By Emma Schultz
The 2021-2022 school year has brought various staffing changes throughout multiple academic and administrative departments at Western New England University. Recently, the Office of Residence Life has welcomed a new Assistant Director of Residence Life for Housing Operations, Alycia Johnston. Johnston comes to Western New England after working as a Residence Hall Director at Quinnipiac University, from the years 2016-2022.
Johnston is originally from West Chester, Pennsylvania and completed her undergraduate degree at Goucher College in Baltimore, Maryland. Although she obtained her degree in chemistry, she soon realized her true passion was working with college students. She attended New England College and received her Masters degree in Higher Education Administration, and shortly thereafter began working at Quinnipiac University.
At Quinnipiac, Johnston oversaw all class years of students and worked closely with the Resident Advisors on campus, which she is excited to continue doing here. In addition to being the advisor for both Quinnipiac’s Residence Hall Association and Relay for Life team, she was proud to share that she was able to work with and assist students all hours of the day and night when it came to roommate conflicts, housing concerns, and any other issues inside and outside the residence halls.
Johnston will be continuing that work at Western New England University as the Assistant Director of Residence Life for Housing Operations. In this role she will be helping students with Housing Selection, facilitating room changes and aiding in other various housing needs. Johnston looks forward to changing the way Residence Life operates in becoming more environmentally conscious by putting the various processes completely online.
She also hopes to be more open with students in terms of all things housing- timelines, how-to’s, etc. Johnston is very excited to integrate herself into the Golden Bear community, and wants to make sure that every student knows that her door is always open! Her office is located on the second floor of the Campus Center.
When asked what brought her to WNE, Johnston replied, “Early in my career, I knew I never wanted to leave college and wanted to work in Res Life. My undergrad, Goucher College, is similar in size to WNE and I have always loved smaller schools – so coming to WNE felt like coming back home.”
When she is not working on campus, you can find her, “reading a good book, listening to a podcast, traveling around the East Coast, or playing with my 4 year old labradoodle, Quinton!” Johnston says she has been lucky to have always surrounded herself with amazing mentors, but she draws inspiration from her older sister, for her amazing work ethic and incredible support. She also likes to say her “spirit animal” is Leslie Knope from the TV series Parks and Rec. “Her can-do attitude is something that I always hope to replicate.”
