i
Intellectual
Wednesday, April 23, 2014 • page 10
Faculty, engaged learning
Jonathan Black
Editor-in-Chief
For a majority of the residents in the
William R. Kenan Jr. Honors Pavilion,
there was nothing unusual about a fire
drill. As everyone began to leave the build
ing, two of its residents stayed behind.
Sameule Pardini, assistant professor of
Italian, was not worried about his class be
ing interrupted — he wasn’t teaching. He
was worried about the alarm waking his
seven-year-old son, Dante.
“There was this incredibly loud noise,
like there was an attack on the Pentagon
or something,” Pardini said. “Everybody
was running out of the building, and
Dante was sleeping. Thankfully, he was al
lowed to stay in bed.”
For the past three years, Pardini, his
wife Tara and their son have been living
in the Honors Pavilion. Pardini is one of a
handful of faculty members who live with
their families in residence halls across
campus as a part of the Residential Cam
pus Initiative.
The Residential Campus Initiative is a
multi-year initiative aimed at “reconnect
ing living on campus with the core values
of the university,” according to the Elon
University website. One of the main goals
of the initiative is to build enough housing
on campus for 75 percent of the student
body. Nearly $100 million will be invested
into the initiative for facilities, staffing and
programs.
“The purpose of it is to make the cam
pus a space where students are all always
learning and to make it intentional that
students recognize they are always learn
ing, not just in the classroom,” said Ali
sha Bowers, residence life fellow for the
Historic Neighborhood and Class of 2013
alumna. “When you have everyone living
together like that it immediately height
ens the intellectual climate.”
A part of that initiative is to have fac
ulty and staff living among students — a
goal that has already begun to come to fru
ition. Bowers, who lives in West with her
husband, is one of two residence fellows
Bravo moved into the Isabella Cannon Pavilion in the fall of 2013. She said she is rarely woken up by noise outside of her apartment.
CAROLINE OLNEY I Photo Editor
who live on campus, in addition to the as
sistant directors of residence life who live
in each of the seven neighborhoods.
“I think it’s a real neat connection to
have with students for them to be able to
interact with me when I go to the gym or
eat dinner,” she said. “We’re all living in
the same environment together, so I think
there’s something to be said for that.”
Vanessa Bravo, assistant professor of
communications and adviser to the In
ternational Fellows, currently lives in the
Isabella Cannon Pavilion with her hus
band, Mussa Idris, pre-doctoral fellow and
instructor of anthropology. Bravo began
living there in the fall.
“I was investing a lot of time at Elon,
going to many of the speakers, films and
concerts,” she said. “I was here a lot and
about to start advising the international
students. When the university offered this
opportunity to me I thought, ‘This would
allow me to be much more aware of what
is happening on campus.’”
Though Elon is just starting to increase
the number of faculty living on campus,
the concept isn’t new.
Outside the classroom
In the fall Bravo will be joining Amy
Allocco, assistant professor and Distin
guished Emerging Scholar in religious
studies, in the Global Neighborhood. Al
locco, who serves as faculty director for the
Global Neighborhood, previously lived in
the apartment where Bravo currently re
sides. Allocco’s job entails facilitating the
intellectual life of the Global Neighbor
hood, which currently houses 233 stu
dents.
“I’m thinking about overarching struc
ture and ways of learning the lines of aca
demic engagement outside of the class
room and developing students as global
citizens,” Allocco said.
Allocco is the first person to serve as
a faculty director in residence on campus.
The school will be hiring three more for
the Colonnades, Danieley and Historic