Stephani Robinson, better known to Dubois College House residents as Miss Steph, has helped to create the sense of a close-knit community that is exactly what administrators wanted to see when they created the College House System in 1998.
But there is not a Miss Steph in every college house, and other college houses are not like Dubois.
Associate Director of College Houses and Academic Services Pamela Robinson said that she believes Dubois' family environment is integral to the college house community atmosphere.
"If we could ever duplicate the Dubois environment in the other college houses, we definitely would," Robinson stated.
College senior Tia Rideout, who has spent all four of her years in Dubois, noted that Dubois and the close community it houses is particularly important for minority students at Penn.
"Especially for minority African-American freshman, Dubois is a good house to start off your first year," Rideout said.
"You get a lot of connections in terms of upperclassmen like myself... you get to know resources, who to talk to, who not to talk to -- a lot of advice coming in as a freshman."
And Rideout said that the Dubois community is well-suited to helping minority students deal with the unique challenges many of them face.
"If you were a minority in your living situation, sometimes it's hard because you go to school and you're a minority and then you come home and you're a minority at home even. It's hard, especially if you're not from the Philadelphia area," Rideout explained.
"You do have a real sense of community here, it's a good thing," she said.
Miss Steph noted though: "It's not just African-Americans. We have all races and ethnic groups here... but it doesn't matter, we're one big family here."
College senior Tanji Gilliam, who no longer lives in Dubois but still works as the office manager, said that she thinks that the community is something that sets Dubois apart from the other eleven college houses.
"It's definitely a family atmosphere... I also like the fact that most of the African-American groups are centered here," Gilliam noted.
"I like the programming that the house has -- everyone here, [graduate associates], the faculty master, the dean, everyone all works to make you feel like a family unit. People like Miss Steph are here to care about us, not only how we are doing emotionally and physically, but also academically, to push us to be all that we can," she added.
The ultimate reason why Dubois is so successful as a community, however, may be something as simple as its size.
"Part of the reason Dubois is so close knit is because it is a smaller college house," Pamela Robinson said. "The structure and the numbers lend themselves to a close community, but if we could, we would absolutely love to duplicate it."
