NEW HAVEN, Conn., May 4 (UPI)

An openly gay faculty couple have been named dormitory masters at Yale University, a first for the Ivy League school, school officials say.

Richard Lalli, an adjunct music professor, is set to become the residential master of Yale’s Jonathan Edwards College, while his partner, Yale University Health Services Medical Director Michael Rigsby, was named the college’s assistant residential master.

According to Yale’s Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual and Transgender Program’s Web site, it is the first time in the university’s history an openly gay faculty member has been named a residential master.

Yale is comprised of 12 residential colleges. The residential master’s job is to co-ordinate the dorms’ social events, meet with parents, organize intramural sports teams and provide counseling to students. Yale follows Harvard University in naming an openly gay couple to a high-profile dorm master role, according to The Hartford Courant.

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