USM Announces New Director of Housing and Residence Life

Thu, 03/11/2021 - 05:04pm | By: Margaret Ann Macloud

The University of Southern Mississippi (USM) announced the hire of Teresa Crum as Executive Director of Housing and Residence Life.

Crum most recently served as Senior Vice President of Operations at Servitas, a national student housing company for institutions of higher education. She brings nearly 17 years of experience in housing and higher education with her to this role at USM, which she begins March 22.

“After leading the search committee for the Executive Director of Housing and Residence Life position, I am excited to welcome Ms. Teresa Crum to USM. We are extremely fortunate to have someone with Teresa’s experience and skills joining us at USM,” said Sirena Cantrell, Associate Vice President for Student Affairs and Dean of Students. “She brings years of diverse housing experience with on and off campus housing entities. I truly believe she will set this program up for success moving forward. Living on the Hattiesburg campus at USM must be a transformative experience for our students, and I believe that Teresa will work hard to enhance the live-on experience for current and future Golden Eagles.”

The Executive Director of Housing and Residence Life is a senior level administrator within the Division of Student Affairs and serves as the senior housing officer at the university. In this role, Crum will provide leadership and managerial direction for the university residence halls, apartment complexes, and Greek housing, including educational programming, housekeeping, marketing, technology and maintenance operations. USM facilities currently include 14 residence halls, ten sorority houses, nine fraternity houses, and six apartment buildings.

“Living on campus is an integral piece of a student's experience,” Crum said. “Joining the dedicated, student-focused higher education professionals in Housing and Residence Life and the Division of Student Affairs is an opportunity for me to help make USM home for our students. I am genuinely humbled and honored to be given the opportunity to join the USM community. SMTTT!”

Crum received a Bachelor of Arts from Morehead State University and a Master of Science from Murray State University. She is experienced in both on-campus residence and private student housing and has worked closely with the construction of six varied student housing communities.