Teaching Assistantships in the Writing Center

WRITING CENTER TA HIRING, 2024-2025

The Writing Center seeks enthusiastic, student-centered graduate students from a variety of fields to join our staff as writing coaches. Coaches are classified as teaching assistants. Graduate students in all UNC-Chapel Hill schools and departments may apply. The hiring process in the Writing Center is completely separate from the TA/TF hiring processes that take place within students’ home departments.

Writing Center coaches work with writers one-on-one in synchronous (in-person and Zoom) and asynchronous formats, contribute to weekly staff meetings, participate in ongoing training, contribute to unit resource development and marketing projects, and join in other Writing Center activities for 15-20 hours per week. These are on-campus positions.

As teaching assistants, coaches are eligible for health insurance and receive a stipend of $10k/semester. While the Writing and Learning Center does not directly provide tuition support, employment here often makes graduate students eligible for such support from their departments. See the FAQ mentioned below for more information.

You are eligible to apply if you will be enrolled full-time as a degree-seeking graduate student in residence at UNC-Chapel Hill during Fall 2024. (It is ok if you are done with coursework and are enrolled in dissertation credit only.)

Applications are due on Monday, March 18.

Who should apply

We encourage applications from graduate students who are interested in exploring an alternative teaching setting. Preference may be given to applicants with prior teaching experience or specialized areas of expertise, such as tutoring (in any subject), ESL, instructional technology, graphic design, marketing, or data analysis. We do not expect all coaches to be writing experts. We hire both people who are early in their graduate studies and people who are close to finishing. We also look to hire graduate students from a variety of fields. One of the rewards of joining our staff is getting to know graduate and undergraduate students from across campus.

All coaches must be available in August Monday-Friday during the week before classes begin from approximately 9 am to 5 pm to participate in 30-40 hours of group training.

During the fall and spring, coaches must be available to work one full evening (4 pm to 8 pm) per week, but must also have some daytime hours so full-time staff can interact with them. New staff members cannot work more than four hours per day, so the position requires at least four days per week. Shifts can vary on different days, but once they are assigned, they will remain constant for the entire semester. These positions are fully on campus.

Selection will occur through a formal application and interview process. To learn more before you apply, we encourage you to read our FAQ for graduate students interested in working at the Writing Center, as well as general FAQ (under “About”). One of the most common questions is whether new teaching assistants can be hired to start work during the summer. They cannot.

When you will hear back

We anticipate that candidates whose applications look promising will be interviewed in late March and early April, with offers made in mid-to-late April.

Questions?

If you have questions about the Writing Center, the application process, our hiring guidelines, or our teaching assistantships, don’t hesitate to contact Alex Funt, our Assistant Director and writing coach supervisor, at tafunt@email.unc.edu. If you choose to apply, we look forward to hearing from you!