With the start of a new semester, there are changes around campus in the area of Student Affairs.
Student Development activities assistant Jamie Miller is now the assistant director of Residence Life and Kayla Cauthon has been hired to replace Miller as activities assistant in Student Development.
“I love it! There will be parts that I miss about my old job, but I am very excited to join Residence Life,” Miller said.
Miller joined the ranks at Residence Life starting in the spring semester and will have a full agenda for the semester. Miller replaced the former Assistant Director Danielle Kern who has left the university for another job opportunity.
Miller is primarily responsible for placing all the students who need on-campus housing in dormitories and apartments. He is also responsible for overseeing ten residence halls on campus and the residential staff that are in those halls.
Miller said he wants to spend the first semester getting to know all the people that he will work with.
“The first semester is all about meeting the different people in Residence Life and what their jobs on campus are, so I will be spending much of my first semester getting to know them,” Miller said.
Miller said some of the challenging aspects of his new job are learning all the systems in place and handling various disciplinary issues that may arise within the residence halls.
He did offer some advice for his successor, Kayla Cauthon, who replaced him in the Student Development office.
“Stay calm and take everything in stride,” Miller said. “Give everyone your full attention because it is easy to get distracted from all that is going on.”
Kayla Cauthon, who recently graduated from graduate school in December from Bloomsburg Univeristy, has joined the ranks of Student Development as the new activities assistant.
“I like the (new job) so far,” Cauthon said. “Everyone has been very nice and helpful so far.”
Cauthon is going to be working on making sure that the voices of students are heard in her first semester here at Wilkes, along with getting to know them. She also hopes to develop as a professional, since this is her first professional job out of school.
Cauthon is primarily responsible for reserving the Ballroom in the SUB, advising the Amnicola yearbook, and co-advising Programming Board with Student Development coordinator Melissa Howells.
“We have a lot of stuff planned for the upcoming semester,” Cauthon said. “I am hoping to get a ski trip organized for students, and we have a trip to the RailRiders planned.”
Cauthon did say that she has been receiving a lot of help from her predecessor, Miller, with helping her with the ins and outs of the job and any questions that she has.
“(Jamie) has been a great help to me,” Cauthon said. “I also want to just give a big thank you to the Wilkes community for welcoming me to the university.”