The English Department offers the following graduate assistantships. All of the assistantship positions will provide graduate students with administrative skills and valuable other professional experiences useful to careers inside and outside of the academy. 

To apply, please send a single pdf with an updated CV and a statement of interest of up to 500 words (plus a sample syllabus for applications for the Composition Program Assistant) to the department’s Associate Chair, Sam Cohen. The statement of interest should describe your qualifications and interests as relevant to the specific position for which you are applying, including potential contributions to the position and how it supports your professional goals. The applications will be reviewed by those faculty members with whom the student would primarily be working for the duration of the position.

Composition Program Assistant (course release)

The Composition Program Assistantship is a 10-hour per week .25 FTE year-long position (1 course release per semester) that includes working closely with the Composition Program administration to provide intellectual leadership for the program and assist with various tasks related to program operations. There is also a possibility of compensation for summer work.

The Composition Program Assistant must be a strong teacher of ENG 1000, using a curriculum that aligns with program values and outcomes, and a highly organized collaborator who is able to take initiative and proactively complete tasks, research, and projects independently. 

The graduate student appointed to this position can expect to gain substantial hands-on experience in the intellectual and managerial work of writing program administration and program management that will transfer to careers inside and outside of academia.

The statement of interest for this position should explain the applicant’s qualifications and interests in composition, rhetoric, and/or literacy, pedagogy, and/or program administration, including potential contributions to the position and how the position supports the applicant’s professional goals. After all applications have been reviewed, interviews will take place shortly thereafter.

Graduate Student Departmental Assistant (course release)

There is one position for a Graduate Student Departmental Assistant, which comes with a 1-1 teaching load and will require an average of 10 hours of work per week during the semester. This position will help the graduate student build skills around recruitment and administration of departmental programs. The person in this position will assist with needs across the department, including:

• Assisting the Director of Graduate Studies with recruiting graduate students and planning Welcome Day
• Assisting the Director of Undergraduate Studies with undergraduate recruiting events and initiatives, such as the English Majors Fair, Meet the Major, Major Explorations, and the Peer Mentoring Program
• Editing the English Department website, primarily building course pages for all semesters
• Making flyers for department events and coordinating with the faculty running the social media accounts
• Performing other tasks assigned by the Associate Chair, if there is time remaining

This position will require an average of 10 hours per week (less than 10 hours most weeks, but more hours, for example, during Welcome Day week). Hours can be banked to provide flexibility across weeks.