Today’s Resident Assistant Role – On-Demand Training

Integrate Workforce Development, Retention Strategy & Sustainable Staffing Models 

Traditional expectations of Resident Assistant (RA) positions no longer work on most campuses. Programming quotas, policy enforcement and crisis response responsibilities were designed for a time when student needs, institutional pressures, and workforce expectations looked very different. Today’s campuses are navigating rising mental health acuity, executive functioning challenges, enrollment and retention pressures, and unprecedented staff burnout.

Join us when our expert presenter will help you rethink the RA role from the ground up. Move beyond incremental fixes to a more intentional, outcomes driven, and sustainable model. Explore how to integrate workforce development, retention strategy, and sustainable staffing models into the foundation of the RA role. By emphasizing structural clarity, measurable impact, and strategic simplification, this session challenges institutions to reconsider not what RAs should do more of, but how the position should be designed and managed to meet the needs of today’s students and campuses.

Participants will leave with practical tools to streamline and reframe RA expectations; reduce burnout; increase student leader engagement; and position the role as a meaningful, high impact position that supports student belonging, institutional priorities, and student leader development.

Topics Covered

Gain crucial, actionable takeaways that will help you:

• Clarify the core purpose of the RA role to define a small set of measurable outcomes that anchor the role in meaningful community impact rather than task completion.
• Align the RA position with workforce development goals to frame the RA role as a leadership experience that builds transferable skills, integrates career competencies, and incorporates structured reflection into supervision.
• Redesign programming requirements to shift from outdated programming quotas to intentional interactions and relational outreach informed by student feedback and engagement data.
• Create realistic “live where you work” expectations to establish clear boundaries to reduce RA’s burnout and learn strategies for creating sustainable duty models, clearer expectations, and supportive supervision practices.
• Integrate and position RAs as key partners in retention and belonging efforts by strengthening cross campus communication loops and aligning responsibilities with institutional priorities.
• Assess current supervision practices and gain guidance on building consistent, developmentally focused systems for accountability, coaching, and performance feedback.
  

Presenter

Dr. Sara Weinstein currently serves as Assistant Dean of Students and Director of Residence Life at Randolph-Macon College located in Ashland Virginia.
Click here for full bio.