Meet the Staff

Jon Nickell

Director of Residential Life and Housing

As director of Residential Life and Housing, Jon oversees four residential halls (Conard, Foreman, Meske, and Sittner), and Village Housing. Jon, who graduated from WWU in 2011 with a bachelor's degree in psychology, and 2020 with a master's in counseling psychology. Jon spent his first 6 years as an Associate dean, and began as the Director of residential life and housing in 2020. As an undergraduate student, Jon worked in the residential halls as a resident assistant for three years and served as the men's club (OPS) president.

Jon can be reached by emailing jon.nickell@wallawalla.edu or by calling (509) 527-2539.

Victoria Stagg

Associate Dean of housing operations

Victoria can be reached by emailing victoria.stagg@wallawalla.edu or calling (509)527-2533.

Paul Starkebaum 

Associate Dean of accountability

Paul Starkebaum is the Accountability Dean for the residence halls. Paul has spent the last six years working in WWU Athletics. Before that, he was an Elementary Physical Education Teacher. He graduated high school from Mt. Ellis Academy and graduated from Walla Walla University with a degree in physical education, Paul has his Masters in Coaching and Athletic Administration from Concordia University-Irvine. He is married to Briana Starkebaum, and he has a springer spaniel named Addie. Paul enjoys the outdoors, sports, classic cars, and spending time with friends and family. 

Paul can be reached by emailing paul.starkebaum@wallawalla.edu or calling (509) 527-2112.

Katherine Gonzalez

Associate Dean of facility programming and promotion

Katherine can be reached by emailing katherine.gonzalez@wallawalla.edu or calling (509)-527-2532.

Anthony Handal

Associate Dean of resident programming

Anthony Handal is the programming coordinator for the residence halls.

Anthony can be reached by emailing anthony.handal@wallawalla.edu or calling 509-527-2113.

Dorene Hackett

Assistant Director for Off-campus Housing 

Dorene manages Village Housing, Walla Walla University's off-campus housing. Dorene joined Walla Walla University in 2014. She holds a bachelors degree in Organizational Behavior and Management, and has a well-rounded knowledge in both business practices and program development. She strives to create a safe, supportive, and educational living environment.

Dorene can be reached at dorene.hackett@wallawalla.edu or (509) 527-2109.

Joan Wright

Administrative Assistant (Village Housing)

Joan takes care of off-campus housing requests, guestroom reservations, utility bill audits, and keeps things running smoothly in the Village Housing office. She has been employed by WWU since 2016 and has great customer service and organizational skills. Joan joined Village Housing in 2022.

Joan can be reached in Village Housing at village@wallawalla.edu or by calling (509) 527-2109.

Lisa Hellie

Administrative Assistant (Residence Halls)

Lisa Hellie is the Administrative Assistant for the residence halls. For the past 2 years, Lisa has worked at WWU as a contract teacher and academic advisor for the Health and Physical Education department. Before that she worked at St. Helena Lifestyle Medicine Institute as their Exercise Physiologist and Program Manager. She enjoys gardening, hiking, paddle boarding and snowshoeing with her wonderful husband, Mike, amazing “kids”, Tauva, Janae, Mychal.

Lisa can be reached at lisa.hellie@wallawalla.edu or (509)-527-2151.