The many hats I wear.

Photo inset: LLC Hall Director Tim McCue "scolding" LLC resident Dr. G. for the recent increase in fire alarms, a topic of a future post!

Today a fellow faculty mentor on campus participating in the Faculty In Residence Education program asked me if I was "still living on campus doing the Hall Director thing". Since this is not the first time I have been asked if I was "like a hall director" I thought I should explain a little more about my role because it can be a bit confusing.

In my academic and residence life at NDSU I get a chance to wear many hats, most of which I really enjoy. My hat collection includes: geeky scientist researcher, energetic teacher, inspiring advisor, mentor, resident, and fire boss. One hat that definitely is not in my wardrobe is that of a hall director. Tim, the LLC Hall Director is like Superman. His role includes supervising staff, managing building maintenance and custodial concerns, and developing/implementing curriculum. He also oversees the student judicial processes, intervenes with students in crisis, and in general promotes a sense of community within our two buildings. Whew… I am tired just thinking about all of that.

It is true that I live on campus in a residence hall, BUT at the end of the day I do not have any more disciplinary responsibility than any other faculty or staff member on campus. In the Living and Learning Center I am first and foremost a resident, who happens to be a faculty member. Some may see me a just that, others may see me as role model, mentor, friend, problem solver, or believe it or not as a student (I still look pretty young). I do not have any type of appointment with NDSU Residence Life. In exchange for my participation as a faculty resident I am given a wonderful two-bedroom apartment to live in and I am given a couple of meals a week to eat with residents in the dining halls.

It is true that I have witnessed a few incidents on campus that required disciplinary action and the way I handled those situations was no different than any responsible citizen would have. When it involved the safety of other individuals I simply reminded the student that it was illegal to do that activity on campus. In another instance, I came across a student who appeared to be injured and required help so I called the campus police who took care of it. Being a faculty resident translates to being on campus many more hours than the average faculty member so the probability that I may witness an event that would require me to step up and do something is higher than the average faculty member. The nice thing is that I don't wear the type of hat that requires me to fill out copious amounts of paperwork documenting these events.

So Tim my friend, I want to reduce the piles of paperwork on your desk so I will continue to work with our residents and staff on reducing the number of Fire Alarms we have this year. Our 24 day streak of zero fire alarms was a blessing, but 5 alarms in 6 days is an awful trend.

I went to boot camp and I liked it!

A week and half ago we put on our first program for residents in the Living Learning Center. The program was similar to traditional opening residence hall programs, that is, a social welcome back BBQ. The difference is that the Living Learning Center RA’s, Hall Director, and I decided to take this program to the next level by adding an educational component. To achieve our objective we teamed with some very talented NDSU Animal Scientists to obtain local carnivore specialties from the NDSU meat shop operated by the meat science program and to educate LLC residents about agriculture, animal science, and food preparation. The educational program was a spin off of a wonderful NDSU extension program called the BBQ bootcamp (http://www.ndsu.edu/bbqbootcamp).

Our goals for this program were to provide a fun social event, support NDSU ‘local’ products, educate people about the art and science of food preparation, and provide opportunities for NDSU faculty members, staff, and students to interact. The menu included hamburgers, lamb bratwurst, veggie and fruit kabobs, Dr. G’s famous pickles, and assorted chips. The weather didn’t cooperate, however that didn’t thwart our ability to put on a successful program. With the assistance of the BBQ boot camp mega grill and a bit of instruction we were able to cook over 300 burgers, 11 lbs. of lamb bratwurst, and several hundred kabobs.

The program started with a short presentation by an NDSU Faculty member and several graduate students associated with the BBQ boot camp. They reminded us that everyone who eats is involved with agriculture and that food quality extends from the farm to the plate, something that many people don’t think about. They also informed us that the meat industry is the 3rd largest industry in the United States (behind automobiles and oil). From a food preparation standpoint they discussed the importance of searing meats and how that could be done without a grill and suggested that the best way to order pork chops in a restaurant is medium rare!

The program was very well attended by LLC residents and several faculty members/staff also attended (estimated attendance over the 1.5 hour program was around 225). What made this program successful was the fact that the entire LLC crew stepped up with different aspects of this program that included planning, advertising, shopping, pre-event food preparation, set-up, cooking the food, serving, and cleaning up. Everyone stepped up with ideas, time, and enthusiasm to get this done and to accomplish our objectives. It made me very proud to be part of this program and to work with the LLC crew and my colleagues from the College of Agriculture on this event.

PS-my pickles were a hit. I made two different types from my home grown organic cucumbers (I love to garden). Perhaps my next program will be about making pickles, part of a “chef on a shoestring series”.