongoing Susquehanna 2000 capital campaign has funded construction of Shobert Hall, Isaacs House and Roberts House, a townhouse and suite complex for 87 upper-class students that opened in 1995. A summer 1999, fond-funded project added a third floor and space for an additional 116 students to Smith Hall. In 1998 the University also extensively renovated and added rooms for 59 more students in North Hall, a women's-only residence.

Enhancing Recreational and Academic Space
Residence halls aren't the only facilities needed to support the residential community. to increase dining options and help relieve crowding in Evert Dining Hall, Susquehanna expanded and enhanced the Encore Cafe in the lower level of the Degenstein Campus Center last year. The facility now includes a bank of computers for e-mail and Internet access, and is also home to the University's Outdoor Recreation Center.

A new student lounge with cafe dining is also part of a planned $14 million expansion of University sports and recreational facilities. A Susquehanna 2000 campaign priority, the plan includes a fitness center, field house, a new football/track stadium, and baseball and practice fields. The project is designed to help students achieve a healthy balance in their lives by supporting a variety of activities contributing to an overall Susquehanna education. It also recognizes the importance that prospective students place on the quality of athletic and fitness facilities, programs and opportunities when choosing a college.

Academic facilities, including the University's new Business and Communications Building, which opened in August, also contribute to the residential environment. The digital-age, high-technology facility for the entire campus is designed to encourage student/faculty interaction with student lounges and team study rooms interspersed among faculty offices.

The building is one example of how a Susquehanna education can offer students the best of two worlds, says Academic Vice President Warren Funk. "We can take advantage of every one of the enhancements that come with the new technology, " he stresses. "But we also still continue to insist that direct face-to-face, human-being-to-human-being encounter is of inestimable value in achieving one's education."