For the past decade, the front desk of Dubois College House has been more than just a place to sign in guests and get lock-out keys -- it has been a place where students can get some much appreciated attention, caring and advice when they need it.
What's behind this particular front desk that makes it so special?
A woman named Stephani Robinson, who provides students with all of the above things along with anything else they need while away from home.
"I'm Miss Steph," she tells them with a hearty laugh.
Her endearing ways comfort parents wary of the new college environment. Reassuring them in every way possible, Robinson makes a promise to each and every students' parents: "You've had them this far, now it's my turn. I'm going to take care of them, I promise."
And Robinson apparently keeps her promise. When students first meet Robinson, they call her Miss Steph, but by the next spring and move-out day, nearly everyone who walks through the door has changed their "Miss Steph" to "Mamma Steph."
"I'm their mom away from home," Robinson says. And that is a role for which Robinson has great pride.
Slightly more than a decade ago, Robinson had no career and no aspirations for any. "I was just a housewife and mother," she explains. "I had no job." But things soon began to change.
"My own mother died in 1990, and I was having a hard time with it," Robinson says. "I had a friend in Housing and Conference Services, and she knew that this job was open. She thought it would be good for me."
At about the same time, Robinson's eldest son left their home in suburban Philadelphia for college. "He went to another state. My child was somewhere else, and he needed someone to take care of him."
Her son's new situation brought Robinson to a realization about what would become her own role here at Penn: "Then I started thinking, my child is somewhere else, just like these kids. They need someone, too."
"I started in 1991, in [Hamilton College House]. I realized that these kids here work very very hard... I also realized that I could recognize every name and face and expression. It was very much appreciated and needed -- everybody wants to be cared about, everybody wants and needs a personal touch."
Robinson was transferred to Dubois in 1992, after she lost her home to a fire. Her bosses thought she would have a less stressful time with the lower volume of students in the smaller dormitory.
Dubois is where it became truly apparent that Robinson's personal touch adds much to the community environment.
"Nobody appointed me, nobody hired me, I appointed myself," Robinson said of her additional role as "house mother" at Dubois.
According to Associate Director of College Houses and Academic Services Pamela Robinson, "Miss Steph and Dubois are practically synonymous; that's how much a part of the environment she is."
Dubois Faculty Master Howard Stevenson says that Robinson has a "unique ability to both stimulate the personal and intellectual interests of the students."
"She's just a supremely unique individual, is what she is," Stevenson says. "She adds a great sense of community to the building. She helps us in every way. We ask and she adds her own opinions and thoughts, but all without stepping on anybody -- she respects everyone here."
Dubois House Dean Patricia Williams, who became the house dean last July, credits Robinson with helping her ease in to her new position.
"She's the eyes and ears of not just the students, but of all of us. She's the personality that brings all the personalities together, that keeps us all from boiling over, from sinking. She's what keeps everything in place," Williams says.
"She can look at [students'] faces and tell if something is wrong with them... I think there's a spiritual intuitivism there; she's just wonderful. She can spot something in a student, she knows when a student is in trouble and she will come to me... she gives me the heads up with everything.
"It's rare that you'd find someone who's like that and it's not an effort. That's just her, that's the way she really is," Williams adds.
College freshman Farralon Wilson says that while she was not thrilled with her placement in Dubois, Robinson is "definitely one of the reasons that made it better.
"I remember that the first day of school, she had signs up everywhere that said 'Good morning dear family, have a great first day of school!,'" Wilson recalls.
Robinson's care for the dormitory residents is manifested in many ways, including coming to her job in the morning with plenty of food to share.
"I bring food, soup, whatever it is that I have, that way I can share. The Lord has blessed me enough so that I can share, so why not?
"It makes a difference; it's certainly a good thing as opposed to the junk food in vending machines these kids often eat," Robinson teases.
"She always has doughnuts and candy and cake. She's a great woman, she would definitely take care of you without any hesitation," Wilson says.
Robinson takes an integral part in all of the student's activities. Whether it's telling a student to put on a coat in cold weather or feeding a sick student hot soup, Robinson is always there when she is needed.
However, Robinson's interaction with the students goes beyond her desk.
"We have functions of the house with the students and [graduate associates] and Mama's always there," College sophomore and Dubois resident Jennifer Santiago says. "She goes to the circus, Sunday brunch, Thanksgiving dinner, basically everything. We are just one big family."
Recently, for example, Robinson took part in a Dubois fashion show.
"I do a lot of things, I have lots of fun doing them, trying on clothes and modeling, it's all in fun."
But Robinson adds she had a reason for participating in the show that wasn't just having fun.
"My main reason that I started doing the fashion shows is that a lot of full-figured girls need a little boost, a little confidence. Going out there and showing them the full-figured fashions is something I can do to help."
While her personal touch is what most people remember about her, Robinson emphasizes that the most important aspect of her job is keeping house residents safe.
"I have to be very security conscious. It appears that my guard is down, but it never is. I have to be aware of who my kids are signing in, if they have guests, who they're going out with. It's my job to make sure that the security is covered," Robinson acknowledges.
"That's the part of my job that I am very, very serious about -- the TLC is only part of it. Not only do I not want [the students] to be hurt on my watch, I don't want them to be hurt at all."
"Whoever designed this job did a good job knowing exactly what college students need," Robinson says about the need for security in college houses.
And Robinson's care for the residents of Dubois is reflected in their care for her.
For instance, two years ago Robinson unexpectedly lost the use of her left eye.
"It was very sudden. I had every kind of test you can imagine, but I was blessed; I didn't have any of those diseases. They think it was a stroke of the neuro-optic nerve," she says.
Despite a clearly difficult personal situation, Robinson took time out in the next few days to reassure the students at Dubois.
"The kids were so upset, so I came in for two or three hours and just sat in the lounge and talked to them. I had to be here to tell them I was going to take some time off. They needed to know that."
The students of Dubois appreciated it. They dedicated the Valentine's Day issue of the Dubois College House newsletter to "Mamma Steph" and as Robinson puts it, "gave me beautiful poems and wishes, heartwarming things."
But Robinson's own attitude was also beneficial in her recovery.
"The Lord has blessed me to be as healthy as I was, so I had to move on. It happened just like that, there was nothing I could do, so I moved on, and here I am."
There is one experience that Robinson refuses to share with her young residents -- her side job as a stand-up comedian.
Always laughing herself, Robinson found herself performing as a comedian on a trip to the Lobsterfest in Connecticut, recently.
"I was just standing at the front of the bus telling jokes, it was a lot of fun... Then, on a trip to Ocean City, Maryland, I found out that my girlfriends had actually put me on the comedian roster at a club.
"It was so much fun, I had a ball. I love to laugh, I love to make anybody laugh."
Robinson restricts her act to the stage, however, and refrains from performing her routine at Dubois.
"Those are some dirty jokes," she admits. "Over 21 only. But I got a standing ovation; they wanted more. I was so excited, but like my mother always said, 'Leave them when they're wanting more, not when they're pushing you off the stage.'"
It seems nobody is going to be pushing Robinson off the Dubois stage anytime soon, though she says that nothing is ever certain.
"A decade is a long time, who knows where I'll be? Only the Lord knows what I'll be doing in the future -- time will tell."
