Room to be You
By Lindsay Charlton
Designed with connection in mind, Rodzik Hall is helping UWindsor students find friendship, independence and a sense of home on campus.
Starting life in a new city can be challenging for anyone. At 18, stepping out on your own for the first time can feel especially daunting.
Moving to Windsor from Hamilton, Olivia Ventresca, a nursing student at the University of Windsor, was looking for a place where she could gain the skills needed to make it on her own while feeling supported along the way.
“I think I had only been to the city once before moving here,” Ventresca said.
“I didn’t know many people and I didn’t know anything about housing, so I thought residence would be a good fit — it’s close, has food and provides all the necessities I need.”
Now in her second year, Ventresca has made a lifelong friend in her first-year roommate and built a sense of community with many others in residence.
As a residence assistant (RA), she hopes to create the same welcoming environment for first-time students in the newest building on campus, Rodzik Hall.
“Since it’s my first year as an RA, I want to do my best to help the students out,” Ventresca said.
“I want to make them as comfortable as possible with moving in and transitioning. That can be a little hard, but we’re going to host fun events, connect them and have a great time. We want them to realize it’s more than a room or a floor — the whole building is a community.”
Located on Sunset Avenue, south of Wyandotte Street West, Rodzik Hall is designed to foster those connections, giving students the privacy of single bedrooms while drawing them into shared spaces.
This newest student residence has been named to honour local philanthropists the Rodzik family and their foundation’s significant contributions to the University and the Windsor-Essex community. The project is the result of a public-private partnership with Tilbury Properties, a company focused on purpose-built student accommodation.
Each of its six floors has a community lounge, plus one larger house lounge for all.
There are 451 beds, eight barrier-free, spread across 226 suites with a two-to-one student-to-bathroom ratio. The 13,935-square-metre building also features shared laundry facilities.
“We want them to realize it’s more than a room or a floor — the whole building is a community."
Olivia Ventresca, residence assistant (RA) and second-year Faculty of Nursing student
Residence assistant Olivia Ventresca connects with fellow residents in Rodzik Hall. | Photo by Kyle Archibald.
“They still have a private space where they can learn a little bit more about themselves but have a shared bathroom where they will learn to negotiate living with somebody who’s not family. The design helps them establish boundaries,” said Lynn Charron (MEd ’23), director of housing and residence life.
“It also helps build a sense of community.” The bedrooms are roomy, yet typical of residence rooms. With no kitchen facilities, students will be drawn to the lounges and communal food service areas.
The dining hall, scheduled to open soon, has created quite the buzz around campus. It will feature a pizza oven plus plenty of healthy options, fast food and quick grabs to appeal to all tastes and appetites.
“I’m probably most excited about the dining hall and having it right where I’ll be living. I think that’s going to be really cool,” Ventresca said ahead of move-in day.
With the University of Windsor’s recently launched All You Care to Enjoy meal plan, students living on or off campus — along with faculty and staff — will have unlimited access to meals and snacks for a fixed rate.
"It’s incredibly convenient to live right here. Once you’re here, you don’t need to worry about paying bills, and you have everything you need within a couple of minutes."
Lynn Charron, Director, Housing and Residence Life
Lynn Charron poses in the new residence lounge, a space fostering community and shared living experiences. | Photo by Peter Marval.
Michael Kaye (MBA ’08), partner at Tilbury Properties Corporation — the developers behind the new residence — said the dining area is a central component of the building.
“When you think about student experience, a big part of it is food and beverage,” Kaye said.
“To modernize the dining experience and bring it to life in this building is something I’m really excited about and will be a true value add to the partnership we have with the University.”
“When we designed the building with the University, it was really about finding ways to make it more than just, as they say, ‘heads in beds,’” Kaye said.
“I think we’ve done a great job — from the food hall and administrative spaces to the floor and house lounges. Those elements were very important in the process.”
As an alum and Windsor-Essex local, Kaye holds this residence project close to his heart.
“I don’t think there’s anything I have done from a career perspective, or will do, that’s as purposeful and passion-driven as this project,” he said. “To be able to spend time in Windsor, where my family is from, on campus, where I got my MBA — it’s a true homecoming and something much more than just bricks and mortar to me.”
Michael Kaye (MBA '08) examines blueprints while standing in the large dining hall. | Photo by Michael Wilkins.
The state-of-the-art residence welcomed its first group of Lancers in fall 2025.
“I feel it gives us the chance to make a good impression and set the stage for the new building,” said RA Hazel Maxwell, a concurrent education student.
The role of an RA is key to community development and ensuring students have someone to go to — something crucial for first-year students, who Rodzik Hall is geared toward.
“We ensure the students are living a healthy life, including their mental, physical, social and academic health — helping them excel in all areas,” Maxwell said.
She added that for first-year students, residence can play a crucial role in developing life skills and gaining a deeper understanding of oneself in a new environment.
“It’s a community where you learn and meet a diverse group of people with vastly different life experiences,” she explained. “Boundary setting, strong time management and respecting others’ spaces are among some of the life lessons students experience,” Maxwell said.
Members of the UWindsor community, Tilbury Properties, the Rodzik family and students were on hand to officially celebrate the opening of Rodzik Hall with a ribbon-cutting ceremony. | Photo by Kyle Archibald.
Charron also noted that the residence experience offers a safe place for students to explore who they are and ask themselves important questions.
“They can stop and think, ‘Is this who I want to be? Is this how I want to move forward in my life?’ Living on your own and in residence, where you have a support system in place, allows them to try different things and make mistakes — with the support of senior students and staff,” she said.
“Along with that, it’s incredibly convenient to live right here. Once you’re here, you have everything you need within a couple of minutes.”
While some of these experiences are available with off-campus housing, living in residence is a rare experience that Charron recommends.
She often jokes with students about how unique residence living is and is one of the only times they will live with a large number of people their own age, outside of a retirement home. “I tell them to embrace it. They are never going to have this experience again,” Charron said. “It’s a time to explore who they are during this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity and to really take it on.”
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