Resident/Community Assistant

Resident/Community Assistants provide leadership, assistance, and support to the students living in the residence halls and Cardinal Court student apartments. A large portion of the Resident/Community Assistant's responsibilities are spontaneous and unscheduled, due to the nature of living on-campus.

Every Resident/Community Assistant must carefully organize time commitments to meet the demands of course work, the Resident/Community Assistant position, and personal interests. Therefore students engaging in student teaching, internships, professional practicums, or employment outside of Illinois State cannot be allowed to serve in the Resident/Community Assistant role.

Responsibilities

• Facilitate the personal development of residents in a variety of ways, including meeting social, physical, and emotional needs and by being sensitive to their individual concerns.
• Organize floor and hall events to encourage active participation and involvement on a one-on-one, small group, and large group basis.
• Develop and maintain a community atmosphere within the residence halls or Cardinal Court.
• Assist in administrative duties such as completing Room Condition Reports, proration, duty coverage, and other tasks as assigned.
• Communicate, interpret, and consistently enforce residence hall and university rules and regulations.
• Be a role model to your fellow students through mature behavior consistent with university rules and regulations.
• Inform students about university procedures, services, and policies and make referrals when appropriate to other campus and community agencies.
• Participate in mandatory weekly in-service training and staff business meetings held from 3-5 p.m. each Wednesday of the semester. Remember to reserve these times when scheduling classes.
• Participate in one mandatory in-service per month on Fridays for all RA/CA's. New RA/CA's also will be attending classes every Friday from 4-5 p.m.

Remuneration and Benefits

A majority of benefits you will receive by becoming a Resident/Community Assistant at Illinois State University will be intangible. Resident/Community Assistants will gain valuable experience in diversity, leadership, organization, time management, ethics, program planning, mediation, crisis response, and administration. These experiences will carry with you through your personal and professional life.

Tangible Remuneration will include

• Room and board waiver in residence halls; waiver of room costs in Cardinal Court
• Opportunity for employment in the residence halls for up to 6 hours per week for those RAs/CAs who have less than two full semesters of experience and up to 12 hours per week for those staff who have two or more completed semesters of experience.

Qualifications

• 24 hours of completed undergraduate course work at the time of appointment
• Cumulative 2.40 GPA at time of Application (1st year and transfer student grades will be checked at the end of the Fall semester)
• Good standing with the University (e.g. ISUPD, Community Rights and Responsibilities, etc.)
• Lived in a residence hall environment for at least one semester at the time of appointment (includes transfer students from other universities)
• Enrolled in classes full-time as an undergraduate or graduate student at Illinois State
• Willingness to commit to the Resident or Community Assistant Position for one year

Interested in becoming an RA/CA?

Please check back in September to learn how to be a Resident/Community Assistant.