Roger and Dottie Mark, Sidney-Pacific Housemasters (Courtesy of SP Photofile Committee)
We are honored to be your housemasters, and we extend our enthusiastic greetings to all residents of Sidney-Pacific, especially to those of you who are joining us this year! We want very much to help build our community into a safe, supportive home where we can grow intellectually and socially. We strongly support the theme for this year – “Sidney-Pacific: Make it yours!” We wish that each resident would build connections with others through small group activities and the development of new friendships. Don’t be a passive resident here – jump into the active life of SP!
Housemasters are faculty members who live in community with students in MIT dorms. We are appointed by the President of MIT and report to the Dean of Student Life. Our goal is to facilitate the building of community within the living group, to represent and advocate for the needs and desires of students to the administration, and to communicate the policies of the administration to the students.
It is our great pleasure to support and advise the officers of the SP student government, but they take full responsibility for policies, strategies, and programming in the dorm. The officers are a dedicated and talented team, but they are not a “closed” group. We strongly encourage everyone to get to know them, and join in to help!
SP is an unusually diverse and international community, with representatives from more than 45 different countries this term! As residents here, we have an once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to learn from each other during our time together! We are particularly excited about the SPICE (Sidney-Pacific Intercultural Exchange) program! We hope you will get involved in this unique opportunity to build intercultural bridges! There are other ways to connect as well: check out the interest groups, and take the initiative to propose an activity – subsidized by the house budget! And jump in with your colleagues in helping behind the scenes with the launching of programs. There is no better way to make friends than to work together. Join the SP-Helper email list to be informed of opportunities to volunteer!
As housemasters we are eager to meet each of you, and to be available to you both professionally and personally. We will certainly try to be visible at coffee hours, social affairs, and will host a number of housemaster dinners in our apartment. It is our hope that each resident will attend at least one such dinner during the year. Do not feel you need to wait for an invitation, just come by any time you want!
Housemasters, as experienced MIT faculty members, are always available to residents for advice or counseling on academic and/or personal issues, and we are particularly pleased when individual students contact us for private discussions. Graduate school can be exciting and fulfilling, but there are also times of high stress, loneliness, disappointment and uncertainty. Sharing a cup of tea to talk over anything would be our pleasure – knock on the door (#568) or email (rgmark@mit.edu or dotmark@mit.edu)!
By Roger and Dottie Mark, Sidney-Pacific Housemasters