Welcome to Riepe College House! from Director Dennis DeTurck
Congratulations on joining the Riepe community. All of us permanent residents of the east end of the Quad can’t wait to greet you in person when you arrive on campus. We know that Riepe College House is a great place to live and we’re looking forward to showing you why.
I’m the Faculty Director of the house, and you’ll be able to find me in McIlhenney (first floor) when I’m not in my math professor office on the third floor of the DRL. Nobody in Riepe fails calculus while I’m here! Seriously, I look forward to discussing math, science and all manner of things with you – I’ve been at Penn for a long time, so I can answer a lot of your questions or else I probably know the person who can. And be sure to stop by on Wednesday nights at 10pm for cookies (and frequent music), and at other times for our “got math?” tutoring sessions.
Throughout Penn’s College House system, each house has several faculty members in residence, and Riepe is no exception. Three of my colleagues reside in Riepe:
Dr. Amy Stornaiuolo lives with her husband Vincenzo in Cleeman (second floor). She leads the Riepe Mentors Program and reaches out to undergraduates interested in education, child psychology, urban issues, and dialogue across the lines of language and literacy.
Dr. Ralph Rosen teaches in the Classics department. He and his wife Ellen have lived in Riepe for several years, and are looking forward to another year of Sunday open houses featuring Ralph’s barista skills, and the Dinners for Ten series.
And of course House Dean Dr. Marilynne Diggs-Thompson (or Dean Diggs, as you’ll learn to call her) completes the Riepe faculty team. Besides making Riepe hum along like a well-oiled machine and cooking up impressive amounts of terrific homemade food for you guys, she teaches in the Anthropology department.
You'll hear this advice often, but it is true: making "the Penn experience" happen for you means taking the initiative. The presence of respected scholars living just down the hall from you provides an opportunity for you to get connected with the exciting intellectual life of the campus. The designers of the College House system felt that it is important to provide opportunities to create intellectual community right where students live, and those of us who live in the Houses obviously agree. So be on the lookout for invitations to dinners and study break gatherings hosted by Dean Diggs and by the professors who live in Riepe College House – please note, too, that some of these gatherings will require that you reserve a spot in advance, or that you speak to your RA or GA.
Speaking of whom, your RA (resident advisor) or GA (graduate associate) will be one of the first people you meet. She or he is your best resource for advice about campus life, for info on House rules, and for an orientation toward other resources. Getting to know your RA/GA is also the best first step toward meeting people in the House and across campus. You might, for example, ask him or her for tips on which House events have the best food, or how to connect with others who share an interest of yours. Like the faculty members who have chosen to live in residence, Riepe College House RAs and GAs want to interact with you—not just virtually but in person. And they’re the best!
All of us are looking forward to another great year at Riepe, in the Quad, and at Penn. We can’t wait until you become part of the family. See you in late August!
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