New Living Learning Community opportunities are opening for first years and sophomores at Quinnipiac University for fall 2023.

The Unity, Multicultural and Live Well LLCs were originally for first-year students only. But starting the fall 2023 semester, first-year and sophomore students will be allowed to live together in those LLCs. There will be a new sophomore-only LLC called Communications and Media Leadership, open for students in the School of Communications.

As of fall 2022, there are 15 LLCs that are offered to students, and 520 students who are a part of an LLC. This includes the honors sophomore LLC, which has been the only LLC option for sophomores in the past.

The multi-class LLCs will be located in Mountainview Residence Hall and the sophomore-only LLCs will be in Village Residence Hall, said Nicholas Nicholson, professor of nursing.

Nicholson, who is the faculty director for residential experience, was one of the faculty members who helped bring these second-year options to Quinnipiac.

“The students have the opportunity to live with people who they’re familiar with, to deepen their relationships,” Nicholson said. “Those connections become so important as potential lifelong friendships.”

Nicholson emphasized the benefits for students who live in these communities, such as becoming more familiar with faculty, having peers around to help with academics and being surrounded by those with similar values and interests.

Tami Reilly, director of fitness and wellbeing, is the faculty affiliate for the Live Well LLC, which focuses on the eight dimensions of wellness and how students can incorporate those into their lives. Reilly explained how LLCs can bring people together.

“It’s not just about living with peers, but having that connection with someone on campus that can just be a person that you can talk to because we all need more allies and advocates down the road,” Reilly said. “So whether it’s Live Well or any other LLC, it’s really nice to have people in your corner.”

Students can participate in programming and activities run by residential assistants and faculty affiliates in the LLCs.

Christine Voth, adjunct history professor and the faculty affiliate for the honors program LLC, said that she lets students in the honors LLC choose the activities. Previously, they held events like community service and decorating Christmas cookies.

Voth emphasized the importance of sophomore LLCs as students start becoming more independent in their second year of college.

“Sophomore year is actually a much more integral year than a lot of students think because they aren’t being nurtured through their first year anymore,” Voth said. “They’re kind of told ‘you’re on your own.’”

As students become more experienced and independent in college, they also become role models for the younger students.

William Jellison is a professor of psychology and women’s and gender studies and unity faculty affiliate. The Unity LLC is for members and allies of the LGBTQ community and helps create an accepting environment while bringing awareness and combating injustice within the Quinnipiac community.

“(Multiclass LLCs) offers an opportunity to continue to build community,” Jellison said. “First-year students coming in next year will have older students, sophomores, who have gone through the (college) process, who might be able to mentor them and help them get acclimated to campus.”

Director of Academic Integrity and Pre-Law Advisor Claude Mayo is the faculty affiliate for the multicultural LLC, which allows students to live in a space dedicated to inclusion and equity for students of a wide ethnic and cultural background. However, this is not the first time Mayo has seen multiclass LLCs.

He has worked at other colleges and universities in the residential life departments where he has seen that multiclass LLCs are popular and thrive.

“You can build more of a culture, you can build more continuity,” Mayo said. “Then you can see a longitudinal process in the students as they really commit to being in that space.”

For rising sophomores who are interested in living in an LLC, they can contact Nicholas Nicholson at [email protected], or email [email protected].