After being appointed Associate Dean of College Life and Director of Residence Life, Piya Bose moved to the Pomona College campus in May. Since then, Bose has been preparing to take on oversight of all residential life programs at Pomona.
Bose’s first major undertaking was leading Residence Hall Staff training once the resident advisers, sponsors and other members of the staff arrived in August.
“I’m taking a lot of things in,” she said. “I’m observing a lot.”
Bose said she was not surprised by her interactions with the staff.
“I expected to be working with highly motivated, high-achieving, really bright young college students, and that’s exactly what I experienced,” she said.
The position of Director of Residence Life had remained unfilled for financial reasons since Dean Ric Townes took on the supervision of the Residence Hall Staff in 2011, absorbing the responsibilities that had previously belonged to the director of residence life.
“There had been searches to try to fill [that position],” but no candidate with the right set of qualifications was found before Bose, Campus Life Coordinator Jacqueline DuBose said.
Bose has extensive experience in college residential life administration. Most recently, she served as Area Coordinator at California State Polytechnic University, Pomona, where she created a gender-neutral housing program.
At Humboldt State University, where Bose served as the Residential Life Coordinator for four years, she contributed to a similar effort to create gender-neutral housing, the first of its kind in a California State University.
While at Humboldt State, Bose received her master’s degree in education, and she is now pursuing a doctorate in Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration at Claremont Graduate University, studying part-time while working with the Office of Campus Life (OCL).
DuBose credited Bose with creating the superhero theme and point system during this year’s Residence Hall Staff training.
As she begins to interact with Pomona’s student body on a regular basis, Bose said she is excited to receive feedback from and work with students.
“Students here are an integral part of all decision-making processes, and I think that’s amazing,” she said. “It makes me really happy the students have so much energy and desire to be part of the processes and decision-making.”
Although Bose has worked primarily at larger universities, she received her undergraduate degree from Vassar College, a liberal arts college.
“I hold liberal arts colleges in great regard,” Bose said. “I think a liberal arts education is a very valuable education.”
Bose lives on Pomona’s campus in Pomona Hall as an on-call Dean. She said that she hopes living on campus will give her more opportunities to integrate herself into the community.
“I really am excited to be here, and I hope that students take the time to come over to OCL to visit me,” she said.