Duncan selects Head Resident Fellow

By Yang Hu     3/25/10 7:00pm

After months of searching, the Duncan College Head Resident Fellow Search Committee selected History Professor Kathryn de Luna from a pool of 12 applicants as the college's new head residential fellow. De Luna will replace current HRFs Luis Duno- Gottberg and Marnie Hylton, who will become the first Duncan College masters. HRF is a new college position created specially for Duncan and McMurtry College. Although the position is similar at both colleges, with HRFs meant to help masters both administrate and help students, Duncan's HRF will have a special focus on working with new students.

"The position was created because of the increased size of the [new] colleges - we wanted to preserve a healthy ratio of adult mentors to students," Dean of Undergraduates Robin Forman said.

Forman said that the position was somewhere between a master and a residential associate. While HRFs fill a similar capacity to RAs, they also are responsible for coordinating efforts to keep the college running.

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Duncan President Amber Makhani, head of the HRF Search Committee, said considering Duncan's relatively large population, it is important to ensure that there are adequate resources.

"As it's a new position, it could be challenging to define roles," Makhani said. "But Kate and Sean [de Luna], Marnie [Hylton] and Luis [Duno-Gottberg] are very open to trying to figure it out together, and work with the RAs and me. The thing is that you can never have too much academic advising."

De Luna said she will work with freshmen, of which Duncan will have more than 100 next year. In addition to holding follow-up sessions after Orientation Week, she hopes to introduce a place for students to discuss art and current events, among other topics, in a non-stressful environment.

"To distinguish my role from that of the masters, HRF will [primarily] help bring the new freshman class in and help them gradually to be comfortable at Rice and comfortable at Duncan," De Luna said.

The contract for HRFs is the same as for the RAs: one year to ensure suitability, then another three years, and then three final years.

"The first-year review is a very serious review," Forman said. "We want to make sure [RAs and HRFs] reflect the high ideals we have for these positions."

Sid Richardson College sophomore Camille Panaccione, who is transferring to Duncan next year, said she expects the new HRF to work with the masters and RAs to plan social events to eliminate the possible divisions between incoming Duncan freshmen and transfers. She also said the HRF will be playing a significant role in shaping Duncan's unique personality, identity and sense of community.

"I don't want there to be a line between Duncan people and transfers; I don't want there be the division," Panaccione said. "It's everybody's job, the RAs, the masters and the HRFs, everybody, to make sure that we make use of this great opportunity."

De Luna said her husband Sean de Luna, who is an active cyclist excited about the Duncan Beer Bike team, and her two-year-old daughter Mialoh are both enthusiastic about joining the college and will contribute to the community.

"This is not only going to be a 'Head Residential Fellow' position, but also a 'Head Residential Family' position," de Luna said. "We expect that we'll be doing the HRF job together, sharing that and doing more than one person could do."

Seth Brown contributed to this article.

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