Residence Life and Housing made new leaps and bounds this move-in season. They faced an overwhelming number of requests for on-campus housing this fall.

“Students have been provided options in Gallucci until space becomes available in other halls. Some have chosen to commute from home until a permanent space is available,” says Melinda Grove, the associate director of Residence Life and Housing.

On Aug. 7, Grove sent an email informing student staff that the Board of Trustees had approved temporarily reopening and utilizing Gallucci Hall on an as-needed basis.

Grove asked that student staff keep the news out of social media until they had an opportunity to communicate with the affected students.

Since the news broke, Residence Life and Housing has been fervently working to staff Gallucci Hall with resident assistants and community assistants to assist the students with their transition to permanent spots in other halls on campus.

What started with 191 students being housed in Gallucci is now down to 58 awaiting permanent placement. When asked about student feedback, Grove said, “Actually, some students like Gallucci and wish they could stay longer.”

More in-depth feedback could potentially be obtained from those residents in temporary housing as well as across campus in the coming months using MAP-Works, a software package retention tool that the university community utilizes to assist with retention.

Between the third and sixth weeks of the semester, first-year students are asked to take a survey pertaining to their transition to college life.

Grove explains further, “Their responses provide critical information to those administrators that most directly work with students like residence life coordinators, academic advisers and a others to make sure students who are more at-risk of not being successful are connected to resources to help them.”

Grove’s findings from previous MAP-Works surveys show a direct correlation between academic success and students residing on campus. In short, students who live on campus are more likely than those who live off campus
to make progress toward
graduation.

“We [Residence Life and Housing] feel that one of the best ways to make the most
of ‘The Akron Experience’ is to live on campus. Students are more likely to make friends and connections,” explains Grove.

The statistics are the premise for Grove and her colleagues’ efforts to make room for the overflow of students, hoping to contribute to the success of students and raising graduation rates.