Academic Services

The Roosevelt Fellows are a trained group of junior and senior peer academic advisors who provide an informed and accessible peer perspective on navigating academics at Brandeis. They work closely with staff in Academic Services. All first year, midyear and transfer students at Brandeis are assigned a Roosevelt Fellow peer advisor to support theim in their academic transition. Their name stems from the late Eleanor Roosevelt, an early trustee of Brandeis known for her care for others and service to the community.

All undergraduates can utilize Roosevelt Fellows! Roosevelt Fellows proactively outreach to their caseload of new student advisees but are a resource for the entire undergraduate community. 

People often think of the Roosevelt Fellows as a resource for course registration, but they can provide so much more! You can talk to the Roosevelt Fellows about a variety of different topics including:

• academic planning and decision making

• understanding the Brandeis core curriculum, major/minor and pre-health requirements

• understanding academic policies

• exploring departments

• balancing academics and extracurriculars

• difficulty in a class

• building relationships with professors and getting involved in research

• transitioning to college 

• accessing campus resources

Over the summer, most communication with Roosevelt Fellows takes place via email. Roosevelt Fellows are also available by appointment, typically during the academic year and by request in the summer. The appointment process for academic year 2021-2022 will be announced in late August. 

• You can usually meet with a Roosevelt Fellow more quickly than an academic advisor, advisors can book out a few weeks in advance.
• Some students prefer to meet with a peer, it can be a more informal conversation.
• Roosevelt Fellows are Brandeis students who have experienced many of the same challenges and successes as the peers they advise, they can provide insight in a way a staff advisor cannot.
• Roosevelt Fellows are trained on when to refer to academic advisors, but they can confidently answer many of the same questions asked of staff advisors. Even in cases where they don't know the exact answer, they can usually point you to the right online or office resource!

Roosevelt Fellow assignments for the upcoming academic year will be made by late June 2021. Stay tuned!

All Roosevelt Fellows have extensive training on the Brandeis curriculum and academic policies, regardless of their major or academic interest, so often you will find any Roosevelt Fellow can answer your questions! If you are a new student and would like to speak with a Roosevelt Fellow outside of the one you were assigned, please feel free to review the bios and schedule and contact anyone in the group. If you have very specific departmental questions, Undergraduate Departmental Representatives (UDRs) are another peer resource you can reach out to. The UDR web site has an explanation of the differences between Roosevelt Fellows and UDRs. 

 

The Roosevelt Fellows post frequent updates on our Facebook and Instagram pages. You can also speak with a current Roosevelt Fellow or the program coordinator, Katie Dunn.

Information about the Roosevelt Fellow application process is typically released towards the end of the fall semester, and the written application is due in the spring semester. To be eligible for the position, students must be rising juniors or seniors in good academic standing and able to commit to the full academic year.