By Phil Williams
phil@franklin.uga.edu
When Michelle Garfield speaks about the value of a residential college, she knows what she’s talking about. In her undergraduate days at Princeton, she lived in such a  setting--where learning and culture didn’t stop when you reached the door after class.
Garfield, now acting assistant dean in UGA’s Franklin College of Arts and Sciences, will bring her past forward when she becomes the first residential dean for the Franklin Residential College, which will open in revamped Rutherford Hall in the Myers complex on South Campus this fall.
The initiative, which was put together by Jim Day, director of housing, and Tom Dyer, vice president for instruction (with support from Arts and Sciences Dean Wyatt Anderson), will open new opportunities for 80 women and 69 men in the Franklin College. Combining on-site faculty and novel opportunities for learning and cultural growth, the FRC is already generating student interest.
“I’m really looking forward to it,” says Garfield, who will live in the complex. “My own undergraduate experience was in a residential college. This is a way to make this large university feel small. We have so many resources here, but it’s easy for students to feel  lost, so it helps students benefit from those resources when we put them together in a setting like this.”
The idea is retro, even if the technology isn’t. Faculty members and students lived and learned together at UGA for much of the 19th century. The idea behind it all, says Dyer, is that small communities provide the best environment for learning and for social growth.
“This is our first major attempt to bring faculty into the residence halls on a sustained and organized basis,” he says.
Chief among those faculty members are the Franklin Fellows, beginning scholars hired by the College of Arts and Sciences for one to three years to help them hone their teaching skills. Other prominent faculty from a wide variety of departments and majors will be involved as well, along with student affairs professionals, an adviser-in-residence and Garfield.
There may also be a common dining area in nearby Snelling Hall, for use of the FRC residents, says Dyer, although these plans are not yet settled.
The new residential college is only one initiative that is expanding the interaction between student learning and UGA residence halls. Faculty-in-residence Federica Goldoni, from Romance languages, lived in an apartment in Soule Hall for two years. Goldoni’s job was to bridge the gap between classroom and extracurricular activities, supplementing student development and achievement and helping students better understand the world of academe.
Goldoni’s position marked the beginning of far more elaborate plans being developed by University Housing and the Franklin College. Two wings of nearby Mary Lyndon Hall have been converted into language-intensive living units, with space for 18 male and female residents, supported by a graduate assistant and a language computer lab on each wing [see Columns, Nov. 6, 2000].
“We also now have academic assistance, advising and cultural programs in Brumby and Creswell halls and they will soon move into Russell as well,” says Dyer. “The benefits from all this are growing, and in some cases have been quite unexpected in a very productive way.”
In addition, the Franklin College Student Concert Series offered free entertainment in Reed and Brumby halls during fall semester, and the series continues in Brumby and Creswell this spring. The housing department has also started a pilot “VIP” (Visiting In-house Professional) program that brings established professionals from fields of interest to UGA students to the residence halls for several evenings.
Sophomores, juniors and seniors in the College of Arts and Sciences could apply for the residential college in February, and a final selection of applicants will be announced by March 26.
“We’re going to know the students, their majors and their interests,” says Garfield. “We have 12 ongoing programs--from concerts to lectures--the first year alone. So many students leave college with second thoughts, wishing they’d really gotten to know their professors, for instance. The new setting will help all these students realize their potential.”
Housing Director Jim Day agrees.
“The discussion, investigation and collaboration that has led to the establishment of the Franklin Residential College has been invigorating,” he says. “I have experienced a renewal, a strengthening of professional purpose, as student affairs staff, faculty and now students are coming together to develop a living-learning community of exceptional quality and value.” |
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