SU Co-Hosts MACUHO Conference in Ocean City

SALISBURY, MD---The Housing and Residence Life Office of Salisbury University and the Residence Life Office of University of Maryland Eastern Shore recently co-hosted “Family Reunion at the Beach,” the annual Mid-Atlantic Association of College and University Housing Officers (MACUHO) conference in Ocean City, MD.

Melissa Hecker, SU resident director of Chesapeake Hall, served as co-chair of the host committee along with Benita Brown-Rashaw, UMES assistant director for residence life. More than 300 housing professionals and graduate students from 88 MACUHO-member institutions attended the event.

Host committee members from SU included Housing and Residence Life staff Pamela “P.J.” Boggio, assistant director for residence life; Gwen Owen, assistant director for housing assignments and data management; and Dave Gutoskey, director of housing and residence life. Gutoskey recently completed a three-year term as an MACUHO executive officer, with a one-year term as association president.

Dr. Ellen Neufeldt, SU vice president of student affairs, and Marvin Jones, UMES director of residence life, opened the conference by welcoming the delegation to the Eastern Shore. Mark Turnbough, live-in staff at SU’s St. Martin Hall, presented a professional development program about live-in staff keeping pets in their residences. Joe McNeill, resident director at St. Martin Hall, was selected as a conference “VIP,” a title awarded to students interested in the residence life field. This allowed him to attend conference sessions at no charge.

Keynote speaker for the conference was Reverend Jamie Washington, M. Div., Ph.D., a nationally-known speaker, consultant, trainer and writer on diversity, leadership, spirituality, organizational change and community development issues.

SU live-in staff working on the conference included area directors Dave Fleming (Choptank Hall), Brenda Stanley (Severn Hall), Mark Turnbough (St. Martin Hall) and Resident directors Heather Cook (Nanticoke Hall), Becky Kjaerbye (Manokin Hall), Johnika Nixon (Dogwood Village), Nikki Sandeman (Chester Hall), Clarence Scott (Wicomico Hall) and Jason Yoder (Pocomoke Hall). SU resident assistants Tom DiCato (Chesapeake Hall), Meghan Elder (Nanticoke Hall) and Joe McNeill (St. Martin Hall) also participated.

MACUHO is comprised of 274 universities and colleges located in Delaware, the District of Columbia, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, West Virginia and England. For more information call 410-543-6040 or visit the SU Housing Web site at www.salisbury.edu/housing.