With the New Year comes new resolutions, ideas, plans and most noticeably, change. Texas A&M University-Commerce has caught the bug and is bringing in a new faculty member.
Dennis Koch is the new interim director of residential living and learning at A&M-Commerce, and he has big plans for the department, starting with putting the students first.
Koch graduated from Lyndon State University with a bachelor’s degree in theater. He was teaching in Vermont, when one of his fellow co-workers quit right before the beginning of the semester. Since Koch had worked with the then-director of student activities before, the dean felt Koch would be the best choice to fill in. What started out being a temporary job soon became a lifelong calling for Koch.
“Five years later, I was still doing it and realized how much I liked it. It incorporated everything I like-it was something new every day and I was working with people,” Koch said.
After discovering his new passion, Koch was offered a job at Texas A&M University in College Station, where he worked for another five years.
“After five years, I came to realize that 40,000 students were just too many for me, and began applying at other colleges,” Koch said.
Koch then began working at Tarleton State University, where he also earned his master’s degree in higher education. In 2001, Koch worked here at Texas A&M University-Commerce, where he was in charge of orientation, a position he held until 2004.
“An opportunity arose at Texas A&M International in Laredo, where I spent the last four years. When I heard the position opened here, I decided that this is where I needed to be,” Koch said.
Koch is the interim director for now, but will officially apply with all of the other applicants. He has high hopes for the position and also has big ideas for the department.
“A lot of the goals deal with the new direction the University is undertaking right now. My big goal is customer service, where the students come first. We need to look at processes to make sure they are user friendly and not done because it’s what we’ve done for the past 15 years. We need to make sure they work. The students are the most important thing,” Koch said.
One goal in particular that Koch would like to take on is keeping the cost of student housing constant. Another goal would be to get more students active in student housing. Through volunteering, suggestions or even working in the department,
Koch would like to make sure the students’ voice is heard. According to Koch, he is the big picture guy, and when it comes to student housing, he is the bottom line.
“We have a large staff in our department and my job is to make sure everything runs smoothly. I want our department to be ‘the department’ on campus, to lead the way and set the example for other departments at the university. I want to make things grow and make them better for students,” Koch said.