As anyone will tell you, some of the most important lessons you’ll ever learn take place in the residence halls.
After all, this is your home for the majority of your time at Austin College. Here’s where you learn about sharing space and ideas, making and enforcing rules, taking care of yourself and others all with a fully trained residential life staff to back you up.
Residence Halls
There are five residence halls on the Austin College campus. Caruth and Clyce Halls are women’s residences, while Baker houses male students. Dean Hall and the Jordan Family Language House are coeducational residences. Bryan Apartments and the new Johnson ’Roo Suites are only available to upper-class and graduate students.
All College-owned residences are equipped with kitchens (including microwaves), lounges, card-operated laundry facilities, and computer labs with Macintosh and IBM-compatible computers and printers. All halls are monitored by a computerized security system.
Baker Hall is a men’s hall named after the Rev. Daniel Baker, the founder of Austin College. Constructed in 1958 and renovated in 1996, Baker contains 71 double-occupancy rooms and four single-occupancy rooms. Rooms feature movable furnishings including beds that can be bunked, dressers, study chairs and permanently positioned desks.
The largest women’s residence hall, Caruth Hall, offers 77 double rooms and three single-occupancy rooms. Caruth was constructed in 1963 and renovated in 1997. A large basement area contains space for meetings, exercise and recreation. Individual rooms have movable furnishings, including beds that can be bunked, desks and study chairs, plus permanently positioned dressers. Due to their size and shape, the cluster rooms on the fourth floor of Caruth have permanently positioned beds, desks, and dressers. Caruth is the only residence hall with regular twin beds, NOT extra-long twin.
Clyce Hall, also a women’s residence hall, contains 64 double rooms and two single-occupancy rooms. Clyce was constructed in 1957 and renovated in 1991. Each room has movable furnishings, including dressers, beds that can be bunked, nightstands and study chairs, along with permanently positioned desks.
The largest residence hall on campus, Dean Hall has 116 double-occupancy rooms and seven single-occupancy rooms. Floors are typically divided with freshmen men in one wing and freshmen women in the other; upper-class men and women reside in the rooms between the two wings. Furnishings in Dean Hall include permanently positioned desks and dressers along with movable study chairs and beds that can be bunked.
Bryan Apartments are College-owned apartments on campus. The 16 two-bedroom apartments are occupied by 3-4 people each. All apartments are furnished with two movable beds, dressers, desks and chairs per bedroom, movable sofa and a chair in the living room, and a movable dining room table with four chairs. All apartments contain a kitchen equipped with a full size refrigerator, garbage disposal, microwave and electric stove.
Johnson ‘Roo Suites are the newest College-owned apartments, completed in the fall of 2003. Adjacent to Bryan Apartments, the suites house 152 students in four separate structures. The residence is available to juniors and seniors, with priority to juniors. Four students, each with a separate bedroom, live in a 1,200-square-foot suite that includes two bathrooms, a common living area, and a kitchenette. Each resident receives a key to the main door that also works on their individual bedroom.
The Jordan Family Language House takes language learning to a whole new level for 48 men and women students of German, Spanish, French, and Japanese. Divided into four pods, one for each language, the House is staffed by four native speaking language residents. Each pod features bedrooms, a kitchen, and a common living area. Residents are automatically enrolled in a quarter-credit language course each semester and must meet the requirements of the course to receive credit.
Description of Rooms
Most rooms in the residence halls are double occupancy; single rooms, when available, cost more. Each room is furnished with the following items per occupant: a single bed, desk, chair, chest and wardrobe/closet. Students must provide all linens and any other accessories. There are cable television, and phone hookups in each room, with each student having voicemail capabilities.
Bryan Apartments, Johnson ‘Roo Suites and all residence halls are equipped with ResNet data network access, which provides students with e-mail, the World Wide Web and Internet access.
