For profs, home is where the dorm is

Everyone's seen them in their dorm at some point or another. You may have spoken to them briefly in the hallways, or smiled at their children in the elevators. Since the institution of the college house system in 1999, every dormitory on campus has them: faculty masters and house deans -- professors, middle-aged adults living in student housing. But what's it like to be a person over 30, living, working and trying to raise a family with college students? Most of them say it's all in a day's work. "Among my responsibilities is facilitating the creation of a community, to help bring in an academic perspective," said Phil Nichols, faculty master at Stouffer College House. Nichols, a Legal Studies professor, is one of the 24 faculty masters and house deans living in the dorms, and he doesn't think that there's anything special about his living situation. Indeed, he refutes the idea "that students are different from any other people." Nichols lives in Stouffer with his wife, Amy, and his three small children, Tanner, Halyard and Browning. Browning, 3, has lived on Penn's campus his entire life. Nichols says the communal environment of the dorm has been great for raising children. "Living in any community is great for a little kid," he said. The family's apartment was created from existing student rooms and bathrooms, elements of which can still be seen in the bathroom with three sinks, a setup that many students would recognize. Nichols, who travels around the world, has decorated his apartment with an intriguing mix of African and Asian art, as well as a giant hamster habitat, an addition his children brought home from school. Another world traveler is Jorge Santiago-Aviles, the faculty master of Kings Court/English College House. Santiago-Aviles keeps a sailboat in Baltimore's Inner Harbor named Faustina, which he has sailed to Bermuda. "I have had four boats called Faustina," he said. "It was [the name of] my first girlfriend." Santiago-Aviles lives with his 5-year-old son Sebastian and his wife Marta. Their spacious apartment is on the third and fourth floor of Kings Court. Santiago-Aviles' love for the ocean is evident in his decorating scheme -- the apartment is full of many huge fish tanks, containing fish from Lake Nicaragua known as siclets. The professor, originally from Puerto Rico, describes himself as "a dedicated fisherman." Santiago-Aviles, an Electric Engineering professor, enjoys living with students and thinks that Penn's campus is an ideal place to raise his children. "My 5-year-old kid has a wonderful park that is called the University of Pennsylvania," he said. On the ground level of DuBois College House is a cozy apartment, decorated with paintings and African art. Howard Stevenson, faculty master of DuBois, has been living there for seven years. Stevenson, an Education School professor, says his 10-year-old son Brian -- custody of whom he shares with his ex-wife -- has always loved living on campus. "He's always loved it," he said. "He wanted to know if the fact that I'm faculty master made him the head kid of the building." Stevenson admitted that he was at first apprehensive about moving into the dorm. "I like it," he said. "When I first moved in, I was reluctant because I wasn't sure about having the time to do this. My biggest fear was that I would be overly roped." The Harrison faculty master doesn't feel roped in at all -- in fact, he lives in a dorm-style penthouse. John Richetti lives with his wife Deidre Davis 23 floors above ground. Richetti's living room is dominated at one end by two massive arm chairs, which he has dubbed the "Mao and Nixon" chairs after the famous image of Mao Tze-Tung and Richard Nixon together. Richetti, the chairman of the English Department, also enjoys living with students, but says that he doesn't get to know enough of them. "I like many of the students," he said. "I like students better when I get to know them." Though Richetti loves Penn's campus, he does miss some of the comforts of Center City. "I liked it because I could get my shoes shined," he said. A newcomer to this kind of housing is Linda Brown, faculty master at Community House and a Nursing School professor. She lives there with her daughter, College sophomore Julie Brown. Her husband and son -- both named Stephen -- come down for a few days each week from the nearby suburb of Media, where the family has its other house. Brown has only been living on campus since the beginning of the semester, but is enjoying her new home, with its soft, blue sofas and paintings by her daughter on the walls. "I'd be crazy to say I don't like it," she said. "Most of the things I've received a lot of enjoyment from is working with patients or students or both." "It reminds me of my childhood," she said.