By Stephanie London
September30, 2026

Never in a million years did I see myself working in housing on a college campus. Sure, I lived on campus in college…in an apartment…never a residence hall. I enjoyed leadership positions as a student, but in programming boards and orientations programs, never as an RA or student staff member in housing. My path was always planning events and the world of student activities. That, I knew from early on in my college career. 

So how did I end up here? 

Funny you should ask – I’ll explain. 

I did take the path I always planned after graduating college, planning events at a performing arts center, then finding my place in student activities at my Alma Mater while working on a graduate degree, and ultimately moving up into different positions within student activities. Like most of us, at some point I started questioning if I was where I wanted to be and what was next in my professional career. After some soul-searching, I shared this with my supervisor to be transparent that I was ready for the next phase of my career. 

Fast forward a short time later and our Director of Housing was leaving for a great opportunity at another institution. My supervisor, knowing I was looking for something different, pitched the idea of being in charge of housing. What was my reaction? Well, I could only laugh. I saw the world of housing from the outside and saw the challenges. But the more I thought about it, I thought “I can do this!” 

Sure, I had no housing background whatsoever, but I had 15 years’ experience in higher education. When I broke it down, I thought “the basics are all there.” I mean I could plan an event easily, coordinated and executed creative marketing efforts, managed my own departmental budgets, oversaw all my departmental staff and student staff, assessed risks for activities, served as an advisor to the Student Government Association, took part in student conduct – I had all the transferrable skills. I just didn’t see it until I really looked at both sides of the coin. Plus, I had some encouragement from the outgoing Director of Housing. 

That’s how I ended up here; now serving as Assistant Dean of Students at my institution and in the role of senior housing officer, overseeing Housing and Residence Life. 

Was it an easy transition? Honestly, no. Regardless of having the skills needed to pull it off, I had a lot to learn in the housing world, while also being short a Resident Director and still serving in my role as Director of Student Activities until it could be filled. But I also knew those were temporary challenges – and I like a good challenge. 

Now, I’m in my fourth year working in housing (19 overall in higher education) and I truly believe that having no background in housing really helped me in my first year and still some today. Yes, I had to learn the ropes and the tricks of the trade, but I also looked at things from a new lens – a non-housing lens – and could ask the “why” we did certain things the way we did. I was really able to step back, and challenge my team to step back, and look at what we were doing. While we were left in a great place by my predecessor, we still challenged some concepts and had conversations about how to evolve our operation. After all, our students change so sometimes we have to as well. 

At the end of the day, I’d challenge you that if you’re wondering if you can do something you just aren’t quite sure you can do – go for it! Yes, you may have some bumps. Yes, you may have a little imposter syndrome. Yes, it may be a little scary. The reward is knowing you can do it – you can do hard things – and be successful. But, you’ll never know unless you try. 

Stephanie London
Assistant Dean of Students for Housing and Campus & Community Engagement at University of Arkansas Fort Smith