Yale College urges all members of the faculty to make themselves available to advise. “College advisers,” in particular, advise pre-major students in the residential college with which the faculty member is affiliated. Contact the dean or head of your residential college for information on how to become a college adviser, or, if you were not assigned to a residential college, contact Dean Risa Sodi, the Yale College director of Advising and Special Programs.

In addition to their college adviser, first-year students are advised within their residential colleges by the residential college dean and a first-year (peer) counselor (colloquially called a “FroCo”). They may also schedule remote advising sessions during the summer prior to matriculation, specifically in relation to course selection. Incoming transfer and Eli Whitney students benefit from similar advising arrangements.

Information about advising for first-years and sophomores is available on the Advising Resources website, especially in the Your Adviser and Advising section; information aimed at college advisers is available in the For Advisers section.

As an instructor, you may find that you wish or need to contact a student’s adviser about that student’s performance in your course. The student’s residential college dean — not the college adviser or first-year counselor — should be your first point of contact in these cases. Residential college deans are skilled at handling student issues and at maintaining confidentiality.