Episode 4: Kim McMahon, Director of Russell House University Union

Key Quotes

Shonta Sellers: Hello and welcome to spur of the moment, a podcast for the curious. This is your emcee, Shonta Sellers, and welcome to conversations that pique your curiosity through genuine questions and reactions. You know how this goes, we ask the unknown questions, and our guests give us the most unique answers.

So we're in for a real treat today with our guest. Welcome the director of Russell House University Union, Kim McMahon.

Kim McMahon: Thank you. Happy to be here.

SS: I'm so glad to have you here. We've got good stuff to talk about today. How are you doing?

KM: I'm great.

SS: Good, good. It's been really busy semester already. We finished up renovations in the Russell House. We've got lots of other great things happening in the Russell House with new dining areas.

KM: Yep. New dining. They're having a good time downstairs eating snacks, eating pizza, dessert.

SS: I'm sure. Outside, inside.

KM: Outside. Farmers markets, student events, Hip Hop Wednesday. We've seen it all in the first month. As (Vice President J. Rex Tolliver) said, all nine million and two people have come in the last month or so.

SS: Yes they have. That's a good problem to have. It's a lot of good things to see and experience in that building.

KM: It is never a dull moment. No two days are the same.

SS: So you're an alum of USC, and you've seen a lot of change with the Russell House over the years from a student, and now you're the professional there. But there's something very special happening with the Russell House. Tell us about it.

KM: This year the Russell House turns 70. So we are going to have a birthday party, and we want you to come celebrate with us and help us craft the memories, 70 years of memories of Russell House for our university and for our students, our alums, our community members since our reach spans well beyond the geographic outline of campus.

SS: Absolutely. So there's a lot of history to the 70 years that Russell House has been here. I believe when it was dedicated, it was dedicated to a former president of the university.

KM: Yes, yes. And that was actually a student campaign. The original name of the facility was the Carolina Student House, and because of President and Virginia Russell's leadership, their love for students, their prioritization of how students experience their time at USC, the students campaigned for the name of the facility to be formally dedicated to both President Russell and the First Lady, Virginia Russell, and so that occurred on October 16th, 1955.

SS: So how is it going trying to raise funds for a new Russell House? Tell us about that.

KM:  Well, raising funds, I think is going to be the hardest easy part, perhaps, on this project. More important, though, is students being able to articulate the need for what a new Russell House could mean for them. And not only students, but then our university community, faculty and staff, the initiatives that are built to support students and, with strong leadership from (student body president) Courtney Tkacs and her peer group.

I think that we have an outstanding chance with momentum and energy and with great data this year to use this birthday party. And another fun fact, the last time there was an addition of physical space to the Russell House was in 1976, which is 50 years next year. So not only is the building 70, but it's also 50 years since we have added to that footprint.

So you mentioned that I'm an alum. I haven't seen a lot of changes about the Russell House physically. Interior wise, sure. Paint, we've moved some walls around, added some flooring, new dining areas, upgraded some spaces. But when we think about the change of the building, the physical outline has not changed in 50 years.

KM: I also know that what makes it special and magical is that students bring it to life every day.

Not only our student employees and our student leaders in Gamecock Entertainment, Student Government and LSC and the CSC and Garnet Media. But then every student or student org that host an event in our space, outside they table, they market, they solicit, they hang out, they sun bathe, they eat, they laugh. All of that is what makes the Russell House, the place for memories and 70 years of memories.

SS: And it's a big part of First Night Carolina. It's the most magical part of First night Carolina.

KM: Greene Street is a magical part of of the Russell House, and I don't know that the Russell House would have the lore and it would have the the draw without the Greene Street and the history that that street is, but also the unique layout that affords our street party atmosphere, and who doesn't love a good street party?

SS: There's a lot more that happens in the Russell House other than Chick-fil-A and all the dining. A lot of important meetings happen in there. You've got the SEC room that really talks about all of the competition and all of our competitors, and a lot of important meetings happen in there as well.

But when we have conferences, people come and they use the facility to engage people from all across the state, all across the country really, for all of the conference meetings that are held. Although we have some newer buildings that are going to be used for conferences, people really want to be in the Russell House to engage folks around learning and growth and the important conversations in higher ed and for the university.

KM: Yes! And that's what we're designed for. On any given day, you might come hang out with some friends for a meal, you might engage with a street preacher outside or get some fun swag or information about how to join or participate in a student club, you might go to a meeting, you might go to a study abroad open house, maybe a career fair.

And when you think about the the course of your day, you could reach just about every sense or every engagement topic, just by being at Russell for a couple of hours, and that's the beauty of the student union model is that we are not one singular thing. We're not just a place, we are an organization. We're a community. We are a service provider, a resource.

And so students get to think about how they use Russell in whatever way lights them up, in whatever way serves them, and we love to hear how we're doing that. And we also love to hear how we're missing the mark and ways that we could do that better or start new initiatives from the jump.

 So what should we expect from this anniversary? Are we going to do fireworks and all the things like first night?

KM: You know, we love a good firework at the Russell House, but we can't overdo the fire.

So we are working on some special edition graphics that will have, some swag that that students and other members of our community can get that, one edition one night only. We actually also are launching a web campaign where anyone — students, faculty, staff, alums, community members  —can submit their Russell story. So maybe you have a Russell House love story, maybe you have a squirrel story, maybe you have a story about how you met something or someone that changed the course of your career plan, your major plan. Maybe you got an autograph at the building one day, or maybe it was just the day that you took a moment to just pause and celebrate your participation in the university community.

KM: We also are bringing back for a one-night-only appearance of Bustle at the Russell, which was a program that we hosted for ten plus years in the building that was a celebration of all of the resources and community components that are part of the Russell House. And so dining, the campus store participated, the bookstore participated, printing participated, Garnet Media. Every entity had some sort of activity or way that you can engage with them.

And so we do fun stuff inside and outside. It's really fun on every floor. You're going to find fun on every floor. And that will be a one-night-only return Thursday, October 16th, which is also the birth date. I envision some cake, maybe a toast. 'Here's a Health to Russell,' not just here's a health to Carolina.