A fall 2021 and spring 2022 paid position to build and support life design initiatives to help students envision and create changemaking professional pathways.
For instructions on using Handshake, visit the Tulane Student Employment website.
Preferred Application deadline: May 18, 2021.
The Life Design Graduate Assistant will work together with Taylor staff to communicate, promote, support, and expand meaningful life design programming at Tulane University – helping students identify where their academic interests intersect with their desire to create positive social impact. The Life Design GA will be responsible for providing administrative support to these classes, helping to coordinate and facilitate life design workshops and programs, and assisting with curriculum development. This GA will also be assessing the impact of TYL courses, which includes 2-credit hour Taylor Your Life (TYL) course, 1-credit hour Taylor Your Tulane (TYT), and a 5-week Taylor Your Life for Graduate Students (TYL4Grads) workshop.
POSITION SUMMARY:
The Life Design Graduate Assistant will communicate, promote, assess, support, and expand meaningful life design programming at Tulane University— helping students identify where their academic interests intersect with their desire to create positive social impact. This GA’s primary responsibility will be assessing the impact of life design programming at Tulane and supporting life design workshops and programs. The GA will also develop and implement plans to market, promote, and publicize Taylor Center programs to the Tulane campus, greater New Orleans community, and international life design and changemaker community. Duties will evolve over the year with increased responsibility and creativity for developing content, assisting with training, and coordinating workshops. The Life Design Graduate Assistant is expected to work 15 hours per week, including some evening and weekend events and classes.
More information about the programs supported by this position is below:
- Taylor Your Life is a life design lab that applies methods and mindsets of design thinking (human-centered design) to career development for undergraduate and graduate students. There are currently ~20 sections taught per year. The Graduate Assistant will support the growth and scale of this course across the university and beyond.
- Taylor Your Tulane is a 1-credit life design lab that applies human-centered design (design thinking) mindsets and tools to support first-year students in designing a fulfilling college experience. This course goes beyond the required advising requirement and equips students with the knowledge and skills necessary to take advantage of opportunities and support services available to them while developing transferable skills and strategies that contribute to academic, personal and professional success at Tulane and beyond.
- Taylor Your Life (TYL) Life Design for Graduate Students is a 5-week changemaking career development lab for graduate students to “Taylor” their life by applying methods and mindsets of design thinking (human centered design) to career development.
PERFORMANCE STANDARDS/JOB DUTIES
Assist in the execution and strategic development of Taylor Your Life in the following capacities:
- Assess previous year’s program feedback and assist with data collection and assessment reports for TYL, TYT and TYL for Graduate Students.
- Help create a TYL, TYT and TYL for Graduate Students curriculum manual for instructors and research curriculum to augment life design programming.
- Support logistics for TYL, TYT and TYL for Graduate Students for scale and expansion, including building out online resources for instructors, editing and enhancing the PowerPoint for the course, observing life-design instructors, and preparing for and assisting with TYL, TYT and TYL for Graduate students training.
REQUIRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Bachelor’s Degree from an accredited College or University
- Enrolled in a degree-bearing graduate program at Tulane (at the masters or doctoral level). Applicants can be enrolled in any discipline or department at Tulane
- Passion for nurturing fellow students’ passion and dreams
- Interest in social impact/changemaking skill development and organizational management
- Strong networking skills—able to connect resources with TYL needs
- Exceptional organization skills
- Demonstrated ability to be self-motivated and to conduct oneself in a highly professional and ethical manner
CHARACTER TRAITS
- Approachable and friendly demeanor, with a strong customer service orientation
- Flexible and adaptable
- Empathy: have strong people and relationship-nurturing skills
- A can-do, optimistic attitude
- Self-motivated and able to work independently when needed
- A team player: Able to collaborative effectively and generously as part of a team, with diverse students, staff, faculty and community partners
COMPETENCIES
- Strong oral, written communication, and public speaking skills
- Strong relationship building and people skills
- Ability to prioritize, handle multiple tasks, and work independently.
- Ability to balance professional and personal boundaries
- Writing skills for blog posts, email communications, social media and reports.
KNOWLEDGE/SKILLS
- Strong problem solving, organization, presentation, and decision-making skills
- Working knowledge of standard computer programs, specifically Microsoft Office (Word, Excel,
- Publisher, PowerPoint), Google Drive, BOX, desktop publishing, and/or website maintenance
- Comfortable using social media (FB, Twitter, Instagram)
- Good time-management skills: must be punctual, timely, and deadline oriented
PREFERRED QUALIFICATIONS
- Public speaking and group facilitation experience–confident with large groups
- Previous project management experience
- Strong interpersonal, organizational, and analytical skills
- Familiarity with design thinking methods.
- An interest in social innovation as a field (i.e., changemaker, social entrepreneurship, design thinking, community engagement)
- Proven leadership skills via student organizations, employment, event planning, community service and/or outreach activities.
- Experience in advertising, communications, marketing, promotions, or other outreach experience via business, class projects, student or community organizations.
- Photography or multimedia experience and graphic design skills
- Working knowledge of campus cultures, departments, student organizations, and other resources relevant to Taylor
About Tulane University – Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking
The Phyllis M. Taylor Center for Social Innovation and Design Thinking cultivates a diverse learning community of Changemakers who use their skills, humility, expertise, gifts, and power to affirm the humanity of all people in the pursuit of a more just, sustainable, and equitable society. Our university-wide initiatives are globally-aware, community-oriented, and interdisciplinary. Our programs are grounded in the teaching, research, and practices of design thinking, social entrepreneurship, and social innovation.
For information on using Handshake, visit the Tulane Student Employment website.
