2025 Awards Recipients

Congratulations to the recipients of the 2025 Residential College Society Awards!

Nominated by Janine Berrill, Kerri Barber and Nafisa Azizi

As a resident associate, Caitlin is more than a staff member; she is a mentor, community-builder, and stay presence in students’ lives, who embodies each role with grace, compassion, and extraordinary dedication. Through her support, Jones students have grown in confidence and leadership, and the college’s collaborative spirit has flourished.

From sending Jones-branded stuffed goats to students studying abroad, to spending hours comforting a homesick international student, Caitlin has a gift for making every student feel seen and valued. In every way, Caitlin exemplifies what it means to serve in a residential college: she is a mentor, innovator, caregiver, and leader. Her kindness and creativity have shaped the lives of countless students and left a lasting mark on Jones College.

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Nominated by Jennifer Stephens, Kirsten Carrier, Lucy Sneader, and Sarah Ann Chapman

Through his warmth, creativity, and dedication, Sandy has helped shape the Global Neighborhood into one of Elon’s most vibrant, inclusive, and intellectually rich residential communities. Under his leadership, the Global Neighborhood has become a place where students not only live, but truly learn, connect, and belong. He has expanded the intellectual life of the Global Neighborhood through initiatives like the foreign film and dinner series, the Global Iftar Dinner in partnership with the Burlington Masjid, and the Global Song Contest.

Students describe Sandy as “the gold standard of deep service,” someone who remembers names, checks in regularly, and leads with humility and heart. His steady presence and genuine care remind us what it means to live and learn together.

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Nominated by Rick Cazzato Jr.

Nancy is described as the steady heart of Northwestern’s residential college system for the past 30 years. A connector, historian, and champion of academic partnership and tradition, her leadership has shaped not just one community, but an entire network of residential colleges that seamlessly integrate intellectual life with daily living.

Students lovingly describe Nancy as a “tough cookie” whose strength is grounded in deep care, purpose, and commitment. She has built a legacy that honors the past, celebrates the present, and inspires the future of the Residential College Program. As she retired this year, we celebrate not just her decades of service, but the indelible mark she leaves on the thousands of students, faculty, and staff whose lives she has touched.

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Nominated by James Penven

Since assuming the role of Provost in 2019 (after serving in an interim capacity beginning in 2017), Dr. Clarke has been an unwavering champion for Living-Learning Programs and Residential Colleges, ensuring they are recognized as integral to the university’s academic mission. Under his leadership, these programs have not only flourished, they have doubled in number. This remarkable growth reflects Dr. Clarke’s belief that learning should extend beyond the classroom and into the daily fabric of campus life.

Equally transformative is his creation of the Provost’s Residential Faculty Fellowship, which formally recognizes and rewards the teaching, mentorship, and leadership that faculty principals bring to these communities, ensuring their work is visible and valuable within the promotion and tenure process. As Dr. Clarke prepares to return to the faculty at the end of 2025, we celebrate his extraordinary legacy: a campus culture where learning and living are truly intertwined, and where faculty and students engage as partners in discovery and community.

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Nominated by Karen Inkelas

Carl has been, quite literally, part of the Residential College Society from the very beginning. If you visit the “History of RCS” webpage, you will see a photo of the Society’s founding members, and right there, you will find Carl. From those earliest days, he has been a steady and passionate advocate for the vision that brought this organization to life: that living-learning communities and residential colleges are central to the student experience.

For more than a decade, Carl has served as one of the Society’s most dedicated leaders. In fact, among that original group of founders, he has served the longest and most continuously on the Executive Team. Over the years, he has done just about everything, always ensuring that the work could continue, no matter the challenge. In truth, the Residential College Society would not be what it is today (and might not have survived at all) without Carl’s vision, perseverance, and heart.

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Elon University is a campus who embodies the spirit of the Residential College Society through their institutional commitment to integrative living and learning. At Elon, Living and Learning is not just a program, it is the Elon experience. It is a defining commitment to engaged learning that weaves together every aspect of campus life. Through intentional collaboration between Academic Affairs and Student Life, faculty and staff, and with the support of President Connie Ledoux Book, Elon has built a model where learning and living are inseparable and where every student’s growth is supported by community, curiosity, and connection. Elon’s model stands as a national example of what is possible when institutional values align with action, when every division, every department, and every person works together toward a shared vision of holistic student learning.