Director of Residence Life

Interlochen Arts Academy, the nation’s premier fine arts boarding high school, has openings available for the position of Director of Residence Life. These individuals are responsible for creating a comprehensive residence life program, and serve as part of a team of student affairs professionals working to create a community that supports the mission of Interlochen Center for the Arts. The Director is a full time, year round position that is responsible for supporting a healthy community of students and staff in one or more residence halls. Directors are also responsible for training and supervising a team of professional residence life staff; advising and mediating student concerns; upholding policies; creating safe communities; advising student groups; managing facilities, and contributing input for strategic change in the residence life department. 

Directors provide additional leadership in one of three areas within student affairs: social/emotional learning, behavioral development, and student affairs operations. 

Interlochen is committed to building a culturally diverse faculty and strongly encourages applications from women, racial/ethnic minorities and other individuals from underrepresented groups. The Academy enrolls over 500 students, of which approximately 20% are international, and nearly 25% are ethnic minorities.

Major job responsibilities include: 

• Provide care and a variety of support services to students in a residential setting and assist with the oversight of the residential education program. 
• Provide supervision and leadership for residence life staff, coaching and mentoring young professionals to provide quality student supports
• Participate in a rotation as administrator on-call, providing support for residence life and other campus departments. 
• Uphold the standards of conduct as outlined in the Student Handbook.
• Handle and address student conduct procedures, referring high-level issues to the Dean of Students.
• Serve as in loco parentis to ensure that residents are safe, nurtured and supported
• Facilitate the development of communities that are welcoming and accepting of people of all races and ethnicities, abilities, ages, genders, national origins, religions, and sexual orientations.
• Contribute to the growth of the residence life program by actively engaging in strategic visioning and problem solving.
• Develop and provide age-appropriate structures and freedoms to allow for greatest success among students.
• Support leadership development for students in a variety of areas including academics, student groups, student representative board, programming and international student liaisons, and health and wellness.
• Build relationships with a variety of campus partners in an effort to strengthen student support.
• Maintain detailed administrative records related to the care of students and supervision of staff.
• Guide staff'’s ability to assess and mediate student conflict and sufficiently listen to and summarize individual and group concerns.
• Communicate with families and other stakeholders to support student success.
• Serve as a member of the residence life leadership team for Interlochen Arts Camp, and support camp activities as directed.
• Keep other departments/offices and administrators apprised, as appropriate, on particular issues and see them through to resolution
• Ensure the safety of residence hall buildings, both in safety practices and in ensuring the safety and maintenance of facilities.
• Serve on the institution's Title IX response and investigative team.
• Engage in programming and conversations about diversity and social justice and confront situations of bias as necessary.