About Us | Off Campus Living

Our Mission

Off-Campus Living empowers students to build connections on and off campus, and live with intent.

Off-Campus Living (OCL) provides opportunities for interaction, integration, and enrichment for off-campus students in order to provide an environment, on and off campus, that develops community and promotes good relationships between University students and surrounding neighborhoods. We provide a variety of services and programs intended to meet the practical, social, and advocacy needs of commuter students. These programs include:

OCL is here to help you navigate any challenges, transitions, or questions you have.

Location

17 Appleby Hall

128 Pleasant St SE

Minneapolis, MN 55455

Phone

Main Office: 612-626-5213

Program Director: 612-625-8939

Community Engagement Advisor: 612-626-5301

Fax: 612-626-6214

Email

ocl@umn.edu

Mailing address

109 Appleby Hall

128 Pleasant St SE

Minneapolis, MN 55455

Campus Mail code: 3505

Staff

Kendre Turonie | Off-Campus Living Program Director

Started at the U of M: 2003

Education: University of Florida, B.S. Magazine Journalism
Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, Higher Education and Education Administration coursework

What I Love About My Job: I love the energy students bring to the neighborhoods and the amazing things they do to impact the community in positive ways while they are here.

Fun Fact About Me: I am fascinated by severe weather and tornados and am a huge fan of Harry Potter, Shark Week and the Sharknado series.

Email turon001@umn.edu • Phone 612-625-8939

Caitlin Herby | Commuter Student Engagement Advisor

Started at the U of M: 2015

Education: University of Minnesota Duluth, B.A. Human Resources
University of St. Thomas, M.A. Leadership in Student Affairs

What I love About My Job: I am passionate about creating opportunities for students to learn to navigate their personal development, and develop a sense of belonging at the University.

Fun Fact About Me: I have a 4 year-old pitbull/lab rescue dog named Bentley.

Email herby005@umn.edu • Phone 612-626-5301

Student Staff

Communication Liaisons

Haddy Maki (makix398@umn.edu)
Evan VorBroker (vorbr001@umn.edu)

Neighborhood Liaisons

Katy Baker (bake0947@umn.edu)
Dillon Buschmann (busch303@umn.edu)
Eric DeBord (debor014@umn.edu)
Lynn Huang (huan1170@umn.edu)
Sachal Jacob (jaco2206@umn.edu)
Jamal Lakis (lakis006@umn.edu)
Kari Leif (leifx026@umn.edu)
Nicholas Raffalo (raffa005@umn.edu)
Brandon T. Ulvenes (ulven014@umn.edu)
Osirus Washington(washi388@umn.edu)

Apartment Liaisons

Konstantin Ivkin (ivkin001@umn.edu)
Meida Surya (surya015@umn.edu)

Renters Education Liaisons

Uyen T. Pham (pham0314@umn.edu)
Hemant Singh (singh755@umn.edu)

Commuter Connection Co-Chairs

Monica Plante (plant139@umn.edu)
Ritchie Paul (paulx161@umn.edu )
Sylvie Ngo (ngoxx161@umn.edu)

Commuter Engagement Liaisons

Shivani Naidu (naidu019@umn.edu)
Zahra Mohamed (moha0630@umn.edu)
Nisa Khairunnisa (khair010@umn.edu)

Current Projects

General Safety

This initiative is centered on creating safety/crime reports of campus and nearby neighborhoods. We intend to create a monthly “safety report” to put up on our website with the statistics regarding crime from the last year, and suggestions on how to avoid being a victim of common crimes. This project works closely with police to be informed and presenting our statistics with any biases. If you would like more information, contact Eric DeBord (debor014@umn.edu).

Como Cookout

Como cookout is a large-scale outdoor BBQ with live music, free food and fun activities to welcome back students into the neighborhoods, hosted at Van Cleve Park each September. The event is held each year in the fall and is organized by Off-Campus Living, SE Como Improvement Association, and Van Cleve Park. Check out our Facebook page for pictures of these events, and look out for our 2019 Como Cookout!

Pack & Give Back

Over 100,000 lbs have been diverted from landfills and given back to students. P&GB encourages students to start packing early and identify reusable items to donate with the goal to reduce the trash piles on the boulevards upon move out and increase sustainability. A University partnership operates a Free Store each fall during Welcome Week and the first week of class with items collected May to August on campus and in the neighborhoods. Contact Katy Baker (bake0947@umn.edu) for more information.

Bike Lanes

Some of you might have noticed some issues with certain sections of the bike lanes on campus. Frequently, there are “traffic jams” between pedestrians and bikers during busy times of the day, or bikes flying by pedestrians very quickly while coming within a few inches of them. This is a tricky issue, and we’d like to think about how this can be improved for bikers and pedestrians alike. Contact Nick Raffalo (raffa005@umn.edu) for ideas of improvement or additional information.

Apartment Outreach

Our staff is excited to conduct information sharing meetings with property managers to help them access University resources and identify areas of collaboration. For more information or to schedule a meeting, contact neighbor@umn.edu.

Restorative Justice

Students who receive a livability citation (minor consumption, disorderly conduct, social host, public urination, etc) are able to get their misdemeanor ticket deferred by participating in a circle process to repair the harm to the community. Find out if you are eligible or volunteer to be a community participant by contacting RJCA at 612-756-0780. Our liaisons participate as community members and promote this opportunity across campus. We also host participants for community service within our office through the program. Contact Eric DeBord (debor014@umn.edu) for more information.

Organics Recycling and Composting

Liaisons are sharing information with student renters about how to enroll in the City of Minneapolis Organics Recycling program and also reaching out to local apartment complexes to see if they want to offer a program as well. Contact Nick Raffalo (raffa005@umn.edu) for more information.

Greek Sustainability

This semester we will be working on setting up a pilot recycling program in a few of the UMN Fraternity houses. These pilot projects will likely include educational outreach, incorporating recycling bins for the houses, and training fraternity sober monitors to be “waste warriors”. We will be accomplishing this by working with Hennepin County and The City of Minneapolis, as well as the IFC, Greeks Go Green, MSA Sustainability, and a group of students dedicated to tackling this issue for the semester. Besides working with fraternities on recycling, we may also be working with sororities on implementing organics recycling and hosting zero-waste events. Contact Katy Baker (bake0947@umn.edu) for more information.