Most Saint Mary's students who live on campus will have new hall directors this year, as four of the five residence halls welcome new leaders.
Leslie Robinson, Kady Shea and Terrie Paul have all recently joined the Saint Mary's community. Shea is the director for both McCandless hall and Opus Hall.
Robinson, the new hall director for LeMans Hall is a recent graduate of Ohio State University. Though she had never heard of Saint Mary's before applying for the hall director position, she was looking for a small college where she could work, she said. Then she did a little online research.
"It looked like a beautiful place based on the Web site," Robinson said.
She called assuming her post in LeMans, the largest dorm on campus, a "mix of emotions."
Now that students are starting to show up on campus, Robinson is getting a feel for the student body and the students she will be in charge of during the year.
"I think it's wonderful," she said. "It has a very unique student body that is so spiritually connected to the [college]. It's very awe-inspiring," she said.
Shea comes to Saint Mary's from Simmons College in Boston, another all-women's institution.
She found Saint Mary's during an online search, she said.
"I literally went online, went to every women's college Web site and looked up jobs in higher education," she said.
She chose Saint Mary's because she wanted to be at a school like her alma mater, and "a lot of the characteristics of Saint Mary's were similar," she said.
When she first arrived on campus, there were no students moved in and she couldn't wait for them to start arriving, she said.
She added that she is especially proud of the staff of "McOpus," her eight McCandless Resident Advisors, and the 2 Opus RAs.
"McCandless has the best RA staff on campus," she said.
With the first-year students moving in, Shea is eager to start the year. "It's a little overwhelming, but I'm excited to kick things into gear and to try and get to know everyone," she said.
Holy Cross Hall's new hall director, Terrie Paul, comes to Saint Mary's after graduating from Syracuse University and traveling "extensively," she said.
Prior to arriving at Saint Mary's, she taught English in Spain, then China and traveled around Europe, she said.
While she is working to help the residents of Holy Cross, she is also working towards a graduate degree from Michigan State University
Paul found Saint Mary's after doing a "nation-wide search," she said. She described Saint Mary's as "one place that felt very comfortable," and as a place where she would be able to contribute to, she said.
