Simeone enjoys a challenge

The petite woman sits down at one side of a circular table which, like the rest of the small room, is spotless. Dozens of blue binders filled with files sit on a big bookshelf adjacent to the table. Three walls are covered with Residential Living posters. The fourth has one big window that looks out onto Superblock. This is where Gigi Simeone spends most of her day -- in her office in the upper lobby of High Rise North. Simeone has been the director of Residential Living since 1987. Before that she served as director of the Quadrangle. This week marks her 15th year at the University. Reflecting on her past, Simeone said she knew during her undergraduate experiences at Wellesley and Dartmouth Colleges that she wanted to work with universities. "I just knew that I loved the college and university world," she said. "So after I got my masters degree I got a job working in Residential Life at the University of New Hampshire. "This job is so terrific because everyday is different, everyday is interesting, everyday is exciting, everyday has challenges," Simeone added. "It is a wonderful place to work. I love this job." This semester, Simeone has dealt with everything from stenches in Community House to loose snakes in High Rise South. And in the past, she has faced major problems with slow mail and sleeping security guards. Despite it all, Simeone says she loves her job. The thing she enjoys the most about her job is the challenge. "I mean, it is just wonderful when there are problems to be solved and we all pull together and solve it and it works out for the students," she said. But Simeone said the job is far from perfect, citing mail problems as one of her biggest sources of frustration. Although she said she has done everything possible to alleviate the problem, students continue to find fault with the postal service. "I have been so frustrated that I have written to President Clinton and Vice President Gore and said we have done everything internally that we can possibly think of to do," Simeone said. She added that she is "tremendously frustrated" because she believes the problem is with the U.S. Postal System. Simeone said she is most excited by what she considers to be the highlight of her accomplishments this year -- the 21st Century program in Kings Court, a Living and Learning experience incorporating separate Science and Technology, Humanities and International Studies programs. She said she is not disturbed by the fact that Residential Living will no longer be in charge of residential security, which will be under the jurisdiction of University Police beginning in January. Instead, she has been focused on the importance of selecting rooms and Residential Advisors this spring. Simeone said she is also very proud of the 3,000 programs her department runs every year, saying "people are generally surprised at the scope of what [the Department of Residential Living] deals with. "We run the movie channel on the Resnet network, we run the bulletin board on resnet?we have our service center that is dealing with all sorts of different student issues," she said. "I am not sure most people really understand the scope of what this department is about." Although University President Judith Rodin and Provost Stanley Chodorow have not included her on the committee to determine the new vision of the undergraduate experience, Simeone said she is "very excited" about its future.