After more than two decades, McIntyre Residence has a new house director, alumna Taylor Bennett ’19.

Bennett, once a McIntyre resident herself, has worked for Career Services as the freshman programming and mentoring coordinator since August 2022. 

“I’m excited to be able to just pour into the women of the dorm, all the way again from the Resident Assistant team to freshmen that are living in the dorm,” Bennett said. “I lived in Mac my freshman year, and I know just from being a Hillsdale graduate that there are a lot of really beautiful things about going to Hillsdale, but they are also hard things that can come with any college experience.”

As a member of the Hillsdale volleyball team during her time at the college, Bennett impressed Dean of Women Stephanie Gravel with her leadership.

“Taylor was an amazing leader for the volleyball team spiritually, and she always had that ‘mom’ feel in giving advice,” Gravel said. 

Junior and McIntyre head resident assistant Joanna Leckband said she is excited for the support Bennett provides them. 

“I do appreciate she’s been very thoughtful of wanting to be there for us and help us but also, Mac RAs have been very self-sufficient for the last good amount of time,” Leckband said. “She wants to support that but also be helpful where she can without intruding on what we already have going, so I’m really encouraged by her approach to stepping into this role.”

Leckband said when big issues arise, Bennett is there to support them. 

“The way that our teams are set up is the RAs have the most interaction with the freshmen and then they bring notable interactions to me, and I bring notable interactions to her,” Leckband said. 

Sophomore and McIntyre RA Chloe Noller said Bennett has been present for the RA team in their duties. 

“I was sitting desk with a friend the other night, and Taylor came out and was talking to us and seeing how we were doing and seeing if we need anything or if there were any issues, and she’s like, ‘I’ll be right back there if you need anything,’” Noller said. “She really checks in with you as you’re sitting desk.”

Leckband said she thinks Bennett has much to contribute to the dorm, particularly with her past experience as a social worker. 

“I do think that her background in her line of work before she came to Hillsdale will be very valuable to the dorm just because she has different life experiences from the rest of us,” Leckband said. “In her line of work, I think she’s seen a lot, and that will really help her to deal with situations that we have come up in the dorm and that will allow her to support us RAs.”

Noller, who works with Bennett in Career Services, said she believes Bennett will be an excellent mentor for the freshman women. 

“She’s the freshman coordinator, so she’s really good at helping those who are really new to college and who don’t really know what they’re doing yet,” Noller said. “She’s really good at seeing, ‘this is an area that you can work on,’ or encouraging you if you are feeling a little bit lost. She’s very encouraging and very practical.”