Profile: Matthew Carney

Matthew Carney is one of six residence directors (RDs) who lives on campus. He has been the RD at 12 Hemenway for the past two years, and prior to that was the RD in the Paramount Center for four years.

One of his main responsibilities is to supervise student resident assistants (RAs), of which there are usually one per floor in each residence hall. He meets with them weekly as a whole staff and on an individual basis to discuss what is going on on their floors as well as to support and guide them.

Carney and his fellow RDs handle the selection and training of RAs every year. Applications go live in October, and the RDs read applications and interview applicants in January/February. This year, there were 160+ applicants for 82 RA positions. Offers are given before spring break, and an alternate pool of RAs is formed in the event that RAs who were hired need to leave the position.

The RAs have one day of training in May before they leave for the summer, and they return early in August for two weeks of training before the semester starts. During this comprehensive training, RAs are trained on a variety of different topics, from low-level topics such as how to do a lock out to higher-level topics such as medical emergencies. The two weeks of training can be exhausting for everyone involved, but it is one of Carney’s favorite parts of the job because “the whole team is together, bonding over the experience that is RA training.”

Another part of Carney’s job is to participate in 24/7 on-call rotations with the other RDs. For four days at a time, the RD on call answers and responds to any residential issues that arise.

Carney and his colleagues work closely with a variety of campus partners around Emerson, especially within the Division of Student Affairs. Working with these campus partners allows for great trainings and collaborations with the Residence Life Staff. He also serves on three Student Affairs committees that focus on social events, inclusive excellence, and development for members of the Student Affairs team.

He enjoys working with the students at Emerson, “who are so smart and beyond their time.” He also appreciates the opportunities he’s been given from his supervisors to learn, grow, and be challenged and supported each and every day.

Carney is a Massachusetts native who attended college in New York and Arkansas. He grew up in Roslindale and moved to the South Shore as a teen. He was a marketing major and psychology minor at Elmira College and obtained a master’s degree in college student personnel services and administration from the University of Central Arkansas.

After grad school, he moved back to the Boston area to be near his family and started working at Emerson in 2013. He often spends time with his extended family, most of whom live on the South Shore. He has about 15 cousins who all grew up together. His other hobbies include reading and exploring the city with his cockapoo, Watson.

Nancy Howell (Marketing)