About Residential Life

Our Mission
Residential Life provides SF State students in residence an experience that supports responsible community engagement, student success, and leadership development.

Our Vision
To create opportunities for co-curricular learning that promotes equity, inspires courage, and creates a community where members are respected, valued, and actively involved in shaping their residential experience.  

Our Values
In alignment with University values Courage, Life of Mind, Equity, Community, Resilience; Residential Life grounds our work in a culture of care, clarity, and collaboration

Care, care means:

  • Helping residents achieve their highest esteem both emotionally and physically
  • Upholding residential and university practices/protocols that promote safety for all those who reside in our spaces
  • Acknowledging feelings/perceptions of risk, fear, and harm and exploration of solutions
  • Providing safe spaces to articulate how needs can be met

Clarity, clarity means:

  • Providing clear and honest communication
  • Explaining the why
  • Information necessary for success is available to all
  • Ensuring open pathways for communication

Collaboration, collaboration means:

  • Working together for a common purpose where all individuals feel heard but also are willing to compromise to find the best solution for all involved.
  • Students, staff, and campus departments work together to create the on-campus experience
  • Providing seats at the table for a variety of student, staff, and campus partner voices
  • Connection to campus resources in an intentional way

Meet the Residential Life Team

We are committed to providing a comfortable living/learning environment which enhances the academic experience at SF State. Our community is composed of individuals from diverse class backgrounds, gender identities, national origins, physical abilities, racial, ethnic, religious and political beliefs, and sexual orientations.

Our activities, programs, classes, workshops, lectures, and everyday interactions are enriched by our acceptance of one another. We strive to learn in an atmosphere of positive interaction and mutual respect.

As adults, we are responsible for our behavior and are fully accountable for our actions. We take responsibility for our awareness of ageism, heterosexism, homophobia, racism, sexism, xenophobia (fear of that which is strange or foreign), and other forms of oppression.

The Residential Community is staffed with people who work to serve residents in a variety of ways. There are a number of students and full-time staff members who work in Residential Life specifically to make sure life outside of the classroom is supported.

Associate Dean of Students & Director of Residential Life

David Rourke, M.A.
drourke@sfsu.edu
(415) 338-1822

The Associate Dean & Director of Residential Life is responsible for the comprehensive administration of the Residential Life & Office of Student Conduct programs and works closely with the university community to develop resources and services within the residential community. The Associate Dean & Director of Residential Life also sets the tone for the department and serves as the visionary in leading the Residential Life staff in providing meaningful experiences for the students residing on-campus. The Associate Dean & Director of Residential Life oversees the general administrative supervision of the community desk program and the service incorporated within these areas desks. The director also oversees Academic Success & Leadership Coordinator, Business Operations Specialist, and Administrative Support Coordinator.

 

Associate Director of Residential Education & Leadership

Jessica Robinson
jrobinson@sfsu.edu
(415) 338-2729

The Associate Director of Residential Education & Leadership is primarily responsible for establishing a residential climate that is conducive to academic advancement and engagement. This includes, but is not limited to, oversight of the educational initiatives of the department which include the programming efforts of the staff, serving as the liaison to faculty and staff associated with established and proposed learning communities and faculty fellow positions, and the development and maintenance of theme communities. In addition, the associate director is a key figure in the oversight and administration of response to crisis and emergency situations which entails an on-call rotation; and interfaces directly with students, parents and peers, under sensitive and sometimes complex situations.

 

Assistant Director of Central Neighborhood

(Vacant)

The Assistant Director of Central Neighborhood provides management support, department programmatic direction, and oversight of the teams operating communities within their assigned neighborhood.  This position is tasked with the responsibility of visioning and leading the Residential communities.  They assist in the oversight of programs and administrative processes that contribute to the functioning of Residential Life. As part of this, the position supports the Residential Community, which consists of 6 residential communities that house approximately 2,300 students primarily consisting of first time freshman and transfer students. The Assistant Director’s central focus is to provide general guidance, direction, and oversight to the residential education staff, which is comprised of a variety of full-time and part-time staff and residential student leaders (Resident Assistants). The Assistant Director serves in the place of the Associate Director during absences, and may be involved in higher-level resident conduct as deemed necessary.

 

Interim Assistant Director of Continuing Students & Retention

Lex King
abking@sfsu.edu
(415) 405-4013

The Interim Assistant Director of Residential Education and Continuing Student Retention performs duties to lead the Residential Education and Leadership team within the Residential Life Department, specifically in the Residential Communities that house continuing students.  This position is tasked with the responsibility of visioning and leading the Residential communities that house all continuing, transfer, and non-traditional students. This includes but is not limited to Developing, implementing, and assessing residential curriculums that meet the needs of: Sophomore Year Experience, Transfer Student Communities, Continuing Student Living Learning Communities, continual collaboration and assistance with the Employee, Family Housing program, being the Residential Life representative on University Committees surrounding student retention, transfer students and student career planning, and leading Residential Life’s student leader recruitment, hiring, and training processes for compensated student leaders.

Residential Life Specialists are members of the Residential Life Leadership Council with the directors of the department.  They are involved in: discussions and planning of department personnel and financial needs; advise and consultation with daily operations; support to the professional team, student leaders, and student assistants within the overall department.

The specialists performs highly complex professional student service by reviewing multifaceted individual, group or organizational problems, developing and recommending courses of action and implementing proposed solutions.

 

Academic Success & Leadership Coordinator

Patrick McFall
pmcfall@sfsu.edu
(415) 405-8028

The Academic Success & Leadership Coordinator is a specialist role primarily responsible for the day-to-day implementation, oversight, and assessment of programs and administrative processes that fall within Academic Student Success, and the development of leadership skills and shared governance processes.

 

Business Operations Specialist

Aaron Kitashima, M.A.
akit@sfsu.edu
(415) 405-2227

The Business Operations Specialist is responsible for departmental budget analysis and reporting, branding and strategic marketing, department documentation and practices, and Human Resources personnel and payroll operations and transactions.  Also provides organizational management and administrative/clerical support to Residential Life while providing guidance to the Residential Life Leadership Team regarding operational and budgetary matters.

 

Residential Rights & Responsibilities Coordinator

Shawn McCoy
smccoy@sfsu.edu
(415) 405-9378

The Residential Rights & Responsibilities Coordinator coordinates the administration of the student conduct process for Residential Life. The incumbent is responsible for the oversight, training, and development of Residential Life hearing officers; and provides guidance for hearing officers in reviewing incident reports of alleged violations, investigations, adjudicate cases, and recommend outcomes.

 

Residential Life Case Manager

(Vacant)

The Residential Life Case Manager is responsible for the provision of critical support for students experiencing emotional or material challenges that negatively impact their well-being and ability to achieve academic success. The Residential Life Case Manager will provide mental health assessments, crisis management, triage, effective referrals, follow up, tracking, and continuity of care between campus departments and community resources. This position will mainly support students referred to the Residential Life Care Team and the SF State Action Care Team (ACT), but can support students referred by other programs. They will also work to coordinate services and communication with the campus case management team. 

 

Residential Life Operations Specialist

Jordan Murray
jomurray@sfsu.edu
(415) 338-0504

The Residential Life Operations Specialist is responsible for the overall design, implementation, and daily administration of the department’s Community Desk program. This position provides strategic planning and leadership for the Community Desk program. The Residential Life Operations Specialist provides oversight for five full-time professional employees (Community Desk Residential Coordinator) in performing their job duties in management of the front desks located in on-campus housing facilities.  This includes student assistant hiring and training processes as well as proposing and tracking desk budgets.

Area Coordinators (AC)

A full-time professional Area Coordinator (AC) oversees each residential community. These professionals are skilled in conflict resolution, advising, crisis intervention, resource referral, and administrative management. They can be contacted through your community desk. These coordinators oversee up to two Residential Coordinators for Residential Education

    • Shinnomon Bartley

      • Area Coordinator for Towers @ Centennial Square & Towers Jr. Suites
      • (415) 405-2243
      • shinbart@sfsu.edu
    • Mark Alfaro
    • Ravyn Johnson
    • Jose Rivera
    • Ben Kalstrom
      • Area Coordinator for University Park South & Manzanita Square
      • (415) 338-0503
      • bkalstrom@sfsu.edu

    Residential Coordinators for Residential Education (RCRE)

    Residential Coordinators for Residential Education (RCRE) aid in overseeing each residential community. These professionals are skilled in, conflict resolution, advising, crisis intervention, resource referral, and administrative management. These professionals supervise a team of student Resident Assistants.

    • Kalisi Taborga

      • Residential Coordinator for Residential Education, Towers & Centennial Square & Jr. Suites
      • (415) 405-0348
      • ktaborga@sfsu.edu
    • Ariele Grande
      • Residential Coordinator for Residential Education, Towers & Centennial Square & Jr. Suites
      • (415) 405-8434
      • ari@sfsu.edu
    • Kayla Smith
      • Residential Coordinator for Residential Education, Village @ Centennial Square
      • (415) 405-2229
      • ksmith99@sfsu.edu
    • Makayla Sandoval
      • Residential Coordinator for Residential Education, Village @ Centennial Square
      • (415) 405-2224
      • msandoval3@mail.sfsu.edu
    • Jaden Davidson
      • Residential Coordinator for Residential Education, West Grove Commons
      • (415) 405-2253
      • jadendav@sfsu.edu
    • Lila Zermeno
      • Residential Coordinator for Residential Education, West Grove Commons
      • (415) 405-2213
      • lzermeno1@sfsu.edu
    • Hannah Snowden
      • Residential Coordinator for Residential Education, University Park North
      • (415) 405-4411
      • hsnowden@sfsu.edu
    • Joey Curley
      • Residential Coordinator for Residential Education, University Park North
      • (415) 405-9379
      • curley@sfsu.edu
    • Cecilia Romanus
      • Residential Coordinator for Residential Education, University Park South & Manzanita Square
      • (415) 405-2214
      • hromanus@sfsu.edu

    Full-time professional Community Desk Residential Coordinators (CDRC) aid in overseeing each residential community desk. These professionals are skilled in, conflict resolution, advising, crisis intervention, resource referral, and administrative management. They can be contacted through your community desk. These professionals supervise a team of Lead Desk Assistants.

    • Lawrence Sahagun

      • Community Desk Residential Coordinator, Towers @ Centennial Square & Towers Jr. Suites
      • (415) 405-9382
      • lawrences@sfsu.edu
    • Kai Stephens
      • Community Desk Residential Coordinator, Village @ Centennial Square
      • (415) 405-2223
      • kstephens@sfsu.edu
    • Christian Hodges
      • Community Desk Residential Coordinator, West Grove Commons
      • (415) 405-2257
      • cdhodges@sfsu.edu
    • Liz Alvarez
      • Community Desk Residential Coordinator, University Park North
      • (415) 566-1558
      • lizalvarez@sfsu.edu
    • James Ebben
      • Community Desk Residential Coordinator, University Park South & Manzanita Square
      • (415) 338-0512
      • jebben@sfsu.edu

    (Vacant)
    (415) 405-4494

    The Administrative Support Coordinator (ASC) assists with general administrative support functions for both the department and its leadership team.  The ASC assists and supports the daily administration of the Department of Residential Life.  The position takes primary responsibility for several transactional processes including room reservations, personnel and payroll functions, and supporting the Director.  The position plays a supporting role or administrative back up to travel, procurement, and communications functions. 

    Kenny Taboada
    (415) 338-0507
    ktaboada@sfsu.edu

     

    The Residential Programming Coordinator assists students in their social and intellectual development and their pursuit to degree attainment.   The Programming Coordinator assists in the overall design, implementation, and daily administration of the academic support and success functions for the residential community with specific emphasis on supporting the resident students.

    The coordinator supports student residential community in providing leadership for residential programming in the areas of academic success and overall holistic wellness, supports the development of the community through academic and wellness related programs, resources, partnership building as well as narrates the story of the resident students within the department through an academic and wellness lens.  This coordinator listens and provides strong advocacy for the needs of the resident students.

    Resident Assistants (RA) are students who have experience living in residential communities and are familiar with what it takes to make the most of your experience here. Your RA has been carefully selected on the basis of his/her ability to show concern for students and to help make your living environment positive and educationally enriching. RAs are trained to serve as community builders, activity advisors, group facilitators, and referral agents. Your RA is someone who can answer your questions. If they can't answer your question, they will refer you to the person who can. Remember, our program exists so you, the resident, will be challenged and supported to learn and grow.

    The Lead Desk Assistants (LDA) are students who assists with the daily operations of their respective community desk and provides quality customer service to the residence community. The Lead DA is expected to understand and perform all Desk Assistant (DA) tasks and procedures in addition to additional administrative and supervisory responsibilities.

    Program Assistants (PA) are students who assists in navigating through specialized areas of Residential Education, including wellness and academics.

    The Desk Assistants (DA) is responsible for daily operations of the residence community front desks by providing quality customer service for the residential community.