# Advising ## expand\_more The History Department provides concentrators with a three-tiered advising system throughout their five semesters in the program. Each history concentrator works closely with their history house advisor, an upper-level graduate student who advises all history students in the house. The house advisors are a critical first point of contact for students: they sign off on study cards, review program requirements, discuss your interests and potential coursework, and speak more generally about intellectual pathways through the Department. House advisors oversee the history community in each house and are available more generally to anyone in the house with questions about the Department. History concentrators can also sign up for a faculty advisor as soon as they enter the program. With their faculty advisors, students discuss their broader interests in history; what brought them to the program; and how historical skills can be a lifelong benefit no matter a student’s future profession. For thesis writers, their thesis advisor replaces their faculty during their final year in the program. The Undergraduate Office is the third advising resource for all concentrators. All prospective students meet with the Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) or Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies (ADUS) in the weeks before concentration declaration day, and after that concentrators regularly see the DUS and ADUS at formal and informal events throughout the year. The DUS and ADUS hold weekly office hours and are eager to discuss your questions, whether they are general queries about the concentration or specific concerns about progress through the concentration or program policies. All pre-concentrators are encouraged to bring their questions to the DUS and ADUS. ## House, Faculty, and Peer Advising Open all sections Close all sections ### House Advisors expand\_more [House Advisors](/house-advisors) make up the first group and provide most of the individual advising to History students. Each Undergraduate House is assigned a dedicated advisor. House Advisors are available to students both before and after they have declared a History concentration or secondary field to discuss the program’s structure, requirements, and rewards. They also sign study cards for the concentrators in their Houses and help build community life. ### Faculty Advisors expand\_more Concentrators may also request a faculty advisor with whom to discuss their historical interests and questions that may arise from their classes and research. Faculty advisors do not take the place of House Advisors, who remain responsible for nuts and bolts concentration advising, but can add to the richness of concentrators’ intellectual life. Faculty advisers can help you think about your general historical interests and long-term goals; provide insight into the lifestyle and logistics of a entering graduate school, an academic career, or other options that can be enhanced by your training in history. ### History Leadership Council expand\_more Finally, there are [the members of the History Leadership Council](/History%20Leadership%20Council), who are history concentrators who have volunteered to represent the department and discuss their experiences as concentrators with fellow students. ## Director of Undergraduate Studies The Director of Undergraduate Studies (DUS) is responsible for the overall shape of the concentration and for providing final rulings on petitions, credit issues, and other matters of policy. The DUS is the best resource available for many of the questions which students may have about the concentration, whether they be general queries or specific concerns about their individual plan of study and progress through the concentration. [### Mary Lewis ](/people/mary-lewis) Robert Walton Goelet Professor of French History Director of Undergraduate Studies Office Hours: Mondays, 1:00-4:00pm, during the academic year. Sign up here: Mary Lewis is Robert Walton Goelet Professor of French History at Harvard, and Affiliated Faculty at the Harvard Law School. Her work has... ![Mary Lewis](/sites/g/files/omnuum4421/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/history/files/lewis_sm.jpg?itok=EI9plh5p) ## Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies The Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies (ADUS) advises students in general, and manages the thesis program in particular. The DUS and ADUS both have weekly scheduled office hours, and are happy to meet with students on a variety of matters, not just for policy-oriented questions. [### Carla Heelan ](/people/carla-heelan) Assistant Director of Undergraduate Studies Lecturer on History Office Hours: Wednesdays, 3–4:30pm, and Thursdays, 10:30am–noon. Sign up here: . Carla Heelan is a historian of modern Europe, with a particular focus on the cultural history of nineteenth- and twentieth... ![Carla heelan](/sites/g/files/omnuum4421/files/styles/hwp_4_5__690x865/public/history/files/img_2785.jpg?itok=sWyhfvOY)