Staff

Living-Learning Center staff

Padraic Kenney

Padraic Kenney

Director

Director Padraic Kenney oversees the LLC including academics, programming, and budgets. He works with various student groups and officers and helps to coordinate visiting alumni, scholars, and artists. He works closely with the Board of Educational Programming (BOEP) to choose Collins seminars every semester as well as arrange fireside chats, professor dinners, and similar events.

Dr. Kenney received his Ph.D. from the University of Michigan, and is a professor in the Departments of History and International Studies. He researches how groups of people and individuals survive, resist, and protest in hostile environments. He’s particularly interested in the dynamics of communist societies, especially Poland. He has published a number of books, most recently Dance in Chains: Political Imprisonment in the Modern World (Oxford, 2017).

Yara Clüver

Yara Clüver

Associate Director

Associate Director Yara Clüver oversees the day-to-day operations at Collins. Having earned a Master's degree in Fine Arts (with a focus on photography and book-making), she mentors our Arts Council student group. She prepares the Collins Q instructors to teach Q199 to our incoming students (our gateway to Collins course). She teaches on a variety of topics at Collins, including Collins Speaks (where students develop and present personal stories with a universal appeal), Discovering the Artist's Book (a hands on studio course), and a service-learning course called Art and Community (where IU students engage with children in public schools in self-directed art projects).

Yara coordinates the Collins Visiting Artists and Scholars Program (CoVAS), which brings emerging and established artists as well as scholars from across continents to live and teach at Collins. She can help with questions about academics at Collins, student programming, and is a good source of information about the campus and local arts community.

Clüver exhibits her work and gives talks on art nationally and internationally. She grew up in three continents in a multicultural home and in addition to English, speaks German and Portuguese fluently.

Lindsay Brown

Lindsay Brown

Assistant Director

Assistant Director Lindsay Brown oversees Collins budgets, handles admissions, and manages the on-line alumni newsletter, the official Collins Facebook page, and the annual report. She works with multiple student groups, including the Board of Programmers, the Cheshire Café, E-Force, and Philanthropy.

As a Collins alumna, she is dedicated to keeping Collins alumni engaged and connected to the community. Lindsay completed her B.A. in East Asian Languages and Cultures at IU in 2005, and her M.S. in Higher Education and Student Affairs in 2010. Her office is at the end of the Duty Office suite.

Leigh Davis

Leigh Davis

Student Services Assistant

Student Services Assistant (SSA) Leigh Davis staffs the public office from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. on weekdays. In addition to giving tours and assisting seminar instructors, she can answer questions about the LLC, get your free Ryder Film Series tickets (two per week per resident), help you sign up for field trips and ticket reimbursement programs (Collins often subsidizes tickets to campus and community events for residents), and check out equipment to you (such as still and video cameras). She also helps manage the official Collins Facebook Page and Twitter and can help you plan and implement programming within Collins.

Leigh graduated from IU with a B.A. in History in 2008 (after living in Collins for four years) and a Master’s degree in Information and Library Science in 2015. In her down time, she plays board games, salsa dances, and is learning how to play the ukulele.

Residential Programs & Services staff

Connor Knapp

Connor Knapp

Residence Manager

Residence Manager Connor Knapp has an office in the Duty Office suite. Connor supervises the GS/RA staff and oversees day-to-day life in the hall, making sure everyone living at Collins enjoys a safe and pleasant environment. See Connor with questions about your room or roommate, residence hall rules, or any special circumstances with which you might need help.

Laura Housel

Laura Housel

Office Services Assistant, Center Desk

Jason Lasher

Jason Lasher

Environmental Operations Manager

Eric Newton

Eric Newton

Head of Maintenance

  • collifix@indiana.edu