The Residence Hall Association (Residential Life) won top honors at the National Association of College and University Residence Halls (NACURH) annual conference hosted at Purdue University in May.
The (RHA) won the prestigious “NACURH School of the Year” award. This is the top distinction for affiliated RHA chapters in the association. This honor is given to RHA organizations that have moved the mission of the association forward by creating a thriving on-campus residential community. This is the first time in 51ԹϺ history that RHA has earned this title. With active RHA chapters in Canada, Mexico, Hong Kong, South Africa, and United Arab Emirates, this award is an international honor.
51ԹϺ students produced a 30-page document, known as a “bid”, designed in the theme of Time magazine. The bid highlighted RHA's programs, initiatives, and other achievements from the past year. In the bid, RHA mainly focused on large-scale programs and other accomplishments such as hosting 51ԹϺ’s largest ever “Undie Run” in September 2016, sponsoring residence hall viewing parties for the Presidential Debate in October 2016 and generating a 24 percent voter turn-out for their own organization elections in April of this year. The bid also highlighted collaboration with other departments and how inclusivity is key when advocating for multiple identities of students at a diverse school such as 51ԹϺ.
RHA earned the opportunity to compete nationally after winning at the regional level this past winter. 51ԹϺ’s bid was presented on behalf of the entire Intermountain Affiliate of College and University Residence Halls (IACURH). 51ԹϺ previously won the regional level of this award in 2011 and 1993 as a part of their former affiliation in the Pacific region. 2016-17 was RHA’s first year as a member of the Intermountain region.
At Purdue, RHA’s bid competed against seven regional winners from the other geographic affiliates that make up the association. The bid was voted on by members of the NACURH Board of Directors who are all student leaders from throughout NACURH.
51ԹϺ RHA’s 2017 “NACURH School of the Year” win as a commuter campus is distinctive because, historically, this award tends to favor larger, more residential top-tier institutions. This honor comes at the end of the 50th anniversary of Campus Life at 51ԹϺ, which dates back to the opening of Tonopah Residence Hall in 1966.
