New Residence Life Hall Director Lucy Harrington, is here to make sure students have a good year, but more importantly, their keys.

Harrington is a graduate student who came to Mercyhurst for the archaeology graduate program, and to assist with ResLife. ResLife has recently undergone changes in its staff.

“I really wanted to work with ResLife because I wanted to help students living in campus housing have a good experience,” Harrington said.

“I know that it can be hard to live away from home for the first time, and I wanted to participate in the process that helps students figure that out.”

Harrington’s job as Hall Director means she handles situations that RAs cannot deal with alone. Harrington describes her position as the “Office” Hall Director, and says one of her biggest jobs is taking care of lost keys.

“I’m the person who sits in the Main Office and answers general questions about Residence Life and housing. I deal a lot with people who have lost their keys! If you lose your key, you’ll probably talk to me about it,” Harrington said.

Before joining the Mercy­hurst family, Harrington had an internship with the Bureau of Land Management, Department of the Interior in Colorado. Harrington also worked for a cultural resource management firm in California doing archaeology full-time.

“At the time that I graduated from undergrad, Mercyhurst didn’t have a full-fledged graduate program in archaeology yet. I also wanted to get some work experience first. So I did archaeology for a few years, and then applied to graduate school,” Harrington said.

Harrington came to Mercyhurst for the Archaeological Institute to work with Dr. James Adovasio and she is expected to graduate this year.

“I love Mercyhurst; MAI is an amazing program. I work closely with the archaeologists, geologists and forensic anthropologists. It’s really rare to have such a collaborative, interdisciplinary approach to archaeology. I’m incredibly excited to be here,” Harrington said.

While she is excited about being at Mercyhurst, she has different feelings toward living in Erie.

“I’m a little bit less excited about Erie! I’m from New York and did my undergrad in Los Angeles. I’m used to living in a bigger city, so moving to Erie has been a bit of an adjustment,” Harrington said.

The ResLife department made some staff adjustments this year, in addition to bringing in Harrington. One of them was the introduction of Sue Foster, the new Director of Residence Life to Mercyhurst.

“[Foster] has a lot of experience working in Residence Life at other universities, and is extremely dedicated and hardworking,” Harrington said.

Harrington also notes that AD Jared Snyder left Mercyhurst for a job in California.

“Residence Life is currently working to find a replacement for [Snyder’s] position, Assistant Director of Residence Life for the North Upperclassmen Area. In the meantime, the other ADs have stepped up to handle his job load,” Harrington said.

Despite changes in the ResLife Department, Harrington assures students that the staff is here to help with everything housing-related.

“The RAs, HDs and ADs are on campus to help students have a positive experience living here,” Harrington said.

“I want students to know that they can talk to any of the ResLife staff about anything they are experiencing in their housing, and we are here to support them!”