Welcome to the team - Justin Barker!

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.

Justin Barker wrote today's post. Justin is coming to us from North Carolina, and he will be one of the Hall Directors in Schneider Hall.

SIU Carbondale was never on my radar in the beginning stages of my job search process. I was looking to go to a big city, with a million people, with a ton of lights, and a ton of traffic. However, after receiving my recruitment email from the selection committee and having my first conversation with Tina I knew that Southern Illinois shouldn't be crossed off my list.

Fast forward to June 26th and I’m on the road from North Carolina to start my first year as a Hall Director at SIU Carbondale! We often have times in our lives where we have those “the stars have aligned” moments, and accepting the position as Hall Director was mine. The quaintness of the area, the college town feel, and the people made my decision even easier. 

My first month has been quite a whirlwind from training, to getting settled in, but it has been one of the best whirlwinds. The relationships I have formed with my colleagues has helped when the whirlwind has become too much. I’m ecstatic to be going on this journey with my fellow new Hall Directors and most certainly my co-HD, who has been nothing short of amazing since the time of my arrival. As we enter into another phase of training I’m thrilled to meet all the Grad Students, and RAs. I’m so pumped to open Schneider Hall and get this school year started. I’m ready to see what it truly means to be a Saluki! Here’s to the beginning of what I know will be a memorable first year!

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!

Welcome to the Team - Sara Holtzman!

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 Sara Holtzman. Sara is one of two Hall Directors in Mae Smith, and this will be her first year as a full-time staff member in Residence Life.

Wowza! Time has certainly flown by! I am thrilled to begin my journey as a full-time professional within Southern Illinois University Carbondale’s Residence Life team! I completed my grad work here and simply decided that I adored SIU Carbondale Housing’s commitment to inclusion, professionalism, and education a bit too much to say goodbye.

I was a bit nervous to begin my career here, but knowing that I would have the opportunity to build amazing mentorships and friends helped me to stay. A colleague of mine introduced me to the phrase, “there is nothing wrong with blossoming where you have been planted.” I cannot begin to explain just how thrilled I am to blossom here in the Mae Smith Nation at SIU Carbondale!

My arrival was smooth and ridiculously fun as I was welcomed into the full-time group. Days of training and nights of cook outs, movies, and plenty of conversation have been phenomenal. I am on a personal mission to grow some awesome plants, mainly basil and cilantro, continue working on my fitness at the Crossfit gym I joined, and hopefully volunteering on one of the local farms! I am wildly grateful for my counterparts and continue to look ahead most to doing what we love - serving students and having a blast.

Welcome to the team - Elina Savoie!

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 Elina Savoie. Elina is a new Hall Director this year, and will be working in West Campus.

Over the past few weeks, the Residence Life Senior Staff has been in Hall Director training and it was a great way to jump into being a member of the team!

After deciding Southern Illinois University was the place for me, my spring really picked up speed knowing my move to Carbondale would soon follow. I enjoyed my June off at my parents’ house and did a good amount of traveling before moving all of my belongings to Carbondale. I cannot put into words how welcoming the staff, students, and community have been to me even over the short few weeks I have been at SIU. I have gotten to participate in many community events so far, such as Sunset Concerts, a great 4th of July trip to St. Louis, Campus Lake, exploring shopping/campus, and the Campus Rec! I even bought a new bike to enjoy some more time outdoors.

Training went full speed from day 1 which has allowed me to not just sit and listen to how Residence Life at SIU operates, but to start providing my input. Learning with and from such a strong team has truly been the most exciting part for me and I cannot wait to see what this year holds! Stop into my office in Lentz to say hi and checkout my rubber duck collection (and ask to change them out)!

The First Few Weeks by Amber Woyak

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.

Today's blog post was written by Amber Woyak. Amber began working at SIU on July 1, 2013, and is one of two Hall Directors in Schneider Hall. Amber has two years full-time experience working as a Hall Director at Ferris State University in Michigan. She received her Master's degree from SIU Carbondale and her Bachelor's degree from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee.

For the past few weeks, SIU Residence Life Staff have been participating in Hall Director training.  As a new HD at SIU, it has been very exciting to meet the professional staff that I’ll be working with this coming year.  As a team, we have been fortunate to be able to spend the last few weeks together and continue planning for an excellent year.   I wanted to take this time to share a few of the exciting things we have been discussing for the coming year.

One part of training that was most exciting to me was the opportunity to travel to different departments on campus, such as AutomotiveTechnology & Aviation, University Honors Program, Mass Communication and Media Arts, College of Liberal Arts and School of Architecture.  As a team, we were able to meet with some of the Staff and Faculty members in these areas to learn more about their academic programs so we can serve as a better resource to our students.  We were able to tour their buildings and offices so we could see where our students are spending their time when they are not in our buildings.  It was extremely beneficial, as a new staff member to SIU, to participate in these tours and learn more about the academic side of campus.

Another exciting part of our training was taking a day to have a retreat at Touch of Nature.  During this time, we truly jumped into the details of the student organizations that our department advises or works with (RHA, Area Councils, NRHH, BTO, F/UAs, etc.)  Additionally, we were able to talk about the strengths and weaknesses of our programs and develop a tangible plan for the coming year with new initiatives.  I’m excited to see these come to fruition and be an active member of the change happening on campus. 

The last few weeks have been eye-opening to the changes happening on campus and in Residence Life. I’m lucky to be a part of such a great team and I am looking forward to the rest of training, opening and the academic year with the students!

My First Week by Travis Tucker

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.

Today's blog post was written by Travis T. Tucker. Travis began working at SIU on July 1, 2013, and is one of three Hall Directors in West Campus. Travis recently completed a Master's degree at Miami University, and his undergraduate work was done at the University of Akron.

My First Week

As I spent my Friday evening packing up my belongings in preparation for the move from my hometown of Cleveland, Ohio to Carbondale, I thought about the amazing journey that I was about to begin. And it was not just in relation to the 8.5 hour drive that I had in store the next day! Much of my last 6 months of grad school had been devoted to the much talked about job search; endless hours researching, prepping, and of course interviewing for positions. Throughout that time, I was looking for a place that would provide me the space I needed to grow and provide the day to day challenges that would make me a better practitioner. I also wanted a place that spoke to my passion areas of social justice and student development theory, as I see both to be crucial to my work with students. From my first interview with SIU at The PlacementExchange (TPE) and now through my first week on the job, I have seen these same values espoused in their professionals and so much more.  I am excited to work with a group of caring, compassionate, funny, and engaged co-workers. They have helped take many of those jitters that come with starting something new and have replaced them with the comfort that I made the right choice. Everyone that I have met, whether they are from our Residence Life staff, University Housing, or from the Carbondale community at large, has visible allegiance to SIU and their beloved Salukis. It is hard not to catch it yourself! As I move to my second week and beyond, I look forward to the rest of our time in training, but also meeting and building my relationships with my graduate student and RA staff. The sky is truly the limit and I look forward to a great future. Go Salukis!