The biggest thrill of Academe at 198 is the space itself. It brings to life the idea of an academic village where people from different academic focuses can create this community together.

Zainab Sadoun
‌Assistant Director, Occupancy & Assignments
UCSF Housing, Campus Life Services

Academe's Academic Village
 

Academe at 198 is a stunning brand-new 14-story, mixed-use building spearheaded by UC College of the Law, San Francisco (UC Law SF and formerly called UC Hastings). Located in the heart of the city, it has 230 below-market rate housing spaces for UCSF students, post docs, residents, fellows, staff and faculty (there are 656 units total). It’s designed for social and academic integration for communities attending the surrounding colleges and universities, creating a positive impact on the community. “It’s an excellent location,” says resident Sagar Bhattacharya, postdoctoral scholar in the DeGrado Lab. He appreciates its proximity to grocery stores, drugstores, shopping, and his lab, a 20-to-30-minute walk he also says is also great exercise. “It’s close to Moscone Center. In terms of academic work, that is very big because we have many meetings there.” We talked with UCSF Housing Assistant Director of Occupancy and Assignments Zainab Sadoun about her role supporting residents and the new space.
 

Tell us about your role in Housing. 

I’ve been in UCSF Housing for seven years. I started out as a temporary summer assistant, and from there I’ve grown quite a bit. When a career role opened for a specialist position on the assignments team, I applied and got it. Later, I was promoted to Assignments and Leasing Manager and then to my current title of Assistant Director of Occupancy and Assignments. My role is focused on keeping occupancy up and getting people in living spaces where they best fit, sometimes it feels like a Jenga game. Hand in hand with that is providing customer service. I feel honored that in my position, I am entrusted to assist residents with sensitive housing needs. I enjoy problem solving to come up with unique solutions whenever possible. It’s special that people’s lives are happening within our walls. 
 

My favorite part of the job is coming to a place where I know I'm waking up and serving a real need for UCSF and San Francisco as a whole. Housing is such a pressing topic, and everyone knows San Francisco is an expensive city to find housing. UCSF provides so much great care and support to the city. It feels good to be part of that larger mission.

Tell us about Academe at 198.

The biggest thrill of Academe at 198 is the space itself. The city views and central location are unique, as well as our partnership with UC Law. We're excited about it because it builds our inventory, so that we can offer applicants more housing with excellent public transportation and the UCSF Blue Shuttle. They call it the “academic village” meaning that people from all different walks of life within San Francisco can live there. Primarily, it's UC Law students and UCSF students but there's also UC Davis, UC Berkeley, University of the Pacific, University of San Francisco, and other university students, too. It brings to life the idea of an academic village where people from different academic focuses can create this community together. 
 

FAVORITE COOKIE JAR TREAT?
Homemade chocolate chip cookie, right out of the oven with a glass of milk.

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