Students present at national housing conference

Eight students and one faculty advisor attended the National Association of College and University Residence Hall (NACURH) annual conference, where Grand Valley students Brendan Miller and Michael Williams were among 350 presenters.

NACURH, which is the largest student-run organization in the world, organized the conference that hosts more than 2,500 students from the U.S., Canada, Mexico, Australia and Qatar each year. It was hosted by Western Illinois University May 27-30 with the goal to promote living on-campus as an integral part of the college experience.

Williams’ presentation, “Texting While Learning,” was rated one of the “Top 40” programs and focused on texting as a communication style and how it relates to new residents. He said his favorite part of the conference was presenting his program and introducing people from across the country to Grand Valley.  

“We go to this conference to bring back the ideas, stories, activities and programs we learned and implement them in our own residence halls,” said Williams, a public administration major and resident assistant for Ott Living Center. “Things I’m always interested in learning more about is how to make new residents comfortable and how to engage them based on their interests.”

Miller, a junior communications studies major and resident assistant for South Apartments, presented about ways to improve resident assistant meetings and how to make sure RAs get the most from meetings.

Miller said he enjoyed networking with students from all over the nation. “I even got to talk with some Grand Valley alumni who were past resident assistants and are now working in Residence Life in professional positions,” he said.
 
Grand Valley is hosting the statewide Michigan Organization of Residence Hall Associations (MORHA) conference on the Pew Grand Rapids Campus February 2012.