Anna Vandre, a sophomore nursing major and Health Professions House ambassador, couldn’t be more excited to be living in her “house” in Lincoln Hall.

NIU provides academic houses and specialty floors for students with similar interests and career aspirations.

An academic house consists of a wing of a residence hall of people in the same college with similar majors.

Lincoln Hall has the Business Careers House, the Teacher Education and Certification House (TEACH) and the Health Professions House.

Douglas Hall is home to the International House; the Honors House; and the Science, Engineering, and Technology House. Neptune has the Fine Arts House.

Specialty floors are either specific floors within a house or individual floors in the regular wings. For example, the International House in Douglas Hall contains a Political Science floor, and Grant South contains a Deaf Interest floor.

Some houses have participation or grade point average requirements, but for the most part, their guidelines are the same as the regular floors in the residence halls.

“Living in an academic house gives students the opportunities to get to know faculty on a more in-depth level, participate in different activities pertaining to their major and makes them familiar with organizations associated with their major,” said Blanche McHugh, area coordinator for Lincoln and Douglas halls.

Each house has a faculty coordinator who provides advice and spends time with students.

Sandi Kuchynka is the faculty coordinator for the Health Professions House.

“The goal of the house is for students to have connections with academic support, and that happens when students are living in the same house and are taking the same classes,” she said.

Most students live on these floors by request. However, some students may be placed on specialty floors to fill space, depending on students’ demand or lack thereof.

“The largest challenge is that sometimes the students are placed in a house [that they did not request], and may feel left out,” said David Dunlap, Housing and Dining coordinator of marketing and public relations.

Social and service activities vary, but they usually are aimed toward the majors in the house.

The Health Professions House recently took a field trip to the Brookfield Zoo to tour the animal hospital there, Vandre said.

“This program seemed like a good way to make friends since I would already have something in common with the people on my floor,” said Katie Wood, a freshman special education major living in the TEACH House.

Vandre has found the biggest difference between the academic houses and regular floors to be support.

“You never feel like you are doing something all on your own,” Vandre said.

There are no plans for new academic houses or specialty floors.

“We are more interested in developing the houses we already have,” Dunlap said.