ABOUT THE RESIDENT DEAN PROGRAM
At the University of Chicago, the Housing & Residence Life Resident Dean Program plays a pivotal role in enriching the living and learning experience of students residing in the Residence Halls. Resident Deans are distinguished senior faculty members who make the Residence Halls their home, frequently living there with their families, fully immersing themselves in the residential community.
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INTELLECTUAL STEWARDSHIP
Resident Deans act as intellectual stewards, fostering an environment where learning seamlessly extends beyond the classrooms into the residences. Their presence enhances the academic vibrancy of residential life, ensuring that students’ living spaces are also profound intellectual engagement and exploration hubs.
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EVENTS & ACTIVITIES
Resident Deans are instrumental in organizing an array of events and activities that aim to captivate students’ interests, stimulate learning, and bolster community awareness. These activities range from guest lectures and profound discussions featuring esteemed individuals from various sectors, both from campus and the broader public sphere, to social and cultural outings such as visits to the symphony, theater, opera, and sporting events.
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COMMUNITY BUILDING
Through dinners, special residence hall events, and other engaging activities, Resident Deans facilitate the creation of close-knit communities within the halls. This approach fosters a sense of belonging among students, encouraging them to interact, learn from one another, and establish meaningful connections that enhance their university experience.
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RD APPOINTMENT
Resident Deans are appointed through a thoughtful process led by the Dean of the College, ensuring that individuals with a deep commitment to nurturing a vibrant, supportive, and intellectually stimulating residential community are selected.
MEET OUR RESIDENT DEANS
Burton-Judson Courts
ANDREW & PATTY SIEGEL
Andrew Siegel and Patty Jones have served as Resident Deans for Burton-Judson Courts since Autumn 2013. Prior to Burton-Judson Courts, they served as Resident Deans of Pierce Tower from 2009-2013. Andrew received his BA in Philosophy from the University of Chicago, and his PhD in Astrophysics from the University of Colorado Boulder. Andrew has joint appointments in the Theory and Computing Sciences and Nuclear Engineering Divisions at Argonne National Laboratory, where he serves as Group Leader for Nuclear Energy Advanced Modeling and Simulation, and as Director of Applications Development for the Exascale Computing Project. Patty received a BS from the University of Miami in Advertising and Creative Writing, and a BA in English from Northwestern University. She is an active member of the Junior League of Chicago, where she serves on the Mad Hatters Children’s Theatre Committee. She troupes with the Mad Hatters throughout Chicagoland area, promoting reading and children’s literacy through improv performances.
Campus North Residential Commons – East
JAMES & JEANNIE EVANS
James and Jeannie have served as Resident Deans for Campus North Residential Commons East since Autumn 2016.
They fill their lives with adventure; they enjoy everything from snowshoeing through Jackson and Washington Parks to swimming in Lake Michigan, as James has even been known to do in the winter. As Resident Deans, the couple share their love of adventure and the City of Chicago while connecting with students and their passions.
James and Jeannie grew up in Southern California and met at Brigham Young University, where James earned a BA in Anthropology and Economics, and Jeannie received a BA in Political Science. Jeannie earned her Juris Doctor degree at Harvard University, and James earned his MA and PhD in Sociology at Stanford University. James is an associate professor of Sociology, Director of the Knowledge Lab, and Senior Fellow at the Computation Institute. He also directs the new two-year master’s program in computational social science as of fall 2016. Jeannie is a trial lawyer at Hagens Berman Sobol Shapiro LLP, a national class-action and complex litigation firm.
Campus North Residential Commons – West
STEVEN RINGS &
JENNIFER IVERSON
Jennifer and Steve are both associate professors in the University’s Music Department. Jennifer is writing a book about synthesizers, while Steve is writing a book about Bob Dylan. They both teach courses in the Core, electives on subjects ranging from popular music to avant-garde jazz to disability studies, and train PhD music graduate students.
Jennifer and Steve both hail from Minnesota, Jennifer from a rural farming community (she is a first-gen college student) and Steve from Rochester. They earned PhDs from University of Texas (Jennifer) and Yale (Steve). Early in his career, Steve was a classical guitarist who lived, taught, and performed music in the Portuguese Azores islands. Together, Jennifer and Steve are parents to four remarkable children: Elliott, Ian, Della, and Theo.
As Resident Deans, they enjoy introducing students to our amazing City of Chicago, taking residents to operas, ballets, sporting events, and local concerts. They also host an open stage performance series called “Music@CampusNorth” and encourage shared music listening with our “Album of the Week” series. They regularly host self-care events such flower arranging to encourage relaxation and de-stressing. Their signature events include a Welcome Back Carnival and a graduating seniors yacht cruise on Lake Michigan. They find that building relationships with students is the best part of the Resident Dean job.
International House
CRAIG FUTTERMAN & KENYATTA TATUM
Craig Futterman and Kenyatta Tatum Futterman have served as Resident Deans for International House since Autumn 2016.
They have spent many years surrounded by and engaged with University of Chicago students—Craig as a clinical professor at the Law School, and Kenyatta first as an academic adviser in the University, and now as Youth Program Coordinator within the Department of Safety & Security’s Office of Risk Management. The couple hopes their role as Resident Deans in International House will “keep us connected, young, challenged at all times, and learning at all times,” Craig says.
Prior to his 2000 faculty appointment to the Law School, Craig—a Chicago native—graduated from Northwestern University with a BA in Sociology and Economics, and received his Juris Doctor degree from Stanford University. Kenyatta, who grew up in Kankakee, Illinois, earned her BA in English from Spellman College. She later attended DePaul University, where she received a Juris Doctor degree.
Max Palevsky Residential Commons
JASON & SUZANNE RIGGLE
Jason and Suzanne Riggle have served as Resident Deans of Max Palevsky Residential Commons since Autumn 2014.
Their approach to student engagement is to combine the resources of the city with the intellectual resources of the campus in order to add to the atmosphere of learning and exploring in the Residence Halls.
Jason received his BA in Linguistics and Psychology, as well as an MA in Linguistics, from University of California, Santa Cruz, and earned his PhD in Linguistics from University of California, Los Angeles. He is an associate professor in Linguistics and Director of the Chicago Language Modeling Laboratory at the University of Chicago. Suzanne studied at Kenyon College for three years before receiving her BA in History from the University of Evansville and an MA in Linguistics from the University of Iowa. Additionally, she has done further graduate work at University of California, Santa Cruz. Suzanne is currently the Associate Dean for Finance and Administration for the Divinity School.
Renee Granville-Grossman Residential Commons – East
WILLIAM NICKELL &
MARYSE MEIJER
William Nickell and Maryse Meijer were appointed the new Resident Deans of Renee Granville-Grossman Residential Commons East, beginning with the 2022-2023 academic year.
Maryse Meijer is the author of four books of fiction, most recently the novel The Seventh Mansion. She received her MFA in writing from Warren Wilson College and studied Modern Literature at the University of California, Santa Cruz. She mentors writers of all ages and is excited to connect the students of Renee Granville-Grossman East with creators across all disciplines. Her passions include piano, travel, squirrel watching, and vegan baking.
William Nickell is chair of Slavic Languages & Literatures, and is a specialist in Russian literature known for his work on Tolstoy, and on Russian media and mass culture. He is currently completing The Soviet Cure, a book on medical aesthetics and medical subjectivity. He also teaches for Chicago Studies, including a course on East European immigration to Chicago, and a bicycle-based class, Riding about the South Side, focused on learning from the community through first-hand encounters.
Charlotte, their daughter, is practicing a form of home schooling called unschooling, and is an advocate for youth liberation. She loves nature, reading, and music.
Renee Granville Grossman Residential Commons – West
DR. TINA POST &
MARK TEMELKO
Tina, Mark, and their children Arlo and Phineas have been part of the University of Chicago community since 2018. They relocated to Chicago from New Haven, Connecticut, following Tina’s graduation from the PhD program in African American studies at Yale University. Tina and Mark met doing MFAs in creative writing at the University of Alaska Anchorage. They have lived in Hyde Park since their arrival in Chicago.
Tina is an associate professor of English, and theater and performance studies. Her work focuses on race, performance, visuality, and affect. Her first book, Deadpan: The Aesthetics of Black Inexpression, won the National Book Critics Circle Award in Criticism, as well as the best book prize from the Association for the Study of the Arts of the Present (ASAP). She has also received fellowships from the Neubauer Collegium and the Gray Center for Arts and Inquiry in support of her movement-based creative work.
Tina is an avid crafter, and in her spare time can be found knitting, spinning, quilting, printing, sculpting, or in other ways “making”.
Mark is the director of operations and external relations at the Roman Family Center for Decision Research at Chicago Booth. He leads communications, public relations, and external-facing programs and partnerships for the Center, which is the hub for Behavioral Science at UChicago. Mark also helps oversee the Center’s popular, public-facing Behavioral Science lab and Discovery Center in downtown Chicago, Mindworks: The Science of Thinking. Mark’s loves include poetry, baseball, cooking, music, and movies.
As Resident Deans, Tina and Mark hope to create an environment that celebrates, honors, and inspires the singular collection of minds and hearts that make up a residential learning community—and support lifelong connections to the University, the City of Chicago, and the world of ideas.
Snell-Hitchcock Hall
Dr. Abdullah and Antoinette Pratt serve as Resident Deans for Snell-Hitchcock Hall. Abdullah, Antoinette, and their lovely children Asmara and Aziz are native residents of Chicago’s south side. Having lived in the same community as children, Antoinette and Abdullah prioritize “family” at the core of their lives and passions.
Dr. Pratt is an Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Chicago Medical and Trauma Center. Having completed his training at the Pritzker School of Medicine, he was recently announced as Pritzker’s inaugural Faculty Director of Community Engagement. His recent accomplishments range from Faculty of the Year to the National Gold Humanism award for patient care, and he was most recently awarded UChicago’s MBSAA Distinguished Alumni Award for Early Achievement. Known as “Dee”, Dr. Pratt’s goal has always been to have a career advocating for under-served communities and addressing systemic healthcare disparities. As an emergency medicine physician, he continues to work vigorously to improve health literacy and emergency preparedness through teaching South Side residents how to properly respond to cardiac arrests, gunshot wounds, and mental health crises. This has culminated in his founding of the Medical Careers Exposure and Emergency Preparedness (MedCEEP) Initiative and the Trauma Recovery and Prevention of Violence Program (TRAP Violence).
Antoinette is a full-time mother, home school instructor, and leader within the Pratt home. Antoinette spends most of her time creating a diverse set of experiences for her children, her five teen siblings, and the hundreds of adolescent youths in Dr. Pratt’s community initiatives. She is an avid gardener, tending to home gardens and community gardens in Woodlawn. Antoinette also has a deep passion for promoting health and wellness through baking and culinary endeavors.
As Resident Deans, Antoinette and Abdullah hope to continue to serve as a source of wellness, self-care, and empowerment through adversity, just as they have with their family, siblings, and youth of Chicago’s South Side.
DR. ABDULLAH & ANTOINETTE PRATT
Woodlawn Residential Commons – East
THOMAS & CLARA CHRISTENSEN
Thomas is the Avalon Foundation Professor of Music and the Humanities at the University of Chicago, where he has taught for more than 20 years. His musical tastes run from the music of Bach to contemporary jazz and the American Musical. Born and raised in New Hampshire, he received his PhD from Yale University. Among other positions, he has served as Master of the Humanities Collegiate Division and Associate Dean in the Division of Humanities.
Clara is originally from Busan, South Korea. She holds a DMA degree in piano performance from the University of Iowa. For many years she was active as a professional pianist, giving recitals and concerts in Asia, Europe, and America. Today she has an active piano studio in Hyde Park where she remains busy as a piano instructor and performer in chamber music recitals. She is also an avid cook.
Thomas and Clara are excited to take the helm as Resident Deans for WRC-East along with their two children, Eddie and Katharine, as well as their Golden Retriever, Millie.
Woodlawn Residential Commons – West
TIMOTHY M. HARRISON & CHRISTINA SMIT
Tim is an associate professor in the Department of English, the John U. Nef Committee on Social Thought, the Fundamentals program, and the Divinity School. In the University, Tim teaches Philosophical Perspectives, as well as courses on Shakespeare, Donne, Milton, and the history of consciousness. He earned his PhD in English from the University of Toronto after returning to school later in life.
Christina worked for 10 years in the international fashion industry before completing her MA in History and International Relations from the University of Toronto. After having worked for over 10 years in the non-profit sector, Christina is currently leading the fundraising department of a local Chicago non-profit.
Earlier in their lives, Tim and Christina lived together on four continents. They have been in Chicago since 2014, and they enjoy exploring the city with their daughters, Livia and Elise, and their new puppy, Magnolia (Nola). They love connecting with the students of Woodlawn West at a variety of events both on campus and across the city.
