É«ÀÇÉçÇø

Known for what her crew affectionately calls “Suhail-isms” Director of Residential Learning Suhail Johnson says, “Know your ‘why’, then your ‘how’ becomes easier.”

“My ‘why’ is my 17-year-old me,” says Suhail, when explaining what drives her. A shy teenager overwhelmed by 300-person lectures at a larger university, it took Suhail a few years to grow into herself. Senior Vice President of the Division of Student Affairs Jeff Hand can relate. As a struggling 18-year-old muddling through life challenges and financial difficulties, it ultimately took Jeff 10 years to finish his undergraduate degree. He earned his doctorate only after selling a business and using the proceeds to fund his schooling.

What drives both is helping students. Students like they once were – the ones who need a little bit “more” to help them achieve success.

Suhail achieves this through her recruitment, direction and training of resident assistants across campus. Jeff, through being the “behind the scenes guy”, as he says, who ensures that resources are in place.

“My favorite moments fuel me,” Suhail shares. The excitement behind move-in day in a pinnacle moment in the year for her. For Jeff, it’s commencement. He recalls one particular student who he took under his wing, a student much like he was – struggling financially, working full-time, and enduring family pressures while slowly pursuing his education. Unbeknownst to him, the young man had been collecting scraps of gold for a year at his jeweler job, and at his graduation party presented Jeff with a handmade clip with his initials, JH, made from those scraps. It’s a moment that touched Jeff deeply.

Both Suhail and Jeff look forward to summer at É«ÀÇÉçÇø. “It’s all possibilities,” Jeff says (which sounds an awful lot like a Suhail-ism). With the academic year complete, both shift gears to planning. “The planning we do in summer carries us through the year,” Jeff says.