When Faith Cole came to La Roche College from Jamestown, N.Y., she expected to miss her family.

What she didn't expect was that she also would miss her cats.

"Other than your family and friends, the thing that you find you miss the most are your pets," she said. "Since my home is three hours away, it wasn't easy to see them."

Now a resident adviser at La Roche, Ms. Cole has started a program to bring animals from the Animal Rescue League to the college in McCandless for other students to enjoy.

"We get so much from animals, and I knew they would lift everyone's spirits," she said.

Working with La Roche and the Animal Rescue League, Ms. Cole has hosted visits between students and animals.

Resident advisers are required to offer a specified amount of programming and when Ms. Cole's supervisor, Annie Lahoda, told the students about a similar program she had hosted at the University of Pittsburgh, Ms. Cole knew immediately that was what but she wanted to do.

"I love animals and I loved the idea," she said.

Before bringing animals to campus, Ms. Cole had to attend volunteer training sessions at the Animal Rescue League in East Liberty. "They taught us how to handle dogs and cats and how to take them to off-site events," she said.

In September, she picked up Harriet, an 8-year-old basset mix and brought her to La Roche for the first pet session. The two set up shop in the College Square at campus.

"Everyone loved her. She was so sweet and I had her do a few tricks," she said. "It worked out great."

The second session was even more successful, when Ms. Cole showed up with two kittens that were about 3 months old. "They were so adorable, no one could resist," she said. "One was all black and one was all white, so they were so cute together."

As students and staff gathered around the penned-off area where she had placed the animals, another student, Anne Watkinson, spotted the crowd.

"There was a whole group of people gathered around and then I saw these two little kitties," she said.

"I had a dog that died about a year ago, and I miss her so much. It was so good to see and play with the kittens," she said.

She enjoyed it so much that she now volunteers for the Animal Rescue League.

"I asked Faith for the phone number, and two of my friends and I went down there. We are going through training to be volunteers," she said.

That is exactly the type of reaction that Jennifer Daniels, volunteer coordinator at the Animal Rescue League, hopes for through outreach programming.

"We went to a lot of college volunteer fairs and we are always looking for more volunteers. While the main goal of these programs is to ease the loneliness of people or improve their lives, we also want to help the animals," she said.

Ms. Daniels hopes other colleges will start such programs.

Ms. Cole joked that she kept a close eye on the kittens because animals are not allowed in the dormitories at La Roche.

"I had to make sure I took two back," she said. "But some of the commuters and the staff asked for the address [of the Animal Rescue League]. I am hoping that both of the kittens found good homes."

Although she has completed her required programming, Ms. Cole plans to continue the visits.

"I think it is really good therapy," she said. "It lifted the spirits of a lot of the students."