Turco envisions live and learn dorms
When Dean of Residential Life Mary Turco thinks about the future of Dartmouth's residential life system, she envisions residence halls full of living, learning and socializing. These plans came one step closer to fruition this spring with the release of the Committee on the First-Year Experience's report, which incorporates many of her ideas. Her vision for the future of the College's residential system is based on the principle of greater continuity and stability in College housing. Turco said she would like to have many different kinds of people involved in the residential-life system, like alumni, graduate students and faculty. Having a faculty member live in or near each residential cluster would lead to more out-of-class interaction between students and faculty members, she said. Dean of the College Lee Pelton, chair of the Committee on the First-Year Experience, said there are many benefits of involving faculty in residential life "We have the opportunity to further sustain a community where students and faculty are interacting and having significant contact outside of the classroom," Pelton said. Committee member John Strayer '96 said, "many students fear that faculty members will serve as some sort of overseer or parental figure, but the truth is that their presence will give freshmen the opportunity to jump right in and develop the culture of faculty-student interaction." The committee recommended the creation of several all-freshman residential clusters, with faculty members living nearby and overseeing the intellectual and academic programming of the clusters. Two years ago, the College brought graduate student advisors to live in a handful of clusters.