Gretchen's Role at Willard Residential College

Here are some photos of the dorm where I'm working. My (large!) office is inside. I love having the space here, though I'm not yet sure what exactly my job is. I'm assuming I'll figure that out as the quarter progresses. I'm working for Willard Residential College, built in 1938 as an all female dormitory. It was named after Frances Willard who founded the Northwestern Female College in 1871. Frances Willard was also the founder of the Women's Christian Temperance Union, a prohibitionist organization. In honor of her temperance values, Willard Hall used to throw a huge Frances Willard Party (hailed as one of the top ten college parties by Playboy Magazine in the late 80s). However, because of the rampant alcohol abuse (catch the irony?), the party was recently shut down. Part of my job might be helping the students get it going again.


To those who are asking me what a residential college is? Northwestern's residential college system was developed by University faculty in the early 1970s. In 1972 the residential college system was finally established, beginning with five colleges (now eleven). Willard is one of those original five, and one of two nonthematic residential colleges at Northwestern. Northwestern's residential college system was developed in response to a report by a faculty committee that urged the formation of smaller intellectual communities within the larger University community. The original purposes of the residential colleges were threefold: first, to extend the learning environment from the classroom to extracurricular life; second, to provide relatively small supportive communities in which the students would find something of a small-college atmosphere within the University; and third, to nurture better relations between faculty and students by establishing informal connections between student members and the colleges' Fellows. Generally, the goals of the residential colleges are to enrich the intellectual, cultural, and social lives of their students.
So what is my role in the Residential College?
All residential colleges have a designated graduate student, known as the Assistant Master. These are full-time graduate students who serve as resource persons and perform various organizational and administrative tasks under the direction of the Master (a senior faculty member). My tasks include: building relationships with students and faculty, working with the Master to ensure that Faculty Fellows are actively engaged in the life of the college, attending meetings, writing reports, participating in college events, interacting and dining regularly with students and faculty. I facilitate budgetary procedures and coordinate event details for the Master, as well as advise the Willard executive board in planning and executing academic and social programs. I also oversee the use of special equipment or facilities for the college (so far that means making sure the grand piano in the common room is tuned twice a year).
Hopefully I will get my digital camera soon, and I can take some more photos of my office and the Willard facilities. I think it's a lovely old building.