Amid national debates about the relevance and value of higher education, Residential Learning Communities continue to emerge as powerful structures for strengthening student engagement, belonging, and academic identity. This presentation examines the central role of faculty involvement in the development and ongoing direction of two distinct residential models: Baylor University’s humanistic learning-focused Baylor & Beyond and the University of South Carolina’s Preston Residential College for Leadership. Drawing on literature that identifies significant faculty engagement as a defining feature of effective living-learning communities (Blimling; Inkelas and Soldner), the session highlights how intentional faculty leadership actively shapes the academic presence of residential communities. This includes structures such as faculty advisory boards, live-in faculty leadership, and co-curricular experiences that integrate academic inquiry with residential life.

At Baylor & Beyond Living-Learning Center, our Neighborhood Leader structure matches about thirty faculty partners from disciplines including languages, classics, history, religion, philosophy, and political science with student leaders. Together they plan events that help shape the hall’s identity, creating a robust academic culture within a 375-student residential environment.

A comparable model can be seen at the University of South Carolina’s Preston Residential College for Leadership, which houses approximately 220 undergraduate students and features a live-in faculty director who plays a central role in mentoring, programming, and daily residential life. At Preston, faculty engagement is structured around this central live-in faculty director, whose daily presence anchors mentoring, programming, and community life, and is supported by a faculty associates program that brings additional instructors into the residential environment through targeted events and interactions. Together, these elements demonstrate how a coordinated, relationship-driven model of faculty involvement can shape residential learning.

At Baylor & Beyond, this approach is extended into a broader, more distributed faculty ecosystem, with about forty faculty and professional staff contributing through an advisory board and Neighborhood Leader framework that embeds academic inquiry throughout the residential experience. Rather than relying on a single point of leadership, Baylor & Beyond distributes faculty engagement across disciplines and roles, cultivating a sustained, community-wide intellectual presence. These practices support first-year students’ transition to college and foster reflective thinking and civic awareness.

Looking ahead, the session addresses ongoing challenges such as sustaining partnerships, adapting to emerging fields, and navigating shifting political landscapes while responding to evolving student needs. Ultimately, this comparative case study demonstrates how faculty-driven residence halls can serve as transformative spaces that integrate academic and residential life, promote holistic student development, and reaffirm the enduring value of humanistic learning within higher education.