OXFORD. Miss. – Tristan Denley, associate professor of mathematics at
the University of Mississippi, will welcome some 450 students to his
family of four in August 2009 when UM’s first of two planned
residential colleges opens.
Recently named Senior Fellow of the college, Denley will move into a
three bedroom lodge in the new residence with his wife, mathematics
instructor Kimberly Denley, and their two children.
As Senior Fellow, Denley will provide leadership to the
students-in-residence, as well as organize events, encourage students
to become involved in the community and help ensure that residential
college life runs smoothly.
“He (Denley) will represent the interest of the students in the college
and make sure their academic life is interwoven with all other facets
of life,” said Carolyn Staton, special assistant to the chancellor and
provost emeritus. “He will be there to help create and ensure that
there’s an environment that is not only a living environment but also
one where students are constantly learning.”
The residential college will provide students of all ages and majors with the opportunity to live on campus during their entire college career while building a sense of community, Denley said. The college will feature its own dining hall, fitness center, library and computer center.
“All the time my wife and I have been here (at Ole Miss), we’ve always really just had a heart for working with students,” Denley said. “The whole energy behind the concept of the college is to give students the opportunity to get truly involved in university life and interact with faculty outside of the classroom. As Senior Fellow, it will be my job to orchestrate that and build a vibrant community on campus.”
Staton said Denley’s past experience with residential college living played an important role when selecting him for his new post. Denley lived in a similar residential college for five years at Trinity College-Cambridge University while working on his doctorate.
“I’ve lived this life,” Denley said. “It was just a fantastically enriching kind of experience. There were just so many things going on, so many different ways to interact with other students and explore all kinds of interests, even some that I didn’t know I had. My job as Senior Fellow is to try to make a similar kind of community here.”
While the residential college does not officially open for another year, Denley is engaged full time in his new position making plans for the college, including recruitment.
“We’re basically building the college from the ground up,” he said. “That requires creating its structure as well as molding its identity.”
So far, plans include hosting weekly dinners in his lodge with students and other faculty members, bringing campus visitors to speak at the college and meet students on a personal level, producing a weekly residential college publication and presenting lunchtime recitals. Denley is also working on the student application process for the college and recruiting a group of about 40 faculty fellows who will also be actively involved in the college but will not live there.
“I believe that (Denley) will add a dimension of care that the students will understand,” Staton said. “They will know he and the other faculty fellows that will be in the college care about them and are there to help them, meet their needs and provide a very cohesive community.”
Denley has taught at UM for 12 years and also served as chair of the math department for the last six years. He will continue to teach as a member of the mathematics faculty.
In August 2010, a second residential college is scheduled to open its doors, Staton said. The search for that college’s senior fellow is under way.