Residence Director
The University of Nebraska-Lincoln campus employs 15 Residence Directors (RD). Each is the primary Residence Life staff member for his/her residence hall within the complex. The Residence Director is expected to implement a student development approach in all aspects of the position. In each complex there is an Assistant Director of Residence Life who provides the overall leadership, management, and supervisory function for the Residence Life staff team. The Residence Director competencies and responsibilities are listed below. Click on each competency heading for a more detailed description.
Leadership
- Select, train, and supervise and student staff members
- Provide formal and informal evaluation and feedback to student staff regarding performance and expectations
- Provide appropriate resources to staff to create an environment conducive to learning and growth
Developmental Programming
- Assist student staff in programming efforts
- Create and maintain a developmental environment
- Support academic mission of the institution
- Coordinate programming for special interest floors and learning communities
- Assess program outcomes
Counseling/Advising
- Establish meaningful relationships with residents
- Act as a resource and referral agent
- Adjudicate cased of alleged student misconduct in the residence halls
- Advise student government for assigned hall
- Instruct and train student staff on listening skills, referrals and student conduct
Emergency Preparedness
- Share on-call duty with other professional staff within the complex
- Provide student staff with thorough emergency response training
- Assist agencies such as University Police, Fire Department, Health center, etc. in the case of an emergency
Budgeting
- Maintain accurate accounts of spending in the hall
- Know appropriate University and Housing policies on budgetary spending
Communication
- Keep the Assistant Director of Residence Life informed of significant occurrences and trends in assigned hall
- Facilitate weekly staff meetings and give clear instruction and motivation to student staff
- Communicate issues or concerns with Dining Services and Facilities
- Present ideas, concerns and issues to other RDs and ADRLs
Learning Communities
- Supervise peer mentors for learning communities in assigned hall
- Work with faculty and learning communities coordinator to develop an educational curriculum for the learning community
Administrative Skills
- Assist the Residence Life Services Supervisor (RLSS) in completing weekly and monthly occupancy reports
- Coordinate hall openings and closings
- Facilitate room and contract changes
Collateral Duties
- Facilitate Resident Assistant/Community Resident Assistant classes (must have attained a Masters degree to fulfill this duty)
- Participate in student staff selection and training
- Advise housing student groups such as the Residence Hall Association (RHA) or the National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH)
- Participate actively in residence life committees such as the Diversity Action Network Group, Student and Professional Staff Recruitment, or Staff Recognition
