Dr. John Delony has taken the position of assistant dean of students at Texas Tech University School of Law in Lubbock.
Delony, associate dean of students, met with the Students’ Association Wednesday to answer questions about Residence Life. He began the discussion with the announcement of his departure. Delony is expected to leave his position at ACU around June 1.
Delony said the transition should be smooth.
“This is a pretty neat career opportunity for me,” he said. “I have full confidence in the folks that are staying here.”
Congress members inquired about the status of new ‘living-learning communities.’ Several programs were piloted this year, which included using Smith-Adams as an Honors dorm, encouraging faculty to move into residence halls and experimenting with the idea of ‘intentional living communities.’ Delony said he felt positive about the programs after originally pushing back against them.
“The idea is you try and group students where they live based on similar interests,” he said about Smith-Adams. “All indicators on our end is that it’s been awesome and it’s been really a great success for everybody.”
An initiative called ‘intentional living communities’ was started last semester, which allowed students to live in chosen groups in residence halls provided they did so with a community-oriented purpose. J.P. Festa, Barrett Hall representative, said he believed the program had fallen by the wayside this semester.
“Last semester we had three meetings, this semester none of that happened,” said Festa, sophomore multimedia major from McKinney.
Delony said this was partly due to Area Coordinator Jordan Bunch’s decision to leave ACU to pursue ministry.
“Jordan Bunch is transitioning out at the end of this year, he was actually over the intentional living communities,” Delony said. “We’ll grow it next year.”
Delony also answered questions on speculative campus projects, such as hall renovation, an addition of washers and dryers, the purchase of University Park and the future of the Sherrod apartments, a defunct complex next to Smith-Adams. He said he supported addressing these issues but was restricted because of expense.
“It’s a matter of priority funding,” he said.
Following the discussion with Delony, Kaitlyn Warton, McDonald Hall representative, introduced a bill to purchase 150 tank tops for the ACU Baseball event “Pack the Park.” The cost of the tank tops was $850. Congress passed the bill unanimously.
SA meetings are conducted Wednesdays at 5:15 p.m. in the Onstead-Packer Biblical Studies Building Room 114. Meetings are public and anyone is welcome to attend.
Absent members:
Gabe Elorreaga, senior class vice president
Simon Jowett, senior class treasurer
Bryson Shake, junior class vice president
Bo Braddock, junior class treasurer
Brad Hall, Mabee Hall representative
Emily Dosa, Gardner Hall representative
Maria Martinez, Sikes Hall representative
Blair Agan, Edwards Hall representative
Elizabeth Cansino, SRWC representative
Paige Snodgrass, Don Morris representative
Andrew Saucedo, Bible representative
