Across the country, universities such as Cornell, Princeton and West Virginia are looking to mix social and academic life by creating residential colleges.
At Fairfield, the Ignatian Residential College has been a successful experiment of living and learning and University President Fr. Jeffrey von Arx would like to expand the program throughout the campus, making it a "hallmark" of the University, according to his strategic plan.
This could mean faculty and students coexisting in dorms on campus in the future.
"What I have in mind is much more using the model of the Ignatian Residential College as a living/learning community which has been so successful for us here at Fairfield," von Arx told The Mirror in February.
"I want to see how we can extend this to more of our students," he said.
Combining academic activity with a community setting, where students and faculty interact in a way that creates a unique relationship, is the main purpose behind the residential colleges.
The Ignatian Residential College, located in Loyola Hall, uses a mentoring program that consists of faculty, alumni and friends of the University.
The mentors help the students living in Loyola grow academically, socially and spiritually.
Von Arx would like to bring the mentoring program to a new level through his strategic plan. In order to accommodate the expansion of the residential college program, more dorms would need to be built.
Ross Brann, a professor at Cornell, lives in the Cook House, the residential college at the University.
He has an apartment in the building and provides activities for students who live along with him in the building.
At West Virginia, a new residence hall opened last August that provides housing for 350 students and has a multimedia theater, a library and resident faculty members.
Loyola Hall at Fairfield is a similarly structured building, formed through a grant by the Lilly Foundation that allowed the University to create a large commons area with a television and areas for study.
Be the first to comment on this story