Welcome
Welcome to the Home Page for the Office of Housing and Residence Life at Valdosta State University. I am pleased to have you visiting with us today and hope you find the information provided helpful.. The Office of Housing and Residence Life is supervised financially by the Department of Auxiliary Services and administratively by the Division of Student Affairs, a unique situation at VSU but one that works well with our beliefs in both meeting student needs and having a self-sufficient operation. In essence, our office is divided between Housing focusing primarily on Auxiliary Services needs and Residence Life focusing primarily on Student Affairs needs. By working together under one umbrella, we are able to give students the true support they need.
Within Residence Life, the role of any successful program is to foster student development and achieve excellence inside and outside the classroom. To that extent, VSU has established several Living Learning communities, with more on the way. We are also in the process of revamping the way our residence halls are managed with adding a layer of graduate students to foster greater interaction and lessen the reliance on so many professionals who have no advanced degree experience to specialize in working with college students. A new level of professional staff, the Complex Director, who all have at least a master's degree was added in 2006 and more will be added in future years.
As an Auxiliary unit, we are entirely self-supporting. We receive no funding from the University System of Georgia. In reality, we are structured along the lines of many businesses in that we pay: our employee salary and benefit package; bills for our operating expenses (like office supplies and the water, power, telephone, and cable bills); bills for renovations (fresh coats of paint, new carpet, and improvements to keep pace with today's advances) and replacements (new furniture, mattresses, and other items.) By University System regulations, we must cover all of our operating expenses and surplus revenues are reinvested in Auxiliary Services to improve the facilities for our students. We currently have six residence halls and two apartment buildings located throughout the campus. We re-opened Hopper Hall back to the system this fall in a dramatic fashion. In addition, we will be closing Reade down for renovations this Spring and Georgia is currently being rebuilt as well. Both halls will reopen dramatically changed for the fall of 2009. We anticipate that within 5 years every residence hall on campus will have been renovated or demolished and rebuilt within the past 10 years, a dramatic feat! Each of these current facilities is represented with a home page of its own. General information pertinent to all residence halls and apartments can be found on the Housing and Residence Life Home Page.
Specific information about each residence hall's senior staff, descriptions of a typical room, and the hall amenities, along with photographs is located on each individual residence hall Home Page.
I'm pleased that you are roaming our halls via this exciting form of technology, but when you come to campus please stop by the halls to experience them for yourself firsthand! Please arrange a tour with the Admissions Office.
About the Director of Housing & Residence Life
Dr. Thomas W. Hardy has been employed in several different higher education institutions including Florida State University, Maryville College, and The University of Alabama. He joined the VSU staff as Director in the Fall of 2005. Dr. Hardy received his Bachelors degree in History from St. Mary's College of Maryland, his masters of science degree in Student Affairs from The Florida State University, and his Doctor of Education degree from The University of Alabama.
Dr. Hardy has been active and has presented at several professional associations such as ACUHO-I , SEAHO , and NASPA and has served as a national and regional conference host committee member, on the regional programming body, a regional strategic planner, the state editor, state treasurer, and state Advisor in the past. He co-authored a recent article in
Oracle: The Research Journal of the Association of Fraternity Advisors as well as co-edited a New Directions in Student Services monograph with Jossey-Bass Publishers entitled Gambling on Campus that was published in the Spring of 2006. Dr. Hardy also served as the co-host of the SEAHO 2008 conference as well as continuing to serve on the ACUHO-I exhibits committee as a sub-chair. His publication and service work bolsters his commitment to assisting students in campus Housing at VSU.
Phone : (229)333-5920
Email: Dr. Tom Hardy, twhardy@valdosta.edu