On June 1st, Coco Du, Associate Director of Residential Life, will start working as the Director of Residential Life. She will supervise the Residential Life staff, offer support to students, and oversee campus-wide initiatives such as sustainability in residence halls.

Du started working at Macalester in June 2012. She has been an Associate Director for two and a half years. However, with the upcoming departure of Director of Campus Life, Keith Edwards, the college rearranged staff positions to create this new role for Du.

The reason for this change was an effort to recognize the importance of the residential aspect of Macalester College.

“It is such a small school that living with other students becomes a critical part of the college experience,” Du said. “Students are required to live on campus for at least two years and we are trying to build a structure that improves the quality of students’ experiences.”

Edwards shared the same thought about the issue.

“It was Jim Hoppe’s idea that the title ‘Director of Residential Life’ better reflects the role,” Edwards said. He explained that the title of the position will change, but the role of the position would be similar to that of his current position, the Director of Campus Life. “I work closely with Coco, talking everyday about students, facilities, staffs, contacts, pretty much everything,” Edwards said.

As these responsibilities move to her hands, Du said she will “help the campus make the best decision,” focusing on students’ residential experiences. Du said her goal was “to preserve what [they] have done really well,” as well as to find out better ways to support the student needs. She said her focus as Director of Residential Life would be to meet the individual needs of every student.

“Juniors, seniors and first-years and sophomores all have different demands,” Du said. “As we continue to move forward, we [need to] constantly think about how we can adjust housing plans and meal plans to accommodate the students. Lining up institutional mission and student needs is always tricky, but we try to do our best.”

Du said the promotion is the biggest honor of her professional career. At the same time, she expressed gratitude for Residential Life team members.

“I could not have done anything without the collaborations that we do. From professional staffs to the RAs, all of them are the ones who keep the ResLife going,” Du said.