There’s a warm sense of being at home when stepping inside the Women’s Resource Center. Although its location is a mystery to some students, the small white cottage-looking building that sits on a hill behind Nixson Hall welcomes all students. Heather Adams said she’s excited to be in her new position as director and is looking forward to making students and faculty more aware of the center and services it offers.

Stater: What would you say is the underlying purpose of the Women’s Resource Center?

Adams: To me, the underlying purpose is to serve students, faculty and staff. It seems to me that my role is to help figure out what those three stakeholder groups want and what the community may want out of the center.

Stater: Were you nervous during the application process for the new position?

Adams: I really wasn’t nervous. I enjoyed it, actually, which is kind of nerdy too. It was an all-day interview process, and I got to interview with different stakeholder groups, and I really enjoyed the interview process because I got to meet a lot of people, and I got to listen to a lot of what they were hoping the center could be.

Stater: What do you want to do with your new position?

Adams: The very first thing I want to do is some needs assessment, so I want to hear what women on campus would like to have the center be like. It’s been dormant for a while – maybe nine months they’ve not had a director, so I’m really interested in hearing more about what people would like.

Stater: How do you think that your work here can bring more students to the building?

Adams: I think that one of the most important things is for the center to be dynamic in nature. Creating traffic is what will make it a dynamic kind of a live place. And in my mind, the library is the center of that space. Working to make this a comfortable, open place that can be used for meetings and gatherings, but could also be used as a place where students could come and study. It’s quiet. It’s wireless – design it so that it’s comfortable and draws students in, and it’s easy to get to. It’s hard for students I think to get involved and get engaged sometimes, and if you can have an easily accessible comfortable place for students to hang out and they like it there, you’ve got half the battle won.

Stater: What can you say about your former coworkers?

Adams: I just can’t say enough about my colleagues over in the advising office. That group of people is just really cool – hard, hard workers, so much caring and compassion for students. Anybody that has a good adviser knows how invaluable they are, so I can’t say enough about the people over in Taylor. I really want to keep working with them, and I don’t really see any reason not to continue to collaborate with lots of different people, especially advisers, because I think the center is a perfect place to collaborate with advisers.

Stater: What is your favorite part about working for this university?

Adams: Well, it’s the people. It’s my colleagues and the students.

Contact student life reporter Brittany Wasko at [email protected].