Staff Spotlight: Andrew Moneymaker

Megan Withrow
Reporter

The W recently hired Andrew Moneymaker as its new director of Housing and Residence Life. He's originally from Knoxville, Tenn., and he comes to MUW from Tennessee Tech University.

Q: How did you hear about MUW?

A: "I worked at [Tennessee] Tech as an Area Coordinator for nine years. And my director told me that there was no room for improvement or moving up the chain of command there, so I really needed to branch out and go to other schools. I had a phone interview [at MUW], and I was lucky enough that I got a call for an interview in early January. A couple of weeks went by, and I was sitting in a staff meeting and got the phone call and knew it was a Starkville number. I told my boss this was the phone call I had been waiting for, and I had to take it. I talked to Serena, and she asked how I was doing, and I told her I couldn't lie, I was nervous. She offered me the job and she told me take some time to think about it, and I said, 'I accept!'"

Q: As the new Director of Housing and Residence Life, what do you see for the future of housing at MUW?

A: "One thing that attracted me to the school was on the website; it talked about 'Welcome Home,' and they were talking about the halls. So I really want them to feel like this is where they belong. This is their home. That they feel comfortable here. So when they leave in December to go back to to their parents and come back to school in January, they're saying, 'Hey, I'm going home.' We're trying to put a kitchen in Jones. We're cleaning out a room in Kincannon to see if we can put a kitchen in there and one in Callaway."

Q: What tradition or legacy would you want to leave The W with? 

A: "I would like to see more buildings open up to provide more space for students. Living learning communities would also be something I would like to do. Each building would be a certain theme. One could be an environmental learning community. Everyone living in that building would be interested in that community. We can do business, nursing, service, health and wellness - things like that."