OGDEN HALL Staff Expectations 2013-2014

Your role as a Resident Assistant is to serve as a leader, an educator, and a role model to the students who live in your community while fostering an environment conducive to student learning, development, and success. With this role comes responsibility and therefore expectations. PERSONAL HEALTH Remember that you are a student first. Stay on top of class work, go to class, role model good study habits, and manage your time well from the start. If you need help, let me know! Take care of yourself. If you do not, not only will you be negatively affected, but our community will too. Know your limits! When you need to take time away, come speak with me. Negotiate a balance of time inside and outside the hall. PROFESSIONALISM Fulfill the responsibilities outlined in your job description and in your contract. If you have any questions about these documents, please let me know. As a Resident Assistant, you are a ROLE MODEL at all times on and off campus. You represent the Office of Residence Life (ORL), our staff, and Miami University. Please behave accordingly. Know all residence hall policies and procedures and be able to explain them to residents. Be fair and consistent when dealing with residents, and treat them all with respect. Follow all policies of the University. You will be held accountable for any policy violations. Support the decisions of ORL in front of residents. Deal with any issues you might have with the office in a professional manner and please address those issues through appropriate channels by beginning with me. Do not talk to any of the press about ORL issues as a staff member. You can provide comments as a private individual, but you must make it clear that you are not to be quoted as a staff member. When in doubt, simply avoid talking to the press to avoid any conflict of interest. I do not tolerate gossiping and other behaviors that are not conducive to a strong staff team. If you have a concern, bring it directly to the staff member that you are concerned with, or approach me for ways to manage these potential conflicts. Understand and adhere to the expectations you set for each other, knowing that I will abide by the expectations you set for me! If any parents contact you, please refer them to me via my office phone number (96270). o It is never necessary to give parents your room number or cell phone number. o Please also do not give my cell phone number to residents or their parents; they are welcome to have my office phone number.

If you are of age to drink and choose to do so, you must return to the halls able to respond to emergency situations without exception. Although we all connect with some residents and team members better than others, we need to be cognizant of our behaviors towards those with whom we connect. Do not play favorites because this can cause our communities to be non-inclusive and nonsupportive.

AVAILABILITY Be available to act as a resource, community builder, and friendly presence in the building remembering that our team is responsible for the wellbeing of this community. If you are going to be gone for the weekend, please notify me in person or via e-mail. Inform me at least 48 hours in advance. Being present and punctual is required at all hall openings, closings, staff meetings, staff training days, all closed weekends, and all meetings deemed appropriate by the office. Keep your room phone plugged in and the ringer on at all times. Please also have it set with an appropriate and professional voicemail message. Find a balance of available time that works for you and your residents. My expectation is that your RA office hours, your open door policy, or your walking around the building be formatted in a way that is best for you and your residents. COMMUNICATION Keep me informed about issues, situations, and good things from your community and the hall. Remember, ORL values celebration as well as educational moments. We will be living out both! Check your voicemail and email daily to ensure you are staying in touch. Reply to any email and voicemail in a timely fashion (24 hours) unless otherwise requested. CC me on all emails you send your residents or university departments you are working with on a program. Let me know if problems come up or if you make a mistake dont stress, it happens, but I need to know so we can work together to find a solution efficiently. Keep documented information on any resident whom you may have concerns about and communicate this information to me. It is always better to have a paper trail to record any problems so that we can keep an eye on the situation in a factual way. Weekly Reports must be submitted to me every Sunday night by midnight. This is a departmental expectation. STAFF RELATIONS Communicate openly and honestly with other staff members (see above). Be aware of and sensitive to the needs of your fellow staff members; you each have different needs and can support one another in different ways. If you have a concern with another staff member, confront that person directly. Do not let conflicts affect the rest of the staff it is your responsibility to address them. If you are having difficulty deciding how to approach a staff member, talk with me about ways to approach the situation.

Remember: we all have different backgrounds and opinions. Be open to new ideas, truly listen when others speak, and be respectful of others experiences. Please ask people questions and recognize their opinions. Realize that we all do not have to be best friends, but you are expected to treat everyone on staff with respect and support each other as members of the same team.

MEETINGS Staff meetings will take place each week. You are required to attend, and arrive on time without exception. Please do not schedule other meetings or obligations directly before or after meeting times. Please set aside 1.5 hours every week for this meeting and come prepared with questions, announcements, and materials to be successful in the meeting. Please remember that what is discussed at our weekly meetings is strictly confidential. If there is an issue that specifically relates to you and only you, please be courteous to bring it up with us after the meeting. We realize that everyone is busy and we do not want to have time taken up with issues that we can discuss one on one. If, however, you feel that our team would benefit from what you need to bring up, please do so during our meeting! Attend 1:1 meetings every other week with me. I anticipate these being one hour in length. Hold 1:1 meetings with each of your residents twice per semester. These meetings can be formal or informal, but must be documented using the One on One Record Form. Hold monthly corridor meetings and schedule these well in advance to promote attendance. DISCIPLINE As stated above: Know all residence hall and University policies. Be fair and consistent in policy violation confrontation. Confront policy violations when you encounter them. Call someone else if you feel that you cannot handle the situation on your own. Confront policy violations in an assertive and educational manner. Always ask for an ID from everyone in the room when responding to a violation. Follow-up with the resident within 48 hours to help regain rapport. (Know that the resident might come to you immediately after the incident, so be prepared.) All documentations should be written within two hours of the violation. A written account of the incident should only contain factual information and be written in the 3rd person. Submit the incident report on the ORL Resources for Current Staff by the following morning by 10:00 am. CONTACTING YOUR GRD In the case of an emergency, call MUPD (513-529-2222) first and then contact me: knock on my apartment door or call my cell phone. Anytime MUPD is called, you must call me as well. In the case of an emergency, please first call my cell phone, then try my office phone numberthat number will also ring in my apartment. I will most likely not use my apartment line (9-6270) much so feel free to call my cell (507-475-2278). At night, set aside contacting me with concerns and questions that are not urgent until the next day. You may also choose to send an e-mail. I trust your judgment.

If you cannot get a hold of me during an emergency, call the Adviser on Duty (AOD). The Adviser on Duty number is 513-330-2005. Utilize the AOD if you have an urgent question, if you are in doubt about how to handle a situation, or if you need assistance and I am unavailable. You must keep me in the loop regarding an incident in the halls. The best way to do this would be to resolve the situation with the help of the AOD and then send me an email (leave me a voice message on my cell phone if it is more severe) informing me of the situation; that way I can offer support without running into any surprises! If you are unsure about whether to call about something, go ahead and call. I, or the AOD, will let you know if its something that couldve been addressed in an e-mail.

DUTY Duty begins at 7:00 p.m. and ends at 7:00 a.m. the following morning. We share duty with Stelliot. At 7:00 p.m., you will go to each RAs room and other duty board areas and change the boards to reflect that you are on duty. Mail must be sorted by 7:30 p.m. in both Ogden and Stelliott. Please keep your door open while you are in your room and on duty; be available to the residents. When not in your room while on duty, write on your white board where you are and when residents can expect you to be back in your room. You will conduct three rounds Sunday-Thursday at 7:00pm, 9:00 pm, and 11:00pm and four rounds Friday-Saturday at 7:00pm, 9:00 pm, 11:00pm, and 1:00am. Please note: Quiet hours begin at 11:00 pm on weeknights and 1:00 am on weekends in Ogden. Expected Duty Responsibilities: check all doors, turn off lights and other appliances not in use, manage quiet hours, remove outdated posters, confront incidents, and, most importantly, interact with residents! You are responsible for letting the residents know who is on duty. Make sure that your name and extension is displayed outside each RAs room and in the main lobby to ensure that residents know who to contact that night with any concerns. Submit the Duty Log to Karl, Tessa, and the rest of the staff before the end of your shift (7:00 am). Please be detailed with your duty log in order to help other RAs know how to address their residents. If you need to switch duty days, you must email Karl and Tessa both with confirmation of the other staff taking duty shift. Do this as far in advance as possible. You are personally responsible for notifying the other staff members. All duty swaps must be cleared with Karl and Tessa first. PROGRAMMING AND COMMUNITY DEVELOPMENT Know your residents names and room numbers100%! This will make every interaction more comfortable and make meeting with them one on one that much more productive! Utilize the LLC learning objectives/goals as well as the First 8 Week Guide. Be intentional about involving other areas of the university when relevant. Utilize faculty/staff and other campus resources.

Bulletin boards should be related to programming and themes in your corridor as outlined by the Office of Residence Life. At the least, they should be changed by the 1st Monday of every month. If they happen to be vandalized or damaged, please clean them up promptly and notify me. Plan events based on the needs of your corridor and/or community. For ideas about how to assess these needs, feel invited to talk with me. Remember, when it comes to events, our residents can be our greatest resource. Also, dont forget to encourage them to help with planning and implementing programs throughout the year! Each RA is responsible for four programs per semester based on the residential curriculum and the needs of the LLCs. Two All-Hall programs should take place each semester done in pairs. One All-Hall passive program per semester planned by all staff. Lesson plans for each event are due one week prior to the event; program evaluations are due one week following the event. Support one anothers programs and encourage residents to attend. Remember, we are a team!

MISCELLANEOUS ITEMS Maintain confidentiality (when possible) in dealing with staff issues and student issues. You should not worry about breaking confidentiality if you are reporting UP the chain of command in the department. Although you are assigned to be over a certain corridor, residents, etc., please act in such a way that you are an RA over the entire community. Know what is going on for second year students: sign up for the second year list serve in order to stay in the loop. Ask questions! Utilize the Center and the Resources available to you, but please clean up after yourself when finished. HAVE FUN! This is your job, but it is a fun one. Enjoy it!