Cody Shepard/The Veritas News
Celisse Randolph, Young Hall’s new resident director, most recently worked at Messiah College from 2010-12.
The search for the next Young Hall resident director ended this week after the Student Development Office narrowed the search to five candidates.
Celisse Randolph was hired as the new Young resident director and began on Tuesday, Oct. 15. She replaces Nicole Johnson, who left on Sept. 27.
Randolph was born and raised in California and studied psychology at Fresno Pacific University. Randolph went to graduate school at Geneva College, where she worked under ENC’s Vice President for Student Development, Jeff Kirksey.
Randolph worked as a residence director at Messiah College from 2010-12, but recently took a year off to move back to California to help her mother.
She is excited about getting to know the students at ENC.
“I have heard a lot about the students and how they’re so friendly and how they are dedicated to the community here,” Randolph said.
Moving to an urban campus was also a positive.
“I love that [ENC is] an urban campus, it’s like going back home for me,” Randolph said.
Robert Benjamin, associate dean for community life, said Randolph matched the description of what the Student Development Office was looking for.
“Based on the interview, [Randolph] pretty much matched with what we wanted, and what the college needed,” Benjamin said.
Benjamin said it was crucial that the new Young resident director would fit in with the current team in his office.
“In student development, it’s critical, first, that we don’t have lone rangers, and second, that they fit in with the culture of the team,” Benjamin said.
Kirksey, who was Randolph’s boss at Geneva College when she was a graduate assistant, said the decision was not easy.
“We had five very good candidates that the interview committee worked with,” Kirksey said.
Although he was not a part of hiring the candidate, Kirksey did reach out to higher educational programs to find candidates.
Randolph’s first day was Tuesday, which was also her birthday. She is ready for this opportunity at ENC.
“I’m excited to be back in residential life,” Randolph said. “I love community living and what it means to an academic environment.”
Andrew Littauer contributed reporting to this story.