Faces of La Salle

By Teri Olsen
Collegian Staff
October 18, 2006

Many students don’t realize how important coordinators are in a school or organization.

Melissia Neff is a new Resident Coordinator. This is her first year at La Salle. -Teri Olsen

Without them, school’s wouldn’t run as well without good, well-trained leaders. Melissa Neff is one of the new Resident Coordinators (RC’s) at La Salle.

She moved into her apartment in St. Cassian in June of this year. She supervises 12 Resident Assistants (RAs) in the north residence halls: St. Cassian, St. Albert, St. Jerome and St. Hilary, as well as the students residing in those dorms.

Her responsibilities also include serving as the hearing officer for judicial cases, as well as a member of numerous committees, such as the Staff Recognition committee and the Selection committee (which decides the selection process for RA’s for the next year).

Before coming to La Salle, Neff worked as a graduate hall director at West Chester University while earning her Master’s degree in counseling for higher education.

She became interested in student affairs when she was a RA during her undergraduate study of elementary education at West Chester.

La Salle only has about 2,000 undergraduate students living on campus, while West Chester averages about 10,000 undergraduate students. The fact that La Salle is a smaller school was a big draw for Neff. “I can get to know people better and make connections here,” Neff said. When she isn’t working, Neff enjoys reading and watching science-fiction movies. She admits to being a Star Wars fanatic.

Neff and her husband also enjoy exploring the city of Philadelphia. Neff says her next major adventure will be tackling public transportation.

olsent1@lasalle.edu