Last Monday night, gathering in a Claflin Hall dorm room over a fresh pan of brownies and a batch of homemade chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream, more than a dozen Boston University underclassmen got a break from dining hall frozen yogurt.
The host of the gathering introduced herself simply as Diane, a slender blonde who seated her guests in a circle as she bustled around and distributed ice cream bowls.
This scenario might look like any typical college bonding night — if it weren’t for the fact that Diane has lived in the dorm complex for almost three decades.
A member of the faculty-in-residence program in West Campus for the past 26 years, math professor Diane Meuser has become popular with students for her cozy ice cream parties and her unique role within the university.
THERE’S NO PLACE LIKE THE DORM
Athletic medals and trophies, a grey skull and a bright yellow yoga ball add what Meuser calls “BU d’eacute;cor” to the cinderblock walls of her dorm apartment. With the smell of freshly baked brownies in the air, she makes it difficult for her guests to feel uncomfortable.
“In my experience, I think undergraduates like sort of a homey type atmosphere and environment,” Meuser said. “They think it’s really neat that a faculty member is interested in them and will meet with them outside of the classroom … It just makes the university experience a little more personal.”
Meuser’s ice cream parties are popular floor events with West Campus Resident Advisors who want to give their residents a chance to get to know one another and meet with live-in-faculty. Meuser said she routinely asks each guest to say one thing his or her floor mates do not already know about him or her.
Rich Hall eighth floor RA Marina Morie, a Sargent College of Health and Rehabilitation Sciences graduate student, said the ice cream party had the best turnout of all her floor events this semester.
“I thought this would be a good [event] because it’s casual and close and you get to meet the faculty and just sit around,” Morie said. “It’s just nice to hear [my residents] talking about what’s going on.”
Meuser said her ice cream parties have become so popular that she organized four in the month of November alone. The ice cream machine — given by a grad student more than two decades ago — has seen better days, needing a new motor a few years ago. Although she can make over 500 ice cream flavors, including Oreo cheesecake and banana chocolate chip, Meuser said chocolate chip cookie dough is still the crowd favorite.
TASTEE FREEZE
At the last ice cream party Meuser hosts annually for her own floor, more than 45 residents well exceded the comfortable capacity of a Claflin pad, she said.
“I’d like to have a group to have it seated around so we introduce each other and play a little game and say something about [ourselves],” Meuser said.
Meuser, who goes by Diane, certainly contributes to her party conversation sessions.
She makes more ice cream flavors than Baskin Robins, does not own a television and has her own bathroom in the dorm building.
Oh, and Meuser has run 26 marathons in her life, including 13 Boston Marathons.
Ice cream party attendee Diana Sull, a College of General Studies freshman, said she was impressed by these feats. She also said she learned about her floormates’ backgrounds and what they have in common.
DON’T WORRY HONEY… IT’S JUST THE SKATEBOARDERS
A West Campus resident since 1981, Meuser said she appreciates her unique role in the BU community because she serves as neither parent nor disciplinarian.
“It separates me from the administrative aspect [of] dorms,” Meuser said. “I’m just here as a friendly person. I’m not here as somebody that [residents] have to avoid or be careful around.”
Several years ago, Meuser said she frequently heard suspicious sounds coming from the floor above her. Instead of complaining, she waited until move-out day to ask her neighbors above what was making the sound. As it turned out, they were skateboarding.
“It was more of a curiosity than anything else,” Meuser said. “I make noise too. Most of the time you can make a little noise because this is the dorm. It’s not the library.”
Meuser said she prefers living in the dorms because she likes the proximity and doesn’t like to commute.
“I know [living in the dorms is] a little bit bizarre,” Meuser said. “But I like to be around a hubbub of activity. It’s vibrant.”
Meuser said she ran into an former party guest a few weeks ago at the Cambridge Star Market who remembered her unique entertaining style.
“This middle-aged guy came up to me and he said, ‘I was an undergraduate at BU and I came over your apartment for ice cream. Are you still at BU?'” Meuser said. “I said, ‘Not only am I at BU, I’m still in the dorms.’ In fact, I was buying ice cream supplies. Every now and then I run into people like that.”
THE VIEW FROM THE TOP
As part of the faculty-in-residence program, Meuser is required to hold informal monthly events, formal semester events and academic help hours. So in addition to ice cream parties, Meuser hosts hiking trips each semester.
In October, Meuser led a trip to the top of Mt. Monadnock in New Hampshire for only three dollars. She said more people have hiked to the top of this mountain than any other mountain without a road in the world. Meuser said the uniquely low tree line provides spectacular views.
“I thought students should get off campus,” she said. “On a clear day, you can see all the way up to Boston.”
Hawaii native Morie said she and her fellow RAs joined Meuser on the trip.
“I thought it would be nice to go to nature,” Morie said. “I like to go hiking in Hawaii. It’s a little different, but at least there’s something. It was really fun to spend some time with other RAs, too.”
MINT CHOCOLATE CHIP, MARATHONS AND MATH
When she’s not mixing up frozen delights, Meuser holds “Math Help” sessions on Tuesday evenings in the Claflin Hall lobby. Unlike typical office hours, Meuser said 75 percent of the students she tutors are from a math class other than her own.
“Word of mouth is a big thing,” Meuser said. “I’ve had some students that basically just come the whole time they’re taking math courses. And what happens is they spread the word to others.”
Depending on the subject, between 15 to 20 students usually attend the tutoring sessions on any given night, she said. The Educational Resource Center has given her considerable publicity because of their recent shortage of math tutors.
CAS sophomore Julie Silva said she attends Math Help every Tuesday night.
“Professor Meuser will, in full detail, write out and explain the solutions to any math problem, and one can see that she is eager and happy to help students,” Silva said in an email.
Meuser said she attributes the popularity of Math Help to an informal atmosphere and group work. Meuser said she spends ten minutes with each of the groups, which are divided by subject, but they primarily answer their own questions.
“[Math Help] is different because it’s more of a place where people can come and work with a wide variety of subjects and then ask questions if something comes up,” Meuser said. “[Students] just like the atmosphere and … hanging out and working with other people in the course.”
But if you’re not into math, there’s always the ice cream.