Housing director leaves for Loyola

After seven years as director of Housing and Residence Life, Romando Nash will be leaving his position. Nash will move to Illinois to work as Loyola University Chicago's new director of Housing and Residence Life, a position he accepted in April.

"It's been a really good time," Nash said. "I've seen a lot of changes over the seven years I've been here."

When Nash first arrived at Seattle University, he saw the state of on-campus housing in disarray.

In Nash's first years as HRL director, Seattle U was ranked last in every category of a national student housing satisfaction survey. The survey compared Seattle U's housing facilities to facilities at six other institutions.

"It was tough to get those results that first year," Nash said.

Propelled by the low scores, Nash said he and the Housing team worked hard over the years to bring Seattle U's rating up. One of the most important things he has done, he said, was building a lasting connection with students.

"Whether [...] talking to advisory groups or with RAs, I've just tried to make myself visible," he said. "By just saying,‘Hey, let's sit down and chat,' you can keep a really good idea of what's on students' minds."

The dialogue worked. For the past three years, Seattle U has consistently ranked first or second out of seven in the student surveys.

"It's been great being a part of the team that brought about that change in satisfaction, and it's something I'm really proud of," Nash said.

The search for the new director is currently underway. A number of individuals have applied for the position and a search committee—formed by Student Development and chaired by associate dean of students Darrell Goodwin—is processing applicants and reaching out to potential candidates as well.

The committee has an aggressive time line in place, according to Michele Murray, assistant vice president of Student Development. She said the committee is hoping to extend an offer to a selected candidate by mid-August.

"We're looking for someone who can bring the housing program into the future," Murray said. "Someone who can be strategic about housing options, because we are bringing a new housing unit [The 12th and Cherry project] online in 2011. Of course we'll also be looking for someone who has experience in housing in the past."

Nash feels the next director of HRL at Seattle U will be coming in at a good time.

"They're not going to have to come in and put anything in place," Nash said. "They're going to come in having the luxury of knowing there is a housing master plan that already exists, that there are really good learning communities and that there's a great staff here already."

Assistant director of Housing Tim Albert echoed Nash's feelings about the state of housing.

"I'm happy for Romando," he said. "We've got a great staff here in place and things are going to continue running as smoothly as they have been in the past. I'm not worried about it."

Nash will continue to consult for Seattle U over the summer, helping handle the large number of incoming freshmen that has challenged the department.

As of last week, 1,118 freshmen had accepted a spot at Seattle U, 371 more students than last year.

Nash is the second Seattle U official to leave for Loyola in a year. Last spring Rob Kelly, former vice president of student development, left for Loyola.

"Yeah there's always nervous excitement in accepting a new position," Nash said. "But I'm feeling good about it."

Kelton may be reached at ksears@su-spectator.com