What is it like to live with almost 400 upperclassmen every day? Ross Brann and Porus Olpadwala know firsthand.

As house deans, they have presided over the intellectual, cultural and social life of two West Campus houses for the past several years.

Brann, the Milton R. Konvitz Professor of Judeo-Islamic Studies, has been dean of Alice Cook House since it opened in 2004 and was an early advocate of the house system. Olpadwala, professor of city and regional planning, has served as the Dale R. Corson House Professor and Dean of Hans Bethe House since it opened in 2007.

Here Brann and Olpadwala share some thoughts as they prepare to step down from their West Campus positions in June.

What's been most surprising thing about living with 19 to 21-year-olds?

Porus Olpadwala (PO): The only surprise was that it was vastly more pleasurable than I had expected, which is saying something, for my expectations were high.

In what ways did you feel part of or separate from the students' lives?

PO: I did not really feel separate. Most residents were very forthcoming about their work, lives and occasional troubles. Of course, they did not "tell all" but that is probably just as well.

What was your most important contribution?

Ross Brann (RB): I created a program of Friday afternoon teas where I hosted a bewildering array of distinguished visitors to campus. … I especially liked the use of my apartment as an informal salon, to hear from really interesting people [and] permit students to engage them in ways that they otherwise would not have. ... That created an intellectually intimate environment that breaks down assumed barriers. Not all students were interested in this. But oh so many were.

Who was your favorite visiting scholar who stayed at your house?

PO: I have many favorites for different reasons: jazz musician Henry Threadgill, Gen. Anthony Zinni, CBS correspondent Jim Axelrod '85, Tuskegee Airman Roscoe Brown, Vatican astronomer Guy Consolmagno, geneticist and anthropologist Spencer Wells, all the musicians who stayed with us. One common thread, though: No matter their professional standing or media fame, all were very down-to-earth individuals who took to the students (and vice versa).

What did you learn about students?

RB: Eleven p.m. is when they're just getting started, in many cases. That is how they live. ... You see that if they're up until 3 or 4 a.m., of course they're not going to be able to get up to go to an 8:30 a.m. class. And even 10 a.m. is pushing it.

PO: That they are as unpredictably delightful outside class as in it.

How can students make the most of living on West Campus?

PO: Time management would be one aspect. We had thin attendances at many events -- not because residents were not interested, but that even with the best of intentions to participate, studies caught up with them when the time came.

How has the experience changed you as an academic and teacher?

PO: It has deepened my already great love of my profession. I wish that I had had such an opportunity while younger so that I might have served (and enjoyed myself) longer.

How will the program's original goals be passed on after you have gone?

RB: We have traditions, staff teams, lots of history and manuals, so there's continuity. ... [Students] created a lot of our house traditions: the midnight breakfast and spa night during study week, intramural teams, a West Campus Cup with sports and quiz show competitions. One of the most gratifying observations I'm taking away is that the students went ahead and created the things we imagined in the beginning would happen, in their own way, at their own time.