Resident Fellow Program

Residential Education strongly believes that living and learning should be integrated, not separate. In the residences, we promote an environment that blends formal and informal learning to facilitate intellectual curiosity and personal growth. A key component of this effort is the Resident Fellow program. Resident Fellows, or RFs, are Stanford faculty and senior administrative staff who live in apartments or cottages adjacent to student residences and serve as leaders for their communities.

Learning In the Houses

Resident Fellows work with neighborhood staff to build an environment that synthesizes and contextualizes students’ educational experience and supports students’ personal development.

Resident Fellow Interest Form

We invite you to consider becoming a Resident Fellow or sharing this with others at Stanford, where our undergraduate residences are vibrant, intellectual communities where learning and reflection are daily, fostering vitality. For consideration, please complete and submit the following form to communicate your interest.

Complete the form here

Become a Resident Fellow

We invite you to seriously consider life as a Resident Fellow or to share this information with others in the Stanford community who you believe can make our undergraduate residences vital, intellectual communities where learning and reflection are a part of everyday life.

Appointments to Resident Fellow positions are made by the Assistant Vice Provost for Residential Education. Residential Education is keenly aware that we are selecting Resident Fellows who can best serve particular residential communities. While the appointment process depends on vacancies, we intentionally create space for relationship building in our process, so when vacancies become available, placement may be more immediate. Interest forms are received on a rolling basis throughout the year. Typically, the process begins in late summer or early autumn when most interest forms are reviewed. However, vacancies can arise throughout the year, and appointments can occur at any point depending on need. Complete the Resident Fellow Interest Form here

The Resident Fellow position is designed to support the connection between the classroom and undergraduate residences on Stanford's campus. Given the time commitment of the role, this leadership opportunity is best suited for faculty with tenure. Faculty currently in the process of seeking tenure are not eligible for the Resident Fellow role. Lecturers, academic staff, and senior administrative staff are eligible, but there continues to be a strong preference to place tenured faculty members in the Resident Fellow role. For couples interested in the Resident Fellow role, at least one person must be employed by the university. For more information about the Resident Fellow program and the appointment process, please contact Assistant Director for Resident Fellow Engagement Reyna Sharma.

Expectations for Resident Fellows

Explore the various expectations and primary roles for Resident Fellows during the course of an academic year.

Active engagement is important, and Resident Fellows are expected to participate in an onboarding and orientation experience, regularly attend department/division meetings, and complete required training that provide a foundation of shared knowledge with the neighborhood professional staff and house student leaders. Resident Fellows maintain partnerships and relationships through proactive communication and regular collaboration with professional staff such as Resident Directors, Community Coordinators, and Undergraduate Advising Directors.

Resident Fellows bring their interests and pedagogy to the house to shape the intellectual life in residences. Resident Fellows set a vision for student learning and engagement and develop methods and programs to realize it.

Resident Fellows work in partnership to supervise student leaders. Together, they develop productive, effective working relationships with each student leader and engage them in their own learning processes through their positions. The Resident Fellow is expected to create a culture of teamwork among the student leaders and counsel them through critical thinking and problem-solving.

Being a Resident Fellow is an active, not passive, endeavor, and one of ongoing collaboration with student leaders, neighborhood professional staff in Residential Education, and university professional staff. Through this collaboration, Resident Fellows help students develop a sense of belonging to their house and neighborhood and responsibility for the welfare of their housemates and neighbors as they learn about the social complexity and diversity that exists in each house and neighborhood.

Resident Fellows are part of an interdependent team of neighborhood professional staff who work to provide support and resources to their residents. Part of this work is done locally with house student leaders to examine and respond to the social structures that develop in a house. In addition, each house student leader, including the Resident Fellow, works to know individual students, create an environment where residents feel a sense of belonging, and respond to emerging emotional health concerns through active engagement.

Resident Fellow FAQ

Find answers to some of the most frequently asked questions about the Resident Fellow role.

While strong preference is given to tenured Academic Council faculty and academic staff, senior administrative staff are eligible. If expressing interest as a couple, at least one of the Resident Fellows must maintain 50% FTE appointment at Stanford throughout the term of appointment as a Resident Fellow.

Yes, if they want to also serve as a Resident Fellow. A spouse/partner of a faculty or staff member with a Resident Fellow appointment can serve as a Resident Fellow and will need to be identified on the interest form, engage in the appointment process with Residential Education, sign their own Resident Fellow Appointment Agreement, and fulfill all Resident Fellow responsibilities. If your spouse/partner does not want to serve as a Resident Fellow, they do not have to. There is a separate agreement for adults living in Resident Fellow housing but not serving in the Resident Fellow role. It is important to know that only Resident Fellows and dependents receive meal plans.

The initial term of appointment is four years, with an option to be considered for an additional four years. All appointments are renewed annually, subject to satisfactory performance and programmatic need. Residential Education reserves the right to enact changes in the program during the appointment period.

The specific responsibilities of the Resident Fellow role look different for different communities. The expectations for a Resident Fellow in an all-frosh house will be different from those in a theme house. Among the responsibilities that are common for all Resident Fellows, regardless of the type of community they lead, are the yearly selection of student leaders, mentoring student leaders, planning and leading an autumn retreat for their student leaders, convening weekly student leader meetings, and engaging and building community with residents on a regular basis. While most Resident Fellows are not professional counselors, they are expected to be alert to students’ well-being, help identify support needs, and connect their residents to their Resident Director (RD). Each house receives a budget to fund programing, student leader development, community building, and some administrative needs. Resident Fellows are expected to manage this budget with their Community Coordinator. Resident Fellows are also expected to engage with the larger Resident Fellow community and participate in various Resident Fellow events, training, and meetings.

Since the live-in dynamic of the Resident Fellow role varies from residence to residence and depends to some extent on the time of year, the time commitment is fluid, so it is challenging to pinpoint a fixed number of hours Resident Fellows are expected to devote to the role. Resident Fellows live in community with, among, and for students, so the needs of students dictate the time commitment. The following are some ongoing activities for which Resident Fellows must budget time:

Eating meals (especially dinners) a number of times each week in the dining hall at times when residents know the Resident Fellow is available to talk.
Creating on-going community building with residents in/around the residence and lounges.
Hosting faculty colleagues for residents and attending house programs.
Developing and executing programs that give residents a sense of the Resident Fellow's work in the university.
Co-chairing a neighborhood community council with a Neighborhood Program Director (rotating with other RFs in the neighborhood).
Facilitating weekly student leader meetings.
Meeting with neighborhood professional staff as needed to partner on the student needs within the community.
Attending house meetings.
Advising and counseling student leaders regarding appropriate use of house dues.
Attending Resident Fellow training, Resident Fellow meetings, and meetings with neighborhood professional staff, the Residential & Dining Enterprises staff, and other offices and individuals connected with the residence.
Collecting and incorporating feedback from residents and student staff.
Reading applications and interviewing applicants for student leader selection during winter quarter.

Resident Fellows live in apartments or cottages in or adjacent to undergraduate student residences. Resident Fellows and their dependents receive meals in the residence dining halls and housing accommodations at no charge. The dollar value of room and board is not subject to income or social security taxes. Faculty members who are participating in any university residential loan or housing allowance program administered by Stanford Faculty and Staff Housing continue to maintain full eligibility for these programs during their term as Resident Fellows.

Being a Resident Fellow is a substantial commitment to add to an already full plate, and Residential Education is firmly committed to facilitating strong relationships between Resident Fellows and the network of neighborhood professional staff. Resident Fellows receive direct and ongoing support from their local neighborhood professional staff, and from a designated Associate Dean of Residential Education as needed.

The resources on our website are a wonderful starting point to learning more about Residential Education and further exploring the RF role. We encourage you to speak to your transferable skill set and detail any specific interests (student population, theme housing, etc.) you would like captured for consideration.

Interest forms are accepted on a rolling basis. Placements are typically determined in autumn quarter for appointments beginning the following autumn. Except under extraordinary circumstances, individuals are not considered for appointment in their first year at Stanford.

While there is not a deadline for the letter of support from your supervisor or department chair, we are unable to consider your candidacy until it is received. This letter should state their support for you to pursue this opportunity, take on the additional responsibilities of a Resident Fellow, and live/work on campus in an undergraduate residential environment. Your supervisor or department chair may email their letter of support as an attachment or directly in the body of the email to Assistant Director for Resident Fellow Engagement, Reyna Sharma.

You will receive an automated email confirmation that we received your materials upon submission. Please note that we receive a high volume of applications and placements are dependent upon Resident Fellow openings and house needs. Should you have any questions in the interim, please contact Assistant Director for Resident Fellow Engagement, Reyna Sharma.

All eligible candidate materials remain active and on file. You do not need to submit new materials each year.