Welcome to the team - Tamarah Dixon!

SIU Residence Life has some great things going on, and we want to showcase some of our proud moments on our blog. We also hope people considering working in RA, graduate assistant, or full-time positions with our department will take a minute to learn more about the things we are doing. More information about our department, including position descriptions, application information, and graduate and full-time staff profiles can be found on our recruitment website.

This post was written by Tamarah Dixon. Tamarah moved here from Muncie, Indiana, and is one of the two Hall Directors in Neely Hall.

I have wound up at some truly wonderful places in life. Sometimes this means successfully navigating a GPS through the infamous Midwestern corn fields, and other times it means getting to take advantage of an opportunity that just feels right. In this case, I have had both! My time here at Carbondale has been short, but remarkably sweet, and I look forward to it growing all the sweeter as I get to be part of an extraordinary team of professionals and students here at SIU! I was immediately attracted to the motivated students I met when I interviewed on campus, the friendliness and genuineness of the Residence Life staff, and the intentionality of the whole campus community in creating a safe and exciting place for students. Since I have been here, I have found all of these things and more to be true! I have had the pleasure of experiencing this opportunity with a fabulous team of Residence Life-enthused individuals, with whom I get to interact every day. What more could a new professional ask for?!

Prior to coming to SIU, I was born and raised in Kansas City, Missouri, and attended the University of Central Missouri, where I received my Bachelor’s degree in Psychology. From there, I went on to Ball State University to receive my Master’s degree in Student Affairs Administration in Higher Education and even did a summer stint in South Korea, working at Incheon National University in the Office of International Affairs. I arrived at Carbondale, and have really enjoyed learning all there is to do. This summer, I participated in my first actual hike in the woods, which, I suppose is a must for anyone living so close to all of the gorgeous land surrounding campus. It was a pretty well-traveled “bunny slope” of a trail, but for us non-natured city folk whose experience with nature is limited to owning a house plant, I felt like Indiana Jones!


I also visited some of the local beaches, and of course, sampled food at some of the local eateries. I must say, Carbondale is host to some fabulous places to chow down. I am thoroughly smitten with Fujiyama’s, and Harbaugh's Café for brunch.

I can’t wait for the academic year to start. I have had such a wonderful first month!