Though some students may complain about 8 a.m. classes, a select group of women have already started their workday at this early hour.

House directors, usually referred to as house mothers, live in the houses of all Panhellenic sororities at the University, and are responsible for running the house.

“The job for house directors is really a 24/7 job,” said Marilyn Livesay, house director for Delta Gamma. “You’re on all the time for emergencies – if you have trouble with the plumbing, the dishwasher goes, the air conditioning.”

Maintaining the house is one of the house directors’ biggest duties. They also manage the house’s staff, which usually includes cooks, housekeepers and security guards.

“Facilities management would be a good descriptor, because they are responsible for making sure that everything’s working in the house,” said Claudia Shamp, the associate dean of Greek Life at the University.

But, “there’s a wide range of job responsibility even among the house directors we have,” she said.

In addition to the physical upkeep of the house, house directors are in charge of planning meals for the students who live there.

“We order all the food,” said Nena Lee, house director for Alpha Gamma Delta. “We plan menus for the girls – 25 meals a week, plus snacks and whatever they want.”

The house directors order some food from food vendors, who deliver it directly to the house, but some of them supplement the deliveries with trips to the grocery store and Sam’s Club.

“I go to Sam’s at least three times a week,” Livesay said. “Kroger, not so much, but Sam’s, yes, because you get better buys.”

The house directors face the challenge of serving good meals on a budget.

“It takes a lot to make up the menu, because you try to get the best food, and I’m on a budget,” Livesay said. “I try to think of things that are healthy and not so fattening.”

House directors also go above and beyond their duties and plan special events for the sorority.

Ann Winger, the house director for Phi Mu, started an event called “Dinner with the Phi Mus” on the weeks the sorority has a social.

“They get to invite about eight guys from the fraternity that they’re going to be with the next night,” Winger said.

“Which makes it good, because they get to know some of these guys ahead of time in a non-threatening way. And they get to hear them stand up and say a little bit about themselves, and they can stay after and chat and have a cup of coffee with dessert.”

Becky Reynolds, the house mother for Zeta Tau Alpha, has a similar program called “Date Night with Miss Becky” every other week.

“I invite 15 gentlemen from another group, whether it be the swim and dive team, or the vet school, or another fraternity, or a Christian group – just different guys,” she said. “And the whole concept is, that this campus is so big now. I want young men to know young women. Just to be able to say hello on campus, or say, ‘Oh gosh, I met you,’ or ‘I’m in your class,’ or these kinds of things.”

Contrary to what some may expect, house directors are not usually in charge of enforcing rules.

“The good thing, that most people don’t realize, is we don’t do discipline,” Winger said. “And there’s no curfew in the universities anymore, so the girls can come and go as they please.”

Before becoming house directors, these women had a wide variety of backgrounds.

“Well, when I was first out of school, I worked for Ethan Allen in interior design, and I loved that,” Reynolds said. “I founded Star House, which is an after-school program for at-risk, low-income families, for their children. I did that through the Junior League, which is wonderful. And then most recently I owned a company with another gal, Imports with Attitude. We were a wholesale line of hand-carved, collectible walking sticks.”

The other house directors have had interesting jobs of their own.

Lee is a licensed massage therapist. Winger went to chef school in New York. Livesay worked in jewelry for 12 years.

Many of them also have raised children and did extensive volunteer work.

The opportunity to be a house mother was often unexpected, but all say they are satisfied with their jobs and love the students they work with.

“It’s a great job for me,” Livesay said. “These girls are mine while they’re here. When they go home, they’re their parents’ then . Just the love I get from these girls and this house.”

Lee also said the job was a good fit for her.

“I like that I don’t have to punch a time clock. I like that I live where I work. I like the interaction with the girls – I hope it’s going to keep me young. I like the activity going on all the time,” she said. “I love it. I can’t see me doing anything else.”