His whole career has been about helping college students feel comfortable in their new living environments, but it wasn’t until Charlie Macke became our new director of Residential Life last month that he felt he’d come home.

Charlie Macke

That’s because the Cookeville area is home to his parents and two brothers. A sister-in-law of Macke’s, in fact, also works on campus, in the Counseling Center.

“I’m excited both about the opportunities of living here in Cookeville and of working here at TTU,” he says.

Having been a resident assistant as a student at Western Kentucky University in the early 1980s and having served as vice president for Student Development at Virginia Intermont College most recently, Macke knows how important it is for people to feel comfortable when moving to a new location.

“Campus is the first place most students have ever lived away from home, so it’s especially important for them to feel comfortable,” he says. “I believe that if they’re comfortable in their living environments, then the rest of their campus experiences will be enhanced.”

Although he’s worked in Residential Life at schools with both small and large student populations, Macke says most institutions of all sizes face similar challenges when it comes to facilities maintenance.

“Probably as many as 60 or 70 percent of institutions across the country are deferring some or all of their routine maintenance on facilities for various reasons, often budgetary,” he says.

“One of my goals as director of Residential Life at TTU is to work with our staff and students to determine our needs and concerns and to eventually put a routine maintenance program in place, because it often ends up costing institutions more the longer they have to defer those maintenance projects."

He and his wife, Karen, have a son, Adam, who attends Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University in Florida, and a daughter, Hannah, who is a sophomore in high school.