The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 43, No. 3 - 108

Danielle K. Molina

either case, heroism that supersedes its boundaries can potentially place early-career practitioners, or other students, in harm's way. These
possibilities suggest an ethical responsibility
on the part of upper-level residential life administrators to nurture heroism appropriately.
Finally, this study encourages us to contemplate the role that professional identity
plays in emergency management for residential life professionals across their careers. For
instance, having established heroism as a significant factor for early-career practitioners at
TUE, it would be instructive to know whether
the same holds true for early-career practitioners at other institutions. If so, future studies
could provide more generalizable insight
about early-career work in residential life.
Future research may also examine whether the
hero identity persists throughout the careers
of longtime residential life professionals. Such
inquiry could yield improved training models
for developing emergency management competencies. Additionally, such insights could illustrate how tacit knowledge develops over the
course of residential life careers, more astutely
articulating the nature of professional development inherent in residential life work.

CONCLUSION
RAs serve critical functions in emergency
management for today's college and university
campuses, ranging from threat assessment to
front-line decision-making. Still, a vast terrain
remains unexplored about their roles, skills,
and lived experiences in that domain. As this
research demonstrates, a necessary precursor
to such exploration involves deepening our
theoretical understanding of the culture that
residential life professionals inhabit within the

108

broader spectrum of student affairs. This new
insight includes examining the seminal notions
underlying RAs' shared professional identity.
Unpacking such cultural artifacts may help to
explore motivations that paradoxically embolden RAs to engage in complex emergency response tasks and simultaneously open them up
to danger, disillusionment, or disengagement.
Along the same lines, assessment of emergency management must acknowledge the important role RA positions play in the evolving
early careers of residential life professionals.
Understanding the values and dispositions
gained during that formative entrée into the
field can provide valuable insight into the longrange development of emergency management skills. Therefore, it is imperative that we
scrutinize both the processes we use to socialize RAs into the field and the messages that are
sent during these key transitions.
Ultimately, a nuanced perspective on residential life emergency management for early-career practitioners acknowledges the magnitude
of responsibility we ask RAs to assume even
without extensive training or vast life experience. On the one hand, challenging students
to become Batman-either overtly or subliminally, intentionally or unintentionally-early in
their residential life careers may be a necessary
reality. A steep learning curve is confounded by
massive time constraints when preparing RAs
for action from day-one of their jobs. In that
regard, hero ideologies may play an important role in closing the gap between what RAs
are expected to do and who they have not yet
become. On the other hand, the lessons learned
from this research are not for RAs alone. Batman's success is built upon the wisdom of
trusted partners who create the conditions nec-

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The Journal of College and University Student Housing - Volume 43, No. 3

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