 "Photo: Photo by Michael Neumann")
In some ways, Nicole Bellcorelli has never left college. She graduated from UW-Platteville in 2003 and then the University of Ohio Toledo in 2005. Now she is the residence hall director for the Evans Hall and Stewart Community at UW-Oshkosh.
Bellcorelli’s job is to supervise and advise the staff of both buildings and handle all issues dealing with residents of both buildings. She has been in Evans since 2005 and was previously the hall director of Donner Hall.
Bellcorelli grew up in Wausau and attended UW-Platteville, majoring in communication technology and public relations. Even though, according to her, it’s in the middle of nowhere, she enjoyed her time there.
“Once I got involved in things, I really loved it there,” Bellcorelli said. “I liked it so much I stayed for five years.”
After that Bellcorelli went to the University of Toledo in Ohio to continue her studies, and it is where she first started working in residence halls. She was in charge of four buildings, and she worked with the main hall director.
“I got a grad-assistant position at the University of Toledo,” Bellcorelli said. “I was an assistant hall director, and I worked on my master’s in higher education administration for two years also.”
After finishing up her degree, she moved to Oshkosh to work in Donner Hall, and she and her husband got married in December of the same year. She spent two years in Donner Hall before moving to Evans, where she has been for the past two years.
It’s hard for her to describe a typical day because she doesn’t really have a typical day. Usually it starts off with reading e-mails and listening to messages from either students or staff members. She has about nine people on her staff that she oversees, and she meets directly with half of them once a week, while the assistant hall director meets with the other half.
“We usually talk about how their classes are going, how things in general are going,” Bellcorelli said. “Basically any questions about their job or just things that are happening.”
A lot of her job in reference to staff members is teaching them how to supervise for the first time, because most people aren’t in that kind of position until they get out into the real world. There is so much information relating to their jobs, Bellcorelli helps keep the staff current with policies and requirements.
The other part of her job is handling any student issues or problems that may arise. This can range from roommates who are not getting along to dealing with disciplinary hearings, which is the one part of her job she said she could do without.
“It’s not my favorite part of the job, but it’s necessary,” Bellcorelli said. “And it’s the tough part. But that’s a very small part of what I do.”
She said there is a big misconception of her job. She said most students think all she does is deal with any misbehavior and any students that get into trouble. Students sometimes assume the worst when she contacts them.
“They think when they get a phone call or e-mail from me they are in trouble,” Bellcorelli said. “Most of the time they know why I’m contacting them.”
Luckily her daughter Brynn has started to serve as an icebreaker for students to approach Bellcorelli. Students will see Brynn in her office and want to stop and say hello.
“Because she is such a good baby she has made it really easy,” Bellcorelli said. “In some ways I get to meet more students because of her.”
There is a tough part about being so close to her job and the people she works with, because she does live where she works. Especially now that she has a daughter, Bellcorelli has to try do as much as she can while she’s at work so she can go home to her daughter.
“It’s hard sometimes to stop working, because it’s not a job you can stop working,” Bellcorelli said. “When the phone rings at three in the morning and you need to deal with something, you deal with something. It’s not a nine-to-five job.
Now that she has a daughter, Bellcorelli has noticed a more efficient use of her time in her office.
“I’m still putting in as many hours probably, but I think I do a better job of staying on task,” Bellcorelli said. “I prioritize things and get them done so I can come home.”
The assistant hall director, Patrick Vander Zanden, works closely with Bellcorelli. They split supervision of the staff members, and he helps with the conduct load for the hall. He said they get along really well, and he has learned a lot from her.
“We have similar interests and personalities,” Vander Zanden said. “She’s got a lot of experience and knowledge. She can give me advice; I learn a lot from her. We get along really well, and I have a lot of respect for her.”
When Bellcorelli was on leave after she had her baby last year, Vander Zanden had to take over her duties. When she returned, she took on all the responsibilities she had before she left, and he thinks she’s handling it really well.
“She’s committed to both her family and her job,” Vander Zanden said. “She sets a good example for students and staff that both things are important.”
He said one of the most important things he has learned most from her are communication skills and how to listen to people, because she is really good at communicating with people when they are upset.
Bellcorelli’s husband Adam also works on campus in the Honors Program. They met while in Los Angeles at a residence hall organization’s annual meeting in 2000. She was still at Platteville, and he was at Illinois State. They started dating after that, and because of their jobs and schooling had to spend some time apart until they moved to Oshkosh. Shortly after that, they got married.
When it comes to their jobs, Adam notices how different Nicole is around students than in her personal life. They work together sometimes, and he likes to see her take charge and be there for the students.
“In her own life and interactions she tends to be a much quieter person and more reserved,” he said. “But when she is working with students, because it’s her passion, she takes charge, and she encourages others to take charge.
Bellcorelli and her husband also have to work together to take care of Brynn and he said they are lucky to both work on campus so close to home, so if there is a problem home is very close.
He said they have a lot of students they know who are education or nursing students who really want to help out with Brynn. They know these students will read and spend quality time with Brynn when they can’t.
“I think we do a real decent job of it because of the flexibility,” he said. “It makes it a lot easier. Once in a while we do run into an extra meeting, but so many people are willing and want to help out with Brynn.”
Bellcorelli loves her job and plans on staying there as long as she is a residence hall director.
She does have bigger ambitions, though, of working with student leadership or some other part of campus life.
“We would like to have a yard so we can have a dog for Brynn,” Bellcorelli said. “There gets to be a point where you are ready family-wise to move on.”
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