Catawba College has hired Marcus J. Washington as its new Director of Housing and Residence Life, effective July 18. Washington’s addition to Catawba’s Office of Student Affairs was announced by Jared Tice, Dean of Students.
Washington leaves a position he has held since 2016 as Assistant Director of Residence Life at DeSales University in Center Valley, Pa. His prior work experience in higher education includes employment as Resident Director at High Point University (2015-2016), and work as a Coordinator of Recruitment and Pre-College Programming (2013-2015) and as an Admissions Counselor (2010-2013) at Messiah College in Mechanicsburg, Pa.
Before joining the employment ranks in higher education, Washington worked as an Adolescent Program Specialist at Milton Hershey School in Hershey, Pa., as a Family Based Mental Health Worker and Therapeutic Staff Support at Pennsylvania Counseling Services in Carlisle, Pa., and as a Youth and Teen Director at the Carlisle Family YMCA also in Carlisle, Pa.
Tice noted that Washington’s breadth of experience working with teens and college students will be a great benefit to the Catawba College Office of Student Affairs. “Marcus is a consummate professional who is committed to each student’s personal growth and development. His inclusive mindset recognizes how diversity enriches a campus and challenges students to look past their own worldviews,” Tice said, adding. “He is also a first-generation college graduate, as are many of Catawba’s students; that fact alone will serve as an instant point of connection that he will have with our students.”
Washington earned his Bachelor of Arts degree in Human Development and Family Science and his Master of Arts degree in Higher Education from Messiah College in Mechanicsburg, Pa. He holds professional memberships in the Association of College and University Housing Officers – International and the Mid-Atlantic Association of College & University Housing Officers. His civic engagement includes service on the President’s Leadership Council at Messiah College, work as a Youth Group Leader at Calvary Road Church of God in Carlisle, Pa., service as a Volunteer Youth Basketball and Football Coach at Carlisle YMCA in Carlisle, Pa., and work as a Lead Presenter and Presentation Team Participant at Capital Area Pregnancy Center in Camp Hill, Pa.
Washington is married to wife Lydia, and the couple has two children.
