Dorow is WPI's new Assistant Director for Student Activities in charge of Greek life, a brand-new position that encompasses more than just Greek life. She says she wanted to "do a variety of student activities things that were challenging to me," and she got it - she is now co-advising the Social Committee with Director for Student Activities Chris Jachimowicz. In fact, her office is SocComm's old one, located in the Student Activities Office, adjacent to Jachomowicz's.
As the press release in last week's Newspeak read, Dorow comes to Worcester from Boston University, where she was coordinator of programs. She also held the position of director of fraternity and sorority affairs at Colgate University before that. Why did she leave BU? "I had outgrown the position," says Dorow. "WPI offered an opportunity to have the fraternities and sororities as well as doing just about everything you could imagine in student activities. I wasn't learning anything new, it wasn't challenging [anymore]."
She's always liked smaller schools, she says, and she was looking for "a place that had a nice sense of community, which WPI does; a nice campus, both aesthetically pleasing and functional; a Greek system that I could work with and is in relatively good shape; and a good reputation for its bright, competent students."
Her first impressions of WPI are good ones. She likes the campus, the students she's met so far, and our community. "I definitely think we've got a community here," she says excitedly. "I think you sometimes take things for granted until you are in a place where things are very different." She went on to talk about how the layout of a campus is a factor in building community, using BU as an example. At a campus like BU's, where all the buildings are lined up along a well-traveled road, it's hard to have a community, since everything's is spread out and the campus isn't separate from the city.
WPI's campus, however, is nicely laid out, she thinks. There's enough green for people to get together and play a game of Frisbee, something she rarely saw at BU. The buildings fence in the campus and separate us from the city and, especially with the recent closure of West Street, we are a community. "Maybe it's not as strong as some people would like, but there's definitely a sense of community here that doesn't exist on a lot of college campuses. Part of [the reason] is that the campus is just small enough to encourage that community."
What about the planned campus center? Dorow replies, "I think [we] do need [one]. It's hard when there isn't a central location for programming, just getting together for hanging out, things like that." She says the campus center will strengthen the community as well.
In the meantime, and with Rush rapidly approaching, Dorow is trying to get settled in as fast as she can. "I'm still learning what Rush at WPI is all about," she says. Her desk is piled with materials for her to go through, her drawers are packed with rules and regulations she's already read. "It's going to take some time... What I need to do is to look at all the systems that are currently in place and figure out what makes sense, what doesn't, maybe condense some things."
She's pleased so far with our Greek system, which, according to her, is "in good shape... I've been at far, far worse..." Dorow is also enjoying her role immensely and is glad to be the "fresh eyes" to look at our system and assist students in making changes. "I think it's good to have new people sometimes," she stated. "They'll come in with fresh eyes and say `Why are we doing this?' or `Why aren't we doing that?' and there's the opportunity to improve things."
Her energy and enthusiasm weren't always aimed at positions in Greek life, however. She started out at Western Illinois University as a music major. Dorow, who played the drums in a myriad of musical groups in high school, had always figured she'd be a music teacher. Despite taking numerous college courses while in high school, however, she still faced a five-year stint in school to get her degree. She described her great awakening: "One day... the thought of going to school each morning and listening to kids try and sing was like fingernails running down a chalkboard to me. I started thinking about what I liked and psychology is something I had always enjoyed and found challenging in a different way."
In the middle of her junior year of college, Dorow switched her major to psychology, graduated in four years instead of five, and enrolled in graduate school at her alma mater. After earning her masters of science in college personnel, she got her first job at Colgate University. She credits a friend with steering her towards her masters. "She helped me see that all the things I enjoy and the people I looked up to [in college] were in higher education administration." What almost scared her off was her "narrow focus on what student affairs was - Greek life and residence halls." Dorow learned that she was looking at a plethora of other positions from which to choose, however, and took internships in several different areas to help her decide which one to pursue.
While Dorow no longer plays the drums, she still sings with her church choir and has directed the children's choir there. At any rate, the former cheerleader, sprinter, drummer, and singer still has all the energy she needed to have in high school. She looks back on her experiences : "In small high schools [like mine], you tend to be involved in everything or nothing... I'd be cheering [a football game], then I'd run out onto the field in my cheerleading uniform, as opposed to my marching band one, play the half-time show, then run back and cheer the rest of the game."
Her enthusiasm and overabundance of energy combined with her experience at a larger college make her the perfect addition to the current student affairs staff. Her well of fresh ideas will supply our Greeks and the Social Committee well for the years to come if we can all keep up.
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