Live-in staff and students have never, even under the most stifling corporatized conditions, "stopped" developing their intimate and personal lives. The act of living, both with oneself and with others, is the primary condition for the exploration of how to live a personal life. However, this article reflects on the many ways that the…

Every institution is different, so educators should explore the concept of spatial cues at their institutions. Without serious consideration of space, many students' needs (and desires) will remain unknown and unaddressed. More than any time before, campuses must develop strategies to better understand students' diverse experiences and…

There is likely no campus facility where students spend more time than a residence hall--not the student union, an academic building, or an athletic facility. Especially on a residential campus, where students may spend two, three, or more years living in residence, the potential impact of campus residential environments on student learning is…

Faculty-in-residence programs aim to strengthen the intellectual climate in residential facilities. This article presents the author's reflections on nine years of living in a residence hall as a Faculty-In-Residence (FIR) at the University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA). The author shares an insider's observations on the role he played as a…

As residential institutions summon greater resources and seek new strategies to encourage civic engagement, character building, and citizenship development among students, they too often overlook a potentially powerful asset. Residence halls, physically designed to provide students with direct access to personal differences and multiple occasions…

Practical inquiry combines the formal research techniques of formulating questions and conducting literature reviews with site-based data collection and use of findings to improve practice. The object of practical inquiry is to explain a situation. The ultimate goal is to learn how to improve or change the work. Merging research and assessment…

The variety of problems identified with undergraduate education at large research universities may best be summed up by a disquieting portrait provided by the Boyer Commission. In its 1998 report, called "Reinventing Undergraduate Education", the commission described thousands of undergraduates receiving instruction from novice teaching…