by Gillian Friedlander

This year, not only has An­nie Neill moved from Upper South Crossley to Wallace, but her job title has changed. In­stead of being the house direc­tor of Wallace, Neill is now the dorm head. Throughout cam­pus, the job title of house di­rector has been eliminated and replaced by dorm head. Along with a change in title, some of the duties have changed.

This change was made this summer in order to bring the students and staff of NMH closer together. According to dean of students Nicole Hag­er, the goal of the change is that dorm heads are more in­volved with students outside of their dorms as teachers and coaches, and that teachers and coaches who are usually not in the dorm are more involved with students in the dorms.

In the past, there was one house director for each dorm. House directors were solely responsible for the students in their dorm and had to keep track of absence points, room inspections, house programs and so on. Students usually would go to their house direc­tors when they were in need of assistance.

Now, however, with the switch to dorm heads, there is still one dorm head in each dorm, but other dorm faculty members play larger roles. In total, there are forty-two in-dorm faculty members includ­ing the dorm heads.

Usually there is an in-dorm faculty member on each floor. For example, in Over­toun, Sue Borland is in charge of the entire dorm as dorm head, but living on every floor is an adult to whom students can go if they need help.

If parents call to ask about their children, they can call the faculty member on the floor. Now Borland can get to know everyone well, but so can the other faculty members in the dorm.

Hager’s goal in switching to dorm heads is that in four or five years connections between students and faculty members will have become deeper and more meaningful. She also hopes that having dorm heads and in-dorm faculty members work more closely together will bring the faculty closer to­gether.

The new job duties are a change for faculty members who have been house direc­tors in the past. According to Neill, the new job title splits the work more evenly among the dorm staff, so dorm heads have less work than they did as house directors.

However, in-dorm fac­ulty members who are not the dorm heads now have more work in-dorm because they are each required to do one extra night of duty.

Dorm heads report mixed feelings about these changes. Neill has not sensed a huge change in her duties. Even when other faculty members are on duty, Neill still walks around the dorm almost every night, checking in on students, saying hello and catching up.

Neill feels that this new arrangement is a good chance for the dorm staff to learn to communicate better with each other and learn to work bet­ter as a team. She said that the change in job is “great in uni­fying faculty in a residential manner.”

Kim Shearer, dorm head of Manchester and Hubbard has felt a shift in her job. She has had to step back in her duties. When a girl comes to Shearer for help, she must now direct that student to her advisor, in­stead of offering her immedi­ate assistance.

Shearer wants to be part of her students’ lives. She likes to be involved. “It’s important to know what’s going on all the time,” Shearer said. The new job title “doesn’t make me feel as involved.”