Tom Idema: One Man, Many Duties

The assistant director of Student Life, Tom Idema, said he takes the positives and negatives of the job in stride.

Idema came to CMU after graduating from Michigan State University with a Masters in Higher Education. He started at CMU with no experience in 1997. He worked as the Merrill Hall Director from 1997-1999, then worked at the Leadership Institute from 1999-2001 and has been in his current role since 2001.

As assistant director of Student Life, Idema has three main job responsibilities. He oversees all registered student organizations on campus. He also is in charge of campus discipline and he is the campus Greek advisor. And as it is with any job, he has other duties as assigned.

“They are all equally important, but being Greek advisor takes up a lot of my time,” Idema said.

Being assistant director of Student Life, there are many challenges that come with the job.

“One of the biggest challenges is probably dealing with people or groups that want to do something that is out of whack,” said Idema. “We have people trying to start a new fraternity on campus when they shouldn’t be or groups putting up posters where they’re not supposed to.”

Since Idema deals with students, he has had some weird experiences while on the job.

“The weird cases are the ones that provide the most challenges,” said Idema. “It feels good to be able to resolve those weird cases though.”

There may be many challenges to the job, but also it comes with many great experiences and enjoyable moments.

“The thing I enjoy most about my job is the interaction I get with the students,” Idema said. “Being able to meet with the students and hearing their stories, you can’t beat that.”

With enrollment at an all-time high, 245 registered student organizations on campus and over 20 Greek organizations, this has Idema’s days packed with things to do.

“There is so much to this job and it keeps me busy all day long and most of the time after hours too,” said Idema. “If it’s not one thing, it’s another. There is always some kind of issue, it seems, going on around this campus.”

Idema wasn’t sure what he was going to do when he graduated from MSU, but he is so glad everything worked out the way it did.

Idema said: “I had no clue about CMU and what it had to offer me. I sent out so many resumes looking for work when I was getting ready to graduate. I came into CMU with no experience and it has been a learning experience. Each day the students and I learn from each other. Knowing what I do affects people’s lives, makes it that much worth it to come into the office everyday.”

This job is not for everyone. You have to have that certain “thing” to make it a success for yourself. Having the students to look at and see the changes in, allows Idema to see the effects in person.

“I love working with people and interacting with people,” said Idema. “I couldn’t imagine a job where I didn’t deal with people all the time. Seeing how these kids grow through their college experiences makes me know that what I’m involved with is helping.”