{"id":14283,"date":"2014-08-08T13:15:44","date_gmt":"2014-08-08T18:15:44","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blogs.bemidjistate.edu\/bsutoday\/?p=14283"},"modified":"2021-11-01T16:03:24","modified_gmt":"2021-11-01T21:03:24","slug":"residential-life-finds-its-new-leader","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/2014\/08\/08\/residential-life-finds-its-new-leader\/","title":{"rendered":"Residential Life finds its new leader"},"content":{"rendered":"

When classes kick off at Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ this fall, a new face will be overseeing residential life for the first time in decades. Dr. Jodi Monerson<\/strong> was named Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ’s director of residential life in June; she succeeds Dale Ladig, who had been at Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ for 34 years. Monerson comes to Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ looking forward and seeking ways she can put her experiences to work helping students find a home where they can relax, be surrounded by supportive friends and learn new things by involving themselves in a welcoming campus community.<\/p>\n

\"Monerson-Jodi-2014-web\"<\/a>Monerson went to Winona State University intending to be a teacher. However, her own experiences as a resident assistant and the relationships she built with the RAs and other staff in her buildings convinced her to choose a different path.<\/p>\n

“It started with my first year in college, when I met my RA,” she said. “I started helping her with programs and getting involved in the building, and it was then that I knew I was going to continue at Winona State. It was that experience — more so than being in classes — and that sense of connection that made me know ‘this is where I’m going to graduate.'”<\/p>\n

That early sense of connection and her adventures through the Winona State residential experience have blossomed into a career that is well into its second decade.<\/p>\n

She got her start by spending several years as an RA and working in a variety of desk assistant roles in WSU’s housing office and residence halls. After graduation, she spent a few months in the Twin Cities as a preschool teacher, but realized her calling was back on a college campus.<\/p>\n

“I was going to be a teacher — my whole life that’s what I always wanted to do,” she said. “But as soon as I was teaching, I wanted to go back to college and be in residential life. So this really altered my perceptions of where I wanted my career to go, and this is what I want to do.”<\/p>\n

She found herself with an opportunity to return to Winona State as a residence hall director. From there, she was later promoted into an area coordinator position overseeing multiple residence halls, home to approximately 750 students. She later was named a program development coordinator at Winona State, where she worked primarily with non-traditional students on the academic side of campus.<\/p>\n

At Bemidji State, she saw the opportunity to get back to her roots and be more closely involved in shaping the residential experience of undergraduate students. She found Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ’s small-campus environment, while still having the advantages that come from being a member of a large state system like MnSCU, to be a perfect fit.<\/p>\n

“I like working at state institutions and I like working within MnSCU,” she said. “I’m excited about the system-wide collaboration that takes place and having that connection with the other directors across the system. And I like that Bemidji State is a smaller campus. Life around here is beautiful; I have really enjoyed getting outside and exploring the town and the community. It just seems like a good fit, which is a great feeling.”<\/p>\n

Having already felt her own connection to the campus and to the city of Bemidji, Monerson said she hopes to be able to bring that same sense of community to Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ’s resident students.<\/p>\n

“I want people to feel that connection,” she said. “I want people to feel excited about going back to their room when they’re done with classes, and I want them excited to be here on weekends and explore what Bemidji has to offer.”<\/p>\n

Most of all, Monerson is excited to learn and to forge lasting relationships with Bemidji State students.<\/p>\n

“I look forward to helping our students in any way I can,” she said. “I want our students to have a good experience, whether they’re on campus or if they’ve moved beyond the residence halls and live off campus. I’m just here to help students; I have an open door for them to stop by and get to know me, and if there’s anything I can do to help I’m glad to do that.”<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

When classes kick off at Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ this fall, a new face will be overseeing residential life for the first time in decades. Dr. Jodi Monerson<\/strong> was named Ä¢¹½ÊÓƵ’s director of residential life in June.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":17,"featured_media":19339,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[681,25],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14283","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news-updates","category-people"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14283","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/17"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=14283"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14283\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":19340,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14283\/revisions\/19340"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19339"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=14283"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=14283"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bemidjistate.edu\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=14283"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}