New ResLife Director aims for collaboration
When students arrive on Minnesota State’s campus, they want to feel like they have a space to call their own, while being in an environment that feels like home. The new Residential Life Director Anthony Bettendorf said he wants to make MSU feel like home for students.
Before arriving at MSU at the beginning of July, Bettendorf has spent over 20 years in higher education, including his role as Director for Residential Life at Gustavus Adolphus College, the Assistant and Area Director of Housing and Residential Life at the University of Iowa and a Residence Director at the University of Minnesota – Twin Cities.
After hearing about the open position, previously run by Cindy Janney, Bettendorf said he was “jazzed” about everything he saw upon his first visit.
“When I read the job description, I saw this would give me more opportunities to do not only things I already loved doing but to do things that I maybe hadn’t done as much before and to continue to grow professionally,” Bettendorf said.
For Bettendorf, it means working with students to help them have a successful college experience and working with supportive staff.
“There’s a tremendous team of people here who care a lot about the students and want to make their experience fantastic,” Bettendorf said. “I get up every morning excited to come to work.”
Some of Bettendorf’s responsibilities include overseeing the residence educators and residential facilities and working with the Residence Hall Association (RHA) and National Residence Hall Honorary (NRHH).
One of Bettendorf’s goals for this is to get a better handle on where Residential Life sits regarding campus and to collaborate with other departments and students.
“We’re starting to hear interests students have and hopefully the information we gather this fall will help,” Bettendorf said. “It’s important to have all of the voices and all of the stakeholders to be a part of planning.”
Feedback surveys have been sent out to students living in the dorms about changes they’d like to see happen. Bettendorf said he’s interested to see how students will react to the bathroom renovations on Crawford’s A and B halls. The renovations are turning community-style bathrooms into individual spaces with a toilet, shower and sink.
Bettendorf said while he was working at the University of Iowa they implemented a similar style of bathroom to their residence halls.
“I was excited to see those because it takes the gender out of the floors since bathrooms are separate. In Iowa, they gave us the possibility to do some different things with gender-neutral housing which is something we’ve added to our surveys to see how students would feel about that,” Bettendorf said.
Bettendorf mentioned the residence educators have helped make sure new students feel welcomed by the MSU community in the dorms.
“It’s also a lot of work done by community advisors through WoW events, the MavChats and the programs the hall directors put on to help build connections in the university,” Bettendorf said.
Despite having started work at MSU three months ago, Bettendorf said he’s impressed with the passion faculty and staff have to let student’s voices be heard.
“The student voice here has so much influence and sway here than I’ve seen at other institutions I’ve worked at,” Bettendorf said. “It makes it fun to work with the students on these projects.”
For those looking to get involved with Residential Life, students can reach out to their community advisors, hall directors or the RHA.
Caption: New Residential Lofe Director Anthony Bettendorf aims at creating a space for that feels like home for Minnesota State students(NATHANAEL TILAHUN/The Reporter).
Write to Emma.johnson.5@mnsu.edu