Lee Hall, a residence hall on campus.
MANHATTAN.EDU/COURTESY
By Mack Olmsted, Features Editor
Manhattan College has recently hired a new residence life director, Eric Rivera, who has years of experience in the field as he has worked in residence life for different institutions during his entire career.
Rivera chose to come to MC because he believes the college has a good reputation. Prior to coming to MC, he worked at Sarah Lawrence College, which is north of Manhattan College in Bronxville, New York. Aside from appreciating the neighborhood, Rivera told The Quadrangle how he admires MC’s Lasallian values.
“I was able to meet him first during his interview process,” Michael Steele, director of multicultural affairs and development said. “I believe that he is a valuable addition to Manhattan College, as he brings a wealth of knowledge from his previous work experience.”
Rivera told The Quadrangle why he is passionate about being a part of the residence life team at the college.
“I’ve been working in residence life my entire career, something that’s super important to me having been a student who moved across the country to go to college,” Rivera said. “It was important for me to find a home in the place where I was living and chose to go to school. And residence life gave me that outlet and that’s something that I try to give back to the community that I’m part of.”
Associate Vice President for Student Life and Development John Bennett announced the new hire in an email sent out to the student body on Wednesday, April 3, where he provided information on Rivera’s background. Bennett told The Quadrangle about his first impressions of Rivera.
“In just the short time he’s been here already I love his fresh perspective on things and [his] thoughts,” Bennett said. “He’s showing good leadership already.”
He also praised Rivera’s extensive background in residence life affairs at various institutions.
“Rivera brings a wealth of knowledge and experience to the position having served as associate director of housing operations at Sarah Lawrence College, Bronxville, NY, where he was responsible for the strategic planning and implementation of a comprehensive residential experience for the college,” Bennett stated in the email. “Prior to his tenure at Sarah Lawrence, he served as a resident director at Boston College where he managed a residential community of 725 students.”
Bennett also mentioned that Rivera has significant skills that make him an effective leader to participate with key campus partners to further build the student experience in residence halls.
Bennett also noted Rivera has experience in improving occupancy management to ensure housing goals are met, enhancing residential life communication, building community and renewing educational programming in the residence halls. Rivera has also organized the RA Leading for Change Conference, which serves as the training for many RA’s and focuses on themes of improving leadership development, diversity and skill-building.
One of the main goals Rivera is trying to accomplish is creating a safe and welcoming environment for all students who want to live within the residence hall environment. He wants the experience of students to be pleasant and to be a place where people can build lifelong relationships and memories of their college experience.
“A lot of what I do is reviewing policy and processes, making sure that those are streamlined, in place, and make sense for our college community so that the students can have the best experience possible,” Rivera said. “We’re focusing on offering programming and creating connections amongst the residents to ensure that people feel connected and that they belong here in the residence halls and on campus at Manhattan College as a whole.”
Overall, Rivera looks forward to being a part of the MC community and is beginning to think about the future of residence life. As of now, he wants to create small housing committees to get feedback about the living experiences on campus.
“I think something that’s important for me as [residence life director], is thinking about any changes that we want to make for residence life [and] to gather student input,” Rivera said. “Something I’ve done at previous campuses is create small committees, such as a housing subcommittee to recruit any students who are interested in sharing their perspectives from the student body about residential life, where they can discuss current policies, things that could be improved, maybe some goals or aspirations that students would love to see on campus and more.”