New director chosen to lead KU’s growing on-campus housing department

An aerial image shows Daisy Hill with the additions of Oswald and Self Halls during the construction process on Wednesday, July 15, 2015.

The University of Kansas has announced a new director for KU Student Housing, who will take over a growing operation when housing director Diana Robertson retires this summer.

Sarah Waters, a Leavenworth native, has been director of residence life at Bowling Green State University in Ohio since 2010. Waters will start the job of director of KU Student Housing on July 17, KU announced on Tuesday.

At Bowling Green State, Waters provided leadership for a program similar in size and scope to KU Student Housing, according to KU. She is credited with increasing the percentage of students who lived on campus after their freshman year and leading capital projects that added 1,700 new beds, including some built as part of a public-private partnership — the same funding model being used for KU’s $350 million Central District redevelopment project, which features two new campus housing facilities and relies in part on revenue from them to fund the project.

Sarah Waters

“Her long record of achievement, with outcomes that include improved student retention, emphasis on diversity, and work on capital improvement projects totaling $130 million, meshes with KU’s priorities,” Tammara Durham, vice provost for student affairs, said in KU’s news release. “I am confident she will continue moving the organization forward.”

KU Student Housing accommodates about 5,100 students, who live across in nine residence halls, 12 scholarship halls and three apartment complexes, according to KU. The new 545-bed Central District residence hall will open in August, and the new 708-bed Central District apartment complex will open in 2018.

Robertson will retire June 27. She has been director for 11 years and associate director for residence life for six. 

Waters said she was “thrilled” to lead KU Student Housing.

“This program has a wonderful foundation and has so many projects on the horizon, including the Central District new residence hall and apartment complex,” she said, in KU’s news release. “The on-campus living environment is critical to our students’ overall experience at the university.” 

Prior to becoming director of residence life at Bowling Green State, Waters was senior associate director there. She also has been assistant director of housing and residence life at Ball State University in Muncie, Ind.; a complex director at Minnesota State University in Mankato; and a residence hall coordinator at East Carolina University in Greenville, N.C.

Waters earned her bachelor’s degree from Washington University in St. Louis and her master’s degree from Indiana University in Bloomington.