Alissa Scott

Dean of Students Alane Varga has taken on additional duties, atop her extensive existing commitments, as former Director of Residence Life Uchenna Baker resigned from Utica College.

Baker has been offered a similar position at the University of North Carolina at Wilmington in its Residence Life department. Baker said the decision to resign was both “personal and professional between [herself and her] family.”

“I would like to maintain some level of privacy during this time,” Baker said.

Though it may seem like an abrupt decision, Varga said you cannot always plan for opportunities.

“This was a professional growth opportunity for her,” Varga said. “Sometimes they don’t always come up at the times you want them to.”

Varga has taken control of the administrative aspects while the remaining Residence Life staff members pick up any outstanding responsibilities.

“I’m doing a lot of the administrative things to provide support for Residence Life,” Varga said. “They’re picking up a lot of day to day things, as they always have.”

As for the spare time Varga has available to share with Residence Life, she said she is trying.

“I think that you do the best that you can,” Varga said. “We’ve got a great staff in residence life, as far as some really experienced area coordinators and [Area Coordinator] Derek [Pooley] is a great new addition. Stephanie [Weishaupt] had been doing the assistant director position for a semester, so she’s gotten her feet wet and knows what’s going on with that. I’m going to rely heavily on them and the RA staff.”

Weishaupt said, though she wished not to speak of Baker’s reasons for leaving, she was well liked and will be “sorely missed”.

According to Varga, Baker has made large contributions to the campus community and, though she hopes students close to her have an easy time with the changes, she hopes that community is able to transition smoothly.

“I think one of the things Uchenna did was that she really worked with the staff to take a look at how we organize responsibilities in Residence Life,” Varga said. “[She] tried to figure out ways to respond to student needs… so it can really be a place that people can live and learn.”

Baker’s position will be filled as soon as possible and, according to Weishaupt, a search process has already begun and is being headed by Director of Student Activities Paul Lehmann.

“We’ll be working on that throughout the semester,” Varga explained. “The position is just about to be posted on campus. We’d like to have someone as quickly as possible… We’re going to look for student feedback and provide students, as well as other members of the community, with the chance to meet the applicants that come on campus.”

Lead Resident Assistant Kenneth Agyapong said he appreciated the time Baker spent at Utica College and wishes her well in her future endeavors.

“I was shocked when I first received the email,” Agyapong said. “I was like, ‘Wow. She was just here. She’s leaving now?’ I’m going to miss her. She always had the open door policy. When she was in her office, she let us speak with her.”

Lead Resident Assistant Tiffany Williams is looking to the resident life staff to help Varga transition into their way of working.

“In this season of her life, Utica College probably wasn’t the best season for her,” Williams said. “I think Miss Alane will be doing just fine. She interacts with the students already. Most people find her very approachable. It’s unfortunate that she already has a lot on her plate, but what she needs right now is support in terms of resident assistants doing our part.”

Varga is remaining optimistic through the commotion.

“I’m just going to put one foot in front of the other and do what I can to make sure that people have what they need,” Varga said.