Cody Miller is the newest staff member of Residence Life. He joined Elizabethtown College over the summer. He is the area coordinator for the Dell Community, which includes Myer, Royer and Schlosser residence halls. Residence Life is in charge of the traditional residence halls, town homes and apartments, which house more than 85 percent of the student body. The Residence Life staff and Residence Assistants are in charge of providing educational and social programing events.
As an area coordinator, the most central component of his job is working closely with resident assistants. Together, they help to build a sense of community, safety and commitment to learning among the students in residence halls. He plans to consider strategies for the Dell community residential experience to continue enhancing the academic pursuits of students. Additionally, he works with faculty and staff members who advise some of the Living-Learning Programs. Miller also co-advises the First-Year class Senate and encourages positive decision making with students who find themselves in the student conduct process.
Residence Life is also coordinating conducting and a new project focusing on transitioning Myer Residence Hall into a building-wide Liberal Arts Residence (LAR). Presently, there is only a liberal arts living learning community in Myer Residence Hall, which is housed on the third floor. The future LAR will feature community dinners and structured opportunities to study in the residence hall and connect with learning support services. In previous years the living learning community has hosted events for its residence called “Fantabulous Fridays.”
After transitioning all the residence hall into a LAR, those involved with the building will work on giving the students opportunities for regular presentations (called ALPHA Achievers and Fantabulous Fridays), in which faculty and staff will give talks about their “academic expertise and passions.” Other features added to the residence hall will be study rooms and more opportunities connect with learning support services, such as having tutors come to the building to help the residence. A weekly café service will also be made available to help the students feel a greater sense of community, and faculty and staff will feature office hours in Myer. Miller’s favorite part of being an area coordinator is working with the resident assistants of the Dell community. Miller noted that they are “outstanding, thoughtful, passionate and incredibly hardworking.”
Miller had prior experience working for college residencies as the Residence Hall director at a university in Texas. He worked multiple jobs in social services. His last job was for AmeriCorp, in which Miller functioned as the team leader for a group of volunteers who did service projects with social service organizations on the west coast. He also worked as a youth counselor at a group home for men experiencing legal and social struggles. Miller said that his most tedious stint in residence halls was as a furniture mover during renovation. For this job, he moved furniture back and forth for painting contractors during the summer.
This past summer, Miller worked with a team from Habitat for Humanity in Butte, Mt. to paint and help install siding, flooring and concrete in six new homes from June until July.
Miller is excited to attend the College’s events that take place throughout the school year, such as Bowers Writers House events. The discussion regarding Latinos and the Media hosted by the Office of Multicultural Programs in October and the Ware Lecture in January with Nicholas Kristof particularly interest Miller.
Even though Miller is new to Etown, his favorite place that he has discovered is Folklore Coffee & Company, and he loves jogging past the chocolate factory as well. When he is not overseeing the needs of the residence halls, Miller loves to watch TED Talks (Technology, Education, Design) in addition to jogging, cooking and playing water-related sports. His favorite book is “Mountains Beyond Mountains” by Tracy Kidder and “Life of Pi” by Yann Martel. He loves listening to the folk artists “Iron and Wine,” and his favorite song is “Somebody’s Baby” by Jon Foreman. His favorite quote that relates strongly to his job and his beliefs is from John Steinbeck’s “Of Mice and Men,” which says, “Try to understand men. If you understand each other you will be kind to each other. Knowing a man will never lead to hate, and nearly always leads to love.”
Miller has traveled all around the country and performed a variety of jobs before settling at Etown. He has lived in Butte, Mt. and Californian cities such as Petaluma, Barstow and Sacramento before that.
In the future, Miller hopes to kayak the Susquehanna River, play Boggle with at least five people in the coming year, spend some quality time in a Spanish-speaking country promote a passion for learning and a yearning for nonviolence wherever he goes.
