For the upcoming school year, two Chico State faculty members will no longer have to fight for parking when coming to campus. Instead, they will be able to roll out of bed, eat breakfast at Sutter Dining and walk to class in minutes.

Faculty-in-Residence is a program created to engage students and faculty outside of the classroom according to Abeer Moustafa, executive director of housing. The goal is for students to have a good relationship with faculty as they live with them and open new doors in their career pathways.

Faculty selected to live on campus will be housed in Sutter Hall or North Campus. They will be expected to engage with the students living in the dorms and develop relationships with them but won’t have the same duties an RA would have.

Mustafa said the position comes with a few perks.

“You get to live in a high-rise that has this fantastic view of campus, you get a great parking space and fine dining through Sutter,” she said.

Other compensation includes:

• Use of a rent-free furnished one or two bedroom apartment on campus valued at approximately $12,000.
• Paid utilities, including water, gas, electric, trash, high-speed internet, wireless, internet television and in-unit or compensated laundry.
• A limited meal plan of 100 meals per semester valued at approximately $2,000.
• A parking space near the residence hall, but they must still purchase a parking permit.

Faculty members are allowed to participate in the program for up to three years. But they must meet a set of requirements in order to apply for the position such as: having tenure or be a tenure-track faculty, knowledge of strategies for academic success and effective interpersonal and intercultural communication skills.

Mustafa said faculty will help students feel more comfortable when speaking to their professors and make it a more familiar experience for them since they will be living together.

“We really want to engage outside of classroom learning,” she said.

Faculty and students living together allow for a different approach to teaching, Mustafa said. She gave an example of how an accounting professor was able to connect with students through other avenues outside of the classroom.

“It could be academically, or a great example of that is faculty can be fantastic accountants that love to play poker,” she said. “Every time he won, he would talk about gains and losses and what that meant to a student and he would be able tie it back.”

Student and faculty interactions outside of the classroom can make an impact on both of their lives, Mustafa said. Because of the program, the previously mentioned accounting faculty member became more popular among students.

“He became one of the most popular programs on campus because it was unique, it was different and he engaged everybody at a very different level,” she said. “By the time he finished that semester, he was probably the most sought out after faculty in his classes.”

Applications are due by April 14 and selectees will be announced May 15 after a committee of students chooses who will be the Faculty-in-Residence.

Yajaira Tejeda can be reached at [email protected] or @theorion_news on Twitter.