Vivian Evans, resident hall director of Seneca Hall at SUNY Oswego, earned a SUNY-wide award for new professionals, recognizing her unwavering commitment and hard work.
The SUNY Residence Life and Housing Administrators (SUNYRLHA) Michael C. Holland New Professionals Award honors staff members in continuous service at a SUNY campus for less than four years as a full-time employee or graduate student.
"Her passion and investment in her staff and students are felt on a daily basis, and she routinely works to leave things better than she found them," the campus nomination for the award read. Vivian has planned and executed multiple successful large-scale events in her residence hall that have been attended by hundreds of students on campus. She has lofty goals and regularly accomplishes them."
Evans joined Residence Life and Housing at SUNY Oswego in 2023 with a new bachelor's degree in social work from Stony Brook University.
“I'm very thankful to have been given a chance here at SUNY Oswego. I'm incredibly grateful to the Seneca RAs (resident assistants) and my AHD (assistant hall director), Kat Speed, as I don't think I would be nearly as successful as I have been without their help getting me acclimated here and giving me grace as I learned the position,” Evans said.
Evans' resident hall director role serves to support the students who live in Seneca and supervise the assistant hall director and 19 resident assistants who live and work there.
“The most common parts of my position are talking with students through their roommate concerns and conflicts, meeting with students regarding policy violations and connecting them to appropriate resources when I'm not able to help them with their specific problems,” Evans said.
In addition to her work in Residence Life and Housing, Evans has attended several professional conferences, including SUNYRLHA, College Student Personnel Association of New York and the Student Conduct Association. She also teaches a First-Year Seminar course for incoming students at SUNY Oswego.
Evans is simultaneously pursuing her master’s degree in higher education administration at her alma mater of Stony Brook, all while managing her professional responsibilities.
“At times, it's been incredibly challenging obtaining my master's while working full time,” Evans said. “As a hall director, I also serve in a 24/7 on-call rotation for a week at a time, so it can be challenging when I'm in the groove of writing a paper and then I get a call and have to respond to a situation.”
All the hard work also is making the next step in Evans’ progress possible.
“I'm incredibly grateful for the hall director position because I'm part of the United University Professions union, which pays for one class every semester so I've only been taking one class at a time,” Evans said.
Recently, Evans was appointed to the Divisional Strategic Planning Committee, a first for her. The committee’s mission is to identify four to six initiatives that could advance the Division of Student Affairs and align with the university’s Strategic Plan for the years 2025-2028.
“This is my first time serving on an institutional committee that collaborates across all Student Affairs departments," Evans noted.
The nomination explains why Evans is well-positioned for this task: "She remains incredibly motivated and committed to the students she serves and is always seeking out any opportunity. If it were possible to exemplify a professional in student affairs, it is fair to make the claim that Vivian is the standard we would all hope to meet."
-- Written by Gianna Cowell of the Class of 2026