Andy Plumley, UC Riverside's director of housing services, has been elected president of the Western Association of College and University Housing Officers. He will take office in July.

Plumley's first association with UCR's residence halls was as an undergraduate living in Aberdeen-Inverness hall. After graduation in 1982 he stayed on as resident director and has worked his way up through several career positions.

"I have been fortunate to have new UCR opportunities come to me when I was ready for a new challenge," he said. "Critical in my life has been my involvement in WACUHO."

As a young housing officer, Plumley found mentors among the more experienced members of the group, he said. He has served on several influential committees over the years and chaired the group's 1999-2000 annual conference. He has been its treasurer since 2001. UCR helped found WACUHO 50 years ago, Plumley said.

Plumley said his association with WACUHO has kept him learning: Technology and approaches to expansion and development keep changing, he said, and he has been able to apply new knowledge to his work.

Since 2000, Plumley has opened two amenity-filled residence halls, Pentland Hills I and II, at a cost of about $74 million. Featuring cable TV and high-speed Internet hookups in students' rooms, plus a kitchen for every eight students, the two complexes represent the latest thinking in on-campus student housing.

Keeping up with residence-hall technology is important for attracting students, Plumley said: "The residents expect all the bells and whistles."

Three more housing projects are in various stages of planning, he said, with the next one headed for a 2007 opening.

Housing at UCR dates back to 1959, when the Aberdeen-Inverness residence hall opened. Students moved into Lothian Hall in 1963. An addition to Lothian was completed in 1991. All the residence halls have been renovated in the last dozen years.