Professor moves back to the dorms

Scot Douglass is the first live-in faculty member at CU and has moved into
Andrews Hall in Kittredge, where he directs the engineering honors program.

This new live-in program comes from Flagship 2030, a campus initiative to redefine learning and set new standards in education. University officials believe that having a faculty member as a constant figure in the community will help students to grow both academically and personally.

Douglass feels the same way. “Our overall vision and dream for this is a community that functions well as a community," said Douglass.

According to USA Today, only seven percent of colleges have a professor living in the residence halls. At CU, students in Andrews have found that Douglass contributes immensely to their community every single day.

“Scot’s great, he’s really added a lot to the community. He’s really involved with a lot of residence life and he knows almost all the residents by name, which is something that even I can’t say I can do,” said Rick Bohm, a resident advisor for the building.

Douglass lives with his wife and two young daughters and believes that having a family around has helped the students as well. “I think that most of the students would say that there’s something nice and wonderful to see the joy and energy of a four-year-old and a six-year-old on a regular basis, to see a family, and a real family, not a ‘Leave It To Beaver’ family,” said Douglass.

In the end, Douglass hopes that his presence will encourage students to live in the residence halls for more than just one year. Andrews has about 40 percent upperclassmen living there this year, and the hope is that it will be over 60 percent in the future.

For more information on CU Flagship 2030, log on to
http://www.colorado.edu/flagship2030/