In November 2024, Piedmont University hired Joe Strickland as the new Director of Residence Life. Strickland previously worked in residence life roles at Clemson University and his alma mater, LaGrange College. 

“I can’t speak to a whole lot of how things were done before I started in November. I’ve heard from students and I’ve heard from staff, but I obviously can’t go back and undo or change any of those things,” said Strickland. “What I can look at is how we as a staff can move forward and really develop a better culture and community for all of our students.”

Strickland repeatedly pointed out that he wants to work with students and ensure their voices are heard. He noted that though he has only been in his role since early November, he has noticed that the relationships between students and Residence Life could be better.

Students face daily dilemmas with laundry services, mold, air conditioning, insects, refrigerators and showers. Residence Life works alongside multiple contract-based companies to solve these problems, some of which are unavailable on short notice. 

Currently, a resident assistant must be the one to place maintenance request orders. In the past, when students submitted the requests themselves, Residence Life had no way of seeing what was requested and if the students were helped. Residence Life is aware of problems with going through an RA and can check in with students to see if a solution has been made.

Unfortunately, Residence Life can only see when an order is completed; there are no additional comments, pictures or other information about the request. Therefore, if maintenance’s solution fails to fix a resident’s issue, Residence Life is unaware unless the student alerts their RA.

If a situation were to become so dire that a student could move out of their living space for safety or comfort, Residence Life must speak to the student before moving them.

“We typically will let the students give their opinion and try to respect it because if they don’t want to move, then I don’t want to force them if it’s not required,” said Strickland.

Moving a student can uproot their entire student life, and Residence Life is committed to providing a healthy and happy environment for students living on campus. Students expect a positive living experience at Piedmont, and Residence Life wants to ensure this in the most realistic way possible. 

Strickland encourages students to communicate with their RAs since they are there to help them and support them, and not just with housing concerns.

Strickland emphasized how students should feel comfortable going to their RA for any student-life needs while at Piedmont. Whether they struggle in classes, with friends, or with their housing, Residence Life supports students and ensures they get the help they need.

“It’s not just maintenance that Residence Life works with,” said Strickland. “We work with all aspects of student support.”

A common misconception amongst students is that their RA’s role is to get them in trouble. Strickland emphasizes that RAs are supposed to be a student’s additional support system, not a threat. RAs have a level of authority to protect and help residents and be a nearby resource.

“The role of an RA is to provide the students with respect, trust and support,” said Strickland. “RAs should be a role model for their residents and other students.”

In coming years, Residence Life hopes to prioritize effective communication with students and promote transparency in the best way possible.

“We have laws that are actively preventing certain things from happening. I think that’s another frustrating thing because it’s not easy to transparently communicate that to students in a way that makes sense,” said Strickland. “I think that’s one of the biggest challenges.”

Some of the concerns about housing deal with contracts and legal issues that can be difficult to properly explain to students. Still, the Residence Life staff wants to change how information has been communicated in the past.

Strickland’s top priorities are student health, safety and well-being. He wants to ensure that harmony is achieved through transparency and working to improve the long-term student experience.

Some problems with housing facilities are inevitable due to wear and tear as buildings age. However, Residence Life hopes to provide students with the resources to prevent potential issues more proactively.

The Residence Life staff is working on creating a new “best solutions” document to help students understand typical residence hall problems and how to avoid them. Residence Life hopes to answer questions such as: “Which laundry detergent is best for my residence hall’s washer?” and “How can I keep the humidity levels down in my unit?”

“If something is happening, here are some things that you can look at first, and then if you still don’t have an answer, then let your RA know because that means that it’s a larger issue that we need to look into,” said Strickland on what it would look like to have “best practices” in place for typical residence hall issues. 

When students’ concerns are vocalized with their RAs, Residence Life can identify common concerns within student life on campus and help assist with the problem or provide preventative measures.

“We take every concern that’s brought up as a real concern and look at how we can work as a team to address it,” said Strickland. “We also recognize that it’s just the reality of our work that Residence Life will always be the face of problems.”

Although Facilities and Residence Life work closely together to collaborate to find solutions for student health and well-being in the dormitories, students interact with Residence Life more often. This can lead to an easy placement of blame on Residence Life for any residence hall issue–even when Residence Life may not have much of a say on the issue.

“I’m not worried about that piece so much as I am with creating an environment where students know that we hear their concerns, and we want to hear their concerns,” said Strickland, understanding the student-facing nature of the department.

The new director of Residence Life is passionate about providing students with a healthy living environment. Strickland is ready to make the necessary changes to improve communication between the student body and Residence Life, finding harmony in housing and student life.

Residence Life looks forward to hosting future events to encourage deeper communication between the department and the students. Hence, they know which problems students face and determine the best action to make a difference.

View the 2025-2026 Housing Contract for updated information regarding student housing from Residence Life.