Michael McCormack and I have a running joke that he knows everyone at NYU. Like most good jokes, there's a lot of truth to it. Over lunch in the Kimmel Center, dozens of people wave at us, run up and hug McCormack, or give him a quick update on one project or another — all before we make it through the Asian stir-fry line.
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A CAS senior, McCormack is the president of the National Residence Hall Honorary, an organization works to honor and highlight staff members' achievements within Residential Education. In the last four years, he has held positions all over the university, working as an adviser, mentor, teacher, reporter, editor, manager and guide.
Currently, he is an RA at Third North residence hall. Since his freshman year, McCormack has been a floor representative, a Peer Educator in Residence and an RA in Coral Towers residence hall, too. He's also an orientation leader who spends his summers welcoming incoming freshman to NYU.
Wearing these many hats, McCormack tirelessly works to strengthen connections and community at the university.
"It's sometimes the most stressful thing. Living and working in the same place is very difficult," he said. "There are times when you want to close the door and just have that boundary, but there's always something to do."
At a university like NYU — a diverse and disparate school without a strong sense of community — this isn't easy. But McCormack's unusually strong interpersonal skills and distinctive emotional intelligence make him uniquely qualified for this work.
I met Michael four years ago when we were both staff writers at the Washington Square News. Later, as we became editors and friends, I came to understand Michael's innate talents. The stories he excelled at writing were those that required a nuanced understanding of the personalities and players involved. When his interests began to move away from journalism, he applied his skills to the WSN staff itself. He worked as a deputy managing editor for staff development and administration, counseling and coaching writers and editors.
His work in ResEd. extends well beyond NYU, too.
For the past two years, McCormack has been involved in the National Association of Colleges and University Residence Halls, traveling to conferences around the country to work on policies that affect hundreds of universities around the nation.
This year, McCormack decided to focus his efforts at NYU on his work as an RA and as the president of NRHH. Michael believes that NRHH is the key to developing and encouraging ResEd. staff, who sometimes do a thankless job.
"NRHH understands that when you give people the recognition that they deserve, they do continue to do the things that they do, but they're motivated to do even better things," he said.
Through his work in ResEd., McCormack has realized a new career goal — one that will keep him in higher education. He wants to find a job guiding students in college, potentially as an adviser in residential education or academic advising.
"I think I've had people who have set me on the right path," he said. "I want to be able to help people do that as well."
At the very end of our interview for this story, I asked Michael what he liked most about his job. As I finished the question, a resident saw him and walked over to say hello.
After the two chatted, he looked back at me and asked, "What was the question?"
"What do you like most about your job?" I repeated.
"That," he said, pointing to the spot where his resident had stood a moment ago. "Even though my friends hate it, they hate it when I'm talking to someone on the street that they don't know and I try and introduce them and they're just not having it. It's just so nice to know that an orientee or an [NRHH award] winner could walk by you on the street but they decide not to. They decide to have a conversation."
Indeed, in a university that notoriously lacks community, McCormack has built it.
