College Writing Program
Graduate Student Employment Opportunities
JOB TITLE: Writing Placement Coordinator
This position has been filled.
This position involves coordinating writing placements for all first-year and transfer students. Over the summer, the placement coordinator will administer the new online placement exam and solicit writing samples from incoming freshmen. He or she will recruit and train a team of graduate-student placement advisers to evaluate both the portfolios and the exams according to the criteria available at http://writing.rochester.edu/courses/105Ecriteria.html. During orientation, the coordinator administers the placement test for 105E candidates who did not take the online exam, and he or she oversees the advising of all 105E candidates. The placement coordinator should be available to give presentations about the primary writing requirement to freshmen and transfer students and to answer student and parent questions during orientation.
During the academic year, the coordinator's primary responsibility is to read petitions to determine whether students may use a course other than WRT 105 to satisfy the primary writing requirement. Transfer students petition to use courses previously taken at other institutions; the coordinator grants such a petition if the petitioner has earned a B in the other institution's primary writing course and has submitted a portfolio that meets the criteria at http://writing.rochester.edu/courses/105criteria.html. A non-transfer student may petition, usually in his or her first year, to use a University of Rochester course other than WRT 105 to satisfy the primary writing requirement. To substitute a course for WRT 105, the petitioner must submit a portfolio that meets the criteria at http://writing.rochester.edu/courses/alternativecriteria.html; the coordinator then meets with the petitioner to discuss and approve courses that involve significant writing and may substitute for WRT 105.
Other responsibilities include answering students' questions by phone and e-mail, meeting with students to explain denials and strategize solutions, helping to revise placement processes and forms as needed, attending bi-weekly Writing Program staff meetings, and sitting on the College Writing Committee.
Salary: $4,000
Qualifications:
Prior experience teaching WRT 105
Previous experience with the placement process preferred
Open to any graduate discipline and any year in the program
Application should include a cover letter, CV and a letter of recommendation and be submitted by January 31, to Deborah Rossen-Knill at the College Writing Program main office, Rush Rhees G-121.
The review committee for the coordinator positions consists of, at minimum, the Writing Program director and/or the associate director or the current coordinator for the posted position, unless there is a conflict of interest.