After a day filled with lecturing, attending meetings and chatting with students, some professors — just like students — go back to their residential neighborhoods and wind down in what they consider their homes.
Scattered throughout the Danieley, Colonnades, Global, Historic and Oaks Neighborhoods, professors have chosen to live among students, trading a traditional home for a five-minute commute to classes.
Each residential neighborhood has its own faculty director. According to Jennifer Zinchuk, assistant professor of English and faculty director for the Global Neighborhood, their job is to act as mentors for student leaders in each neighborhood.
“It kind of reminds students that, rather than having to go find me in the directory or write me an email, my job makes me be around all the time,” Zinchuk said. “So they get to know me not as a professor, but as a human being.”
Though it may seem strange living next to a professor, she and Terry Tomasek, associate professor of education, director of the Elon Academy and faculty directory for the Colonnades Neighborhood, believe living in residential neighborhoods has had a positive impact on them as professors and on students they have lived with.
“Seeing the students in my neighborhood and in my home, I feel like it is my job to welcome them and always talk to them,” Zinchuk said. “This made me more outgoing when I am outside of my classes.”
Rather than the typical student-professor relationship, a new level of respect is formed with students living near the faculty directors. These professors become neighbors — even friends — whom the students can refer to for constant life advice and help.
“The opportunity to live in a neighborhood with students allows me to expand that advising, mentoring and teaching role in ways that I cannot necessarily do in the classroom,” Tomasek said. “It is an opportunity to grow as a teacher and a mentor in working with students.”
Maintaining life at school
Almost two months have passed since classes began, and neither Zinchuk nor Tomasek have experienced any issues in their residential neighborhoods or felt uncomfortable living among students.
“I expected that I would hear people, and it’s probably quieter than any other apartment I have ever lived in,” Zinchuk said. “I’m never bothered, and so far, it’s been six weeks of the school year, so I’m sure that over time there will be problems. But the moment that I enter the apartment, I’m no longer in the university — I’m in my own little world.”
Tomasek was also surprised by the lack of noise coming from the students. Similarly, she originally expected it to be louder than it normally is.
Though she lives among college students, Zinchuk has a funished apartment as opposed to a dorm room or a suite. Photo by Diego Pineda, Photo Editor.
Despite the typical pod or suite found in Global and Colonnades, the professors live in a two bedroom apartment. Each is complete with two bedrooms, one bathroom, one kitchen and one living room, giving it an apartment feel.
The apartments are small, but Tomasek and Zinchuk have made it comfortable. Tomasek has added a piano and a harp in the living room and only needs one bedroom and transformed the second into a lounge
Though Zinchuk and Tomasek live on campus as professors, they still have roommates.
Tomasek lives with her husband in Colonnades. They have been married more for than 30 years and have a 28-year-old son.
Zinchuk lives in her apartment with her five-year-old son who spends most of his time running around Elon and plays with the children of other faculty directors or professors that live on campus.
Staying on campus
Tomasek wanted to apply for the faculty director position when she first heard about it. She believed that being close to students on a personal and physical level could allow her to expand her teaching and mentoring skills.
She talked to her husband and thought about it before deciding to commit.
Tomasek and her husband sold their house and got rid of a lot of material things they had kept for more than 30 years so that they could move into the much-smaller Harper Hall in Colonnades.
“We knew that it would be a big change for us, but we kind of jumped in with both feet,” Tomasek said. “In that respect, I hope that speaks to my commitment to this opportunity — the fact that we didn’t keep our house in case we didn’t want to be on campus. We don’t have any other place to go except Harper. This is the only home we have right now.”
Tomasek has invited the students that live with her in the building over for ice cream sundaes and a nice chat.
She also has “tea time” in Colonnades every Tuesday and Thursday afternoon. Students walking down the hall will see a big sign on the wall that reads “Tea Time,” with an arrow directing students to where the it’s being held.
“Those are really fun opportunities that I have to interact with the students, check in and see how they are doing,” Tomasek said.
Zinchuk has wanted to live at Elon since her first year at Elon. As a single mother, she felt that living on campus would allow her to create a greater sense of community and increase student-professor interactions.
“I knew that if I lived at the university, I would develop a community with the other faculty, staff and students, so that would kind of create a family,” Zinchuk said. “I would have students help with child-care, I would make friends and I would get to know Elon, Burlington, and North Carolina better.”
Zinchuk enjoys walking around campus and seeing the faces of the students that live in her hall. She has discovered the persona of each student beyond that of just a student in ENG 110, the class she teaches the most.
“I think that is really valuable to see that a professor is not a robot or this person that just grades,” Zinchuk said. “We’re real people that have real lives and interests and problems and goals, just like students do.”