When a student is asked to meet with Erica Roa, he or she knows they are in trouble.

Roa works in the Office of Student Standards, which runs judicial affairs.

If a student has gotten in trouble for underage drinking, marijuana, academic dishonesty, or anything else that breaks the student code of conduct, they will have to talk to either Roa or one of her co-workers.

It isn’t as scary as some students think it will be.

“I never yell,” she said. “A lot of times they come in here and sit down and say ‘You’re going to yell at me.’ I’m not your parent. I’m not going to yell at you. I’m just going to have a conversation with you.”

Roa came to Eastern three years ago to earn her master’s degree in College Student Affairs.

As a graduate student, she worked at the HERC as the Alcohol and Tobacco Education Coordinator. This experience prepared her for working at the student standards office.

“It made a kind of natural pairing for me to oversee a lot of the alcohol cases in here because of that background,” she said.

Aside from meeting with students, Roa also processes new cases, meets with other departments and occasionally leads sanctions for offenders. She also develops new sanctions that will be implemented in the fall.

“We’re looking at a potential sanction for anyone that is issued a public urination ordinance violation,” Roa said. “It’ll be a two hour class that will be coupled with community service.”

The office is busy year-round, working with students who have broken the code of conduct, but it is busier in the fall and the warmer part of the spring semester.

“When it’s warmer, you see people starting to go out a lot more,” she said.

Roa’s favorite part of her job is meeting one-on-one with students.

“A lot of times they don’t necessarily like meeting with me, but usually by the time they’re leaving the office, they leave with a smile,” she said. “Most of the time it only takes one meeting and they usually don’t get in trouble for the rest of their years at Eastern.”

Roa, who graduated from California Polytechnic State University at San Luis Obispo, plans to pursue a Ph.D. after her time at Eastern and continue her career.

“I want to work my way up to being a VP of student affairs, ideally in the next 15 to 20 years,” she said.

Outside of work, she enjoys TV, reading and traveling. She also has one dog, named Baines, and is very excited about getting a new puppy on Friday.

She also does event coordinating on the side, mostly weddings.

Sarah Ruholl can be reached at 581-7942 or at seruholl2@eiu.edu.