By MARY BURGER – STAFF WRITER
Every year Centre is happy to welcome new faculty into the campus community. This year Alycia Tidrick joined the staff in the Student Life Office as the Director of Greek Life and New Student Orientation.
Her job began in a whirlwind as she arrived on Aug. 19, just a week before the new students arrived. As the Director of New Student Orientation, Tidrick worked with coordinating various offices, such as Parsons Health Services, to best acquaint first-years to campus.
In her role as Director of Greek Life, she oversees the Panhellenic Council, the Interfraternity Council, and the Greek Honors society, Order of Omega. She tries to help the leaders in each Greek organization meet their goals, such as leadership development. Tidrick’s new role also allows her to help with campus wide activities, such as the recent National Hazing Prevention Week and Walk-a-Mile in Her Shoes.
“I coordinate New Student Orientation and I work with a number of different campus groups,” Tidrick said. “It’s a campus-wide effort, but I’m definitely the wizard behind it trying to put all the pieces together, make it all flow. And then with Greek life I advise IFC, Panhellenic Council, I work closely with many of the chapter leaders as they work towards their goals and try to help them in whatever way might be most appropriate or most needed.”
Originally from Lexington, Ky. Tidrick graduated from DePauw University with a degree in psychology and then attended graduate school at the Ohio State University for Higher Education and Student Affairs. She worked at the Ohio State University as an International Student Advisor and in the Honors Scholar Program. She most recently worked in Admissions at Transylvania University.
While Tidrick is still trying to wrap her mind around all of the options that Centre has to offer, she is excited about her new position.
“I think we have a very strong Greek system in lots of ways, but there is always room for improvement,” Tidrick said. She hopes these improvements will help the community become as strong as it can be.
One idea she has for improvement is a different way of reporting for Greek review. Greek review is a large survey filled out by each Greek organization every year. The chapter has certain requirements it must meet annually in order to fulfill its responsibilities to the college.
A system of campus wide programming resources has been set up for chapter Presidents to collaborate resources. This comes in the form of a Google drive where these leaders can share ideas for different programs.
“We created a programming resource our chapter presidents can use … [They can] upload programs they have done in their chapter. Say you are a chapter officer and want to do something on risk management. You can go on the Google drive and there is a folder on risk management that you can adapt for your chapter,” Tidrick said.
Tidrick’s impression of Centre has been highly favorable thus far.
“I really like the strong sense of community. I think as a whole the campus is very welcoming. I feel like everyone has been genuinely excited to meet me,” Tidrick said.
With a campus full of open-minded, creative, and intelligent students, she is excited about all of the possibilities. “In general I have been really impressed with what I have seen so far, so it is exciting to think about working with those organizations even more,” Tidrick said. “I also really like my colleagues and those I work with in the Student Life Office.”
When not on campus, Tidrick enjoys outdoor activities such as running and biking. She is also greatly enjoys cooking.
“If I could have any other career and guarantee that it would work out, I would totally start a cooking blog” Tidrick said.