Residence Life and Supporting Students with Dr. Mary Elliott

In this episode of Mile Higher Ed, Sarah and Caitlyn speak with EdD program alumna Dr. Mary Elliott, who is Executive Director of Residence Life and Auxiliary Services at Colorado School of Mines. We talk about building community through residential education, supporting students with autism, and becoming a leader in higher education.  

About our guest:  

Mary Elliott started her professional career as a teacher after undergrad at Cornell College (Mt. Vernon, IA). She loved studying and learning about teaching and she loves teaching. However, she discovered a need for more varied day to day challenges and ways to connect with students outside the classroom. This brought her to student affairs and higher education. Mary went to the University of Iowa for her Masters and worked in health education there. Her first job out of the program was as a Residential College Director at Washington University in St. Louis in the Department of Residential Life. Mary considers herself lucky to have fallen in love with her chosen field withing higher education early, and was promoted at Wash U to different roles, only leaving when a lateral move to Colorado, her home, opened. Mary grew up in Golden, Colorado, home to Colorado School of Mines. When the opportunity to come home to be near her parents as they age, and one of her sisters (she is the oldest of three), at a place that felt like a great fit professionally, came available, she jumped in and has not looked back. She has been lucky to be promoted at Mines and now serves as the Executive Director of Residence Life and Auxiliary Services, overseeing housing, dining, the student center, bookstore and the campus card system. Mary completed her Doctorate in Education at the University of Denver, in Higher Education in 2021. While at Morgridge she researched the experience of Autistic students in the residence halls as the topic of her dissertation. Mary's partner, Eric and their two dogs, Bubbers and Greta, and cat, Kitty make up her family at home.  

 

Some links to things we talk about: 

The Privileged Poor: How Elite Colleges Are Failing Disadvantaged Students by Anthony Abraham Jack. 

 

Thanks for listening to this episode of Mile Higher Ed. Mile Higher Ed is produced within the Morgridge College of Education at the University of Denver by Dr. Sarah Hurtado and Caitlyn Potter Glaser.  Our theme music is “Summer” by Liborio Conti.  

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