Do you enjoy writing and working with diverse peers from across campus?
Do you want to deepen your own knowledge about writing while helping others?
Then becoming a Cornell Writing Centers tutor might be the perfect job for you!
What Tutoring Writing Involves
The Cornell Writing Centers offer free writing support for anyone on campus, for any writing project, at any stage of the writing process. We have roughly 30-45 undergraduate and graduate student tutors who work one-on-one with writers at five campus locations. The goal of a tutoring session is for the tutor to facilitate an engaged, supportive, and thoughtful discussion of the writer’s work, whether it’s to help them brainstorm ideas, understand an assignment prompt, work on an outline, develop a thesis statement, use evidence effectively, revise a draft, or notice consistent patterns of error in a finished essay. While tutoring services can sometimes be assumed to be only for weak or struggling writers, we believe that all writers benefit from sharing their writing and ideas with others.
Why Tutors Love It
Tutors find this work to be rewarding for a number a reasons. They love getting to discuss and read about topics and ideas from across the disciplines; the intellectual engagement of tutoring; collaborating with diverse students from across campus; deepening their own knowledge about writing and pedagogy through ongoing professional development; and being a part of a vibrant and diverse tutoring community! This work is generative, creative, and an excellent opportunity for students interested in communication, writing, education, and collaborative learning.
Job Description
The Writing Centers are open Mondays through Thursdays 3:30-5:30pm and Sundays through Thursdays 7:00-10:00pm. Thus, tutors either work 3:30-5:30 or 7:00-10:00 shifts. Tutors usually work between 1-3 shifts per week, or between two to nine hours a week. At the beginning of a semester, tutors submit their schedules and shift preference forms so that they’re only working shifts that fit with their schedules. In addition to tutoring, tutors are required to attend 5 staff meetings a semester, which are held on random nights at 5:30pm. Staff meetings include food, checking-in on tutoring shifts, and rich discussions about different types of writing and working with others (pedagogy). In order to become a tutor, all trainees must complete a paid 6-week training program.
Application Process
Applications will be reviewed after the spring deadline. A select number of applicants will be invited to sign-up for small-group interviews. The applicants who will be offered positions tutoring, will begin the required 6-week (paid) training program after group interviews, roughly midway through the semester. Thus, the application and training process approximately takes a full semester. Newly hired tutors will begin tutoring during the exams period of the semester they get hired and trained. We hope to encourage tutors to apply early in their academic career and to continue tutoring throughout their time at Cornell.
To Apply
Undergraduate Applicants:
- Fill out and submit this application form (attaching a sample of your writing)
- Deadline: Friday, February 14th
- Note: tutor training will either be Mondays or Tuesdays 4:30-6pm starting the week before spring break.
- Requirements: applicants must be matriculated Cornell students who have completed at least one the required FWSes.
- Email Dr. Kate Navickas, ken43@cornell.edu, with any questions
Graduate Applicants:
- Submit a CV and letter of interest detailing your relevant experiences with tutoring, teaching or writing and your interest in tutoring to Dr. Kate Navickas by email, ken43@cornell.edu, or by dropping it off at Rockefeller 174.
- Deadline: applications accepted on a rolling basis.
- Requirements: graduate applicants must be matriculated Cornell students who have completed WRIT 7100 or who have teaching and/or tutoring experience.
