The University News (Irving, Tex.), Vol. 26, No. 2, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 12, 2001 Page: 6 of 11
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I) September 12, 2001
Features
The University News
Locked out? Get Hobbs
Students find assistant dean role model, friend
by Bekki Johannes
Features Editor
Is it a bird? Is it a plane? Is it Superman? No, but stu-
dents say she might as well be.
Students say she's enthusiastic, loving, and inspira-
tional.
Who is this tireless individual? She is Amber Hobbs,
assistant dean of Student Life and the East Quad, and she's
on a mission.
"My mission at the University of Dallas is first to love
God, and second of all to love students, and part of loving
them is like what my parents did for me, disciplining and
providing opportunities for growth," Hobbs said.
Hobbs is in charge of discipline for the East Quad, but
she said addressing incident reports is the least favorite
part of her job. Training, mentoring, and helping the resi-
dent assistants (RAs) develop leadership skills is another
aspect of her job, along with being in charge of advising
the RHA council.
But Hobbs' primary concern is addressing the needs
of the students.
"Lay counseling is probably a big part of my job, too,
but I don't know if that's really in my job description or if
that's just who I am. One thing that I believe is that all of
us need a Paul to mentor us, a Barnabus to walk along side
us, and a Timothy to mentor; and basically, the students
here are my Timothy's," she said.
And this counseling is what students remember most
about Hobbs.
Senior Julie Hendricks lived next door to Hobbs her
freshman year, when Hobbs was an RA in Catherine
Hall.
"I remember my freshman year because it was a hard
time for me, adjusting from high school to college, and
just to have her next door to me was great because she was
a person like my mom or my sister whom I could talk to.
And she was always willing to put her homework aside
and just talk to me whenever I needed her to talk to, even
in the middle of the night," Hendricks said.
Hendricks explained that Hobbs was the reason she
decided to become an RA.
"I wanted to be someone people could come and talk
to and help them with college and any problems they had
because I thought it was very important when I was a
freshman to have that, and just having her as an inspira-
tion was rewarding, and I can see
why she likes doing what she does
now," she said.
Senior Elizabeth Toffler also
lived in Catherine Hall freshman
year. She said one of the biggest
things Hobbs did for her was to
motivate her to strive for physical
fitness.
"My roommate and I were really
wanting to get into shape and avoid
the whole freshman 15, and just
let out some extra energy at times.
Our friendly RA down the hall was
always doing step aerobics or some
form of exercise and, while she
was such a motivator in all aspects
of our lives, spiritual, academic,
whatever, she never seemed to sleep
but always had all this energy. I
thought, well, she exercises and
that's supposed to be the theory;
that, if you exercise, you don't need
as much sleep," Toffler said.
Toffler said Hobbs invited
them to do step aerobics with her,
so they would go in and do it with
her sometimes, and she gave them
a tape so that they could do it on
their own when she could not lead
them.
"She was a real motivator in
that respect, and I think fitness is
something that gets neglected in
college life because you get so
caught up in being social and get-
ting your studies done, that you forget you need exercise
too,"Toffler said.
Hobbs said she really started to take the need for physi-
cal fitness seriously her last year of college.
"When you look at the woman of noble character in
Proverbs 31, one of the lines in there says that her arms are
strong for her tasks. That was something I really started
taking to heart, that, if I want to be able to maximize my
time for the Lord and really invest in people's lives, I have
to somehow take care of my body," she said.
Hobbs said she joined the cross country team
her first year at UD, when she was an RA work-
ing on her masters in English, because someone
challenged her.
"They just said they didn't think I could keep up
with them running, so I thought, well, I bet I could
if I tried, so I joined the cross country team, and I
discovered that I really loved running. Then, after
I ran 12 miles one day, I was like Forrest Gump . .
. I just stopped running! But now I'm getting back
into it," she said.
As another aspect of counseling and mentoring,
Hobbs leads Bible studies, driven mostly by the
kinds of problems with which girls come to her.
"I saw that in our generation of women a lot
of times we feel that, to be complete you need to
have a boyfriend, or you need to have a husband
or a significant other. As God took me through a
journey over my college experience; and after col-
lege, what he showed me is that my completeness is
in him . As I looked around and saw a lot of need,
I thought that this is one way that I can share with
other women, and show them that they are complete
as the bride of Christ," she said.
Senior Emily Wescott was Hobbs' other next-
door neighbor freshman year. She said the Bible
studies were good for people to get together, es-
pecially since they were about things of common
interest: finding the perfect Christian guy, having
self-esteem, and making sure the girls were happy with
themselves.
" [Hobbs] was always talking about guys and stuff, so
she was always approachable if you had a problem with
guys. She wasn't boy-crazy, but she was always looking
for the perfect Christian guy, and she would talk to you
about what to look for. She also would always encourage
us to work problems out with each other before coming to
her, and I think that was good because it kept people talking
to their roommates and friends," Wescott said.
Wescott said she was also impressed by Hobbs' non-
judgmental character.
"She never condemned people or put them down, espe-
cially in front of others, even when she didn't agree with
what they were doing," she said.
Toffler agreed, saying that Hobbs set a good example for
her when she became an RA, to detach the offense from
the person who committed it.
"When I would have to deal with people I had to think
about that a lot, that these people are people too, and Amber
saw something beautiful in them; and even though I can't
stand the way they think sometimes, or I think they're
wrong, and I'm right, I know that they are entitled to their
opinions, too,"Toffler said.
Hobbs said she tries hard to keep in mind that God has
something special in mind for each person, something the
world often tries to inhibit. She said when she was in first
grade, her teacher put her in the "purple group" because
she could not read well, and it made her sad, so her parents
worked hard with her and read to her every night, until
she was good enough to be in the gifted program. Now
Hobbs is working on her Ph.D. in English and uses her
story to encourage others.
"There isn't a UD student I don't love; and when I look
into people's lives, I remember that poetry that God saw in
me and that my parents saw in me and pursued; and I say,
the world may say you're in the purple group, but God's
dreams for you are so much bigger. "
Hobbs' office is located in Haggar, next to the office of
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Gaunt, Sarah. The University News (Irving, Tex.), Vol. 26, No. 2, Ed. 1 Wednesday, September 12, 2001, newspaper, September 12, 2001; Irving, Texas. (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth201343/m1/6/: accessed May 6, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting University of Dallas.