A community for “living and learning”
By Adrienne Frank
(From American Weekly, Oct. 2, 2006)

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SOC professor Joseph Campbell in his office in McDowell Hall.

W. Joseph Campbell has gleaned a similar perspective from his office on the first floor of McDowell Hall. The SOC and University College professor has been a faculty in office resident for three years. SIS’s Patrick Jackson moved his office into Leonard Hall last spring.

“Some days I will arrive very early in the morning, and students will be hard at work on the computers,” says Campbell of the small lab, located around the corner from his office. “In that regard, it’s been a very enriching experience, because I’ve gained new insights into student life.”

And while Campbell doesn’t spend his nights in the dorm, he still considers himself a deeply committed member of the McDowell community. Along with Eric Ratner, resident director for McDowell and Hughes Halls, Campbell has developed several popular programs, including the Finest Faculty series, which brings professors into the dorms to chat with students over pizza and cookies. In addition to Finest Faculty, which is presented in conjunction with the Kennedy Political Union, Campbell also organized Dialogue with Dorms in spring 2005.

“Faculty have the opportunity to informally meet with students—which, of course, is the objective of my presence here—and it’s just been wonderful,” says Campbell.

When he’s not meeting with students—Campbell holds two classes in his McDowell office—he likes to wander the building and chat up his neighbors. On a recent tour, he bumps into a student from his University College seminar on his way to the laundry room. Campbell wishes him luck, both with a class project and his wash.

“See ya, Professor Campbell,” the student says cheerfully, as he ducks into the laundry room.

Back at Anderson, Richardson says he views living in the dorms as an opportunity to recreate his own undergraduate experience at Dartmouth College. “There was quite a lot of dialogue between faculty and students out of the classroom, and a real sense that academics and campus life are interconnected,” he says.

“That’s why I’m here,” Richardson continues. “I see American University as a community—a community of learning and of living.”

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