Student Leader Roles

Student Staff Overview

The Residence Life Staff is made up of three primary roles: Junior Advisors, Community Advisors, and Team Leaders. At their core, these three positions are quite similar. Each role supports and lives in a designated residential area with the students they support. Where these roles diverge is in their fundamental relationships with the residents they support.

Junior Advisors (JAs) live in a First-Year Center (FYC) and support first-year students only. JAs are supported in fostering intentional relationships with their first-year cohort, averaging between 10 and 20 residents. The primary goals of the JA are to help ease a first-year student’s transition to communal living, adapt to more rigorous academic requirements, and find balance experiences that are competing for time.

Position Description

JAs help to build residential communities that support students’ personal growth by fostering inclusive living environments grounded in the principles of racial and social justice, ethics of care, wellbeing perspectives, and peer-to-peer support.

Junior Advisors work to holistically support each student by connecting them with on-campus resources, mediating residential conflicts, and recognizing that everyone’s needs are informed by their unique experiences, identities, and expectations.

Junior Advisors play a critical role in helping students thrive as members of the Bates Community.

  • Support the students that make up your First-Year Center (FYC)
  • Be available to your first-year residents as a peer advisor
  • Connect residents with campus resources and extracurricular opportunities
  • Foster socially just and inclusive living environments
  • Facilitate residential programs and other engagement opportunities
  • Mediate residential conflicts with humility and empathy
  • Uphold College-wide community standards and rules
  • Uphold community standards unique to your FYC
  • Act as a steward of the physical spaces of your FYC
  • Serve as liaison between your FYC and administrative offices
  • Maintain collaborative relationships with Custodial Services, Campus Safety, and Environmental Health & Safety to address instances of residential damage and/or community disruption
  • Attend weekly All-Staff Meetings
  • Attend all pre-term training(s) and onboarding sessions
  1. Submit employment forms in a timely manner
  2. Attend all required training sessions, including:
    • Pre-orientation staff training in August
    • Pre-winter semester training in January
  3. Attend weekly All-Staff Meetings
  4. Meet regularly with JA Team and JA Team Leader
  5. Meet regularly with Area Director
  • Must be a rising sophomore, rising junior, or rising senior
  • No prior residential or work experience required
Link to Full Description (PDF)

Community Advisors (CAs) on the other hand live in houses and halls with either no First-Year residents or a mixed population of class years. CAs do a great deal of community advising, peer mentoring, and resource referral through more informal relationships with their residents.

Position Description

CAs help build residential communities that support students’ personal growth by fostering inclusive living environments grounded in racial and social justice principles, ethics of care, and peer-to-peer support. Acting as informal advisors, CAs work to holistically support their residents in navigating Bates College by connecting them with on-campus resources, mediating residential conflicts, and recognizing that each resident’s needs are informed by their unique set of experiences, identities, and expectations. CAs are also responsible for facilitating limited engagement opportunities for residents, maintaining collaborative relationships with campus partners, and acting as a liaison between their residential community and the rest of the campus.

  • Support the residents of one or more halls or houses
  • Be available to residents as an informal peer advisor
  • Connect residents with campus resources
  • Foster socially just and inclusive living environments
  • Facilitate residential programs and other engagement opportunities
  • Manage and mediate residential conflicts with humility and empathy
  • Uphold College-wide community standards and rules
  • Uphold community standards unique to your residential community
  • Act as a steward of the physical spaces of your residential community
  • Maintain collaborative relationships with Custodial Services, Campus Safety, and Environmental Health & Safety to address instances of residential damage and/or community disruption
  • Serve as liaison between your residential community and administrative offices
  • Attend weekly All-Staff Meetings
  • Attend all pre-term training(s) and onboarding sessions
  1. Submit employment forms in a timely manner
  2. Attend all required training sessions, including:
    • Pre-orientation fall staff training in August
    • Pre-winter semester training in January
  3. Attend weekly All-Staff Meetings
  4. Meet regularly with CA Community and/or CA Team Leader
  5. Meet regularly with Area Director

Must have experience living in an upper-division residence

Link to Full Description (PDF)

Team Leaders (TLs) are the final role of the Residence Life Staff. In addition to performing the duties of a CA, Team Leaders also support and mentor a small group of either Junior Advisors or Community Advisors. The Junior Advisor teams are typically divided into buildings, while the Community Advisor teams are usually grouped into halls and houses. The charge of Team Leaders is to foster a professional community of practice where staff members can collaborate, problem solve, share resources, and find comradery in the highs and lows of their work.

While all Residence Life Staff members are classified as either Junior Advisors (JAs) or Community Advisors (CAs), returning applicants are also eligible for the expanded role of Team Leader. All TLs are Community Advisors (with all of the responsibilities thereof) who have the additional task of leading a team of Junior Advisors or Community Advisors.

These peer supervisory positions are intended to help Junior Advisors and Community Advisors to utilize their full breadth of insight and experience while building residential communities and supporting residents. These roles serve as peer mentors, advisors, support resources, team and professional community builders, collaborators, problem-solving partners, and accountability partners for members of their teams.

Position Description

TLs are responsible for fostering a collegial and supportive work environment among fellow staff and students, for encouraging the formation of a professional community, and are required to be visible and accessible in support of members of their residential community.

Duties and Responsibilities (Abridged)

  • Assist in facilitating staff training modules
  • Hold regular team meetings (weekly or bi-weekly)
  • Check-in regularly with individual team members (JAs/CAs) and other residents
  • Be available to provide professional support to JAs/CAs
  • Offer thoughtful professional feedback to JAs/CAs
  • Meet regularly with Area Director

Prerequisite

  • Must have at least 1 year of experience as a Junior Advisor or Community Advisor
Link to Full Description (PDF)