Carnegie Mellon University

Communication & Language Support Consultants:

  • Application closes: March 22nd

Employment Opportunities for Peer Learning Support Positions

Are you a CMU student who loves teaching and collaborating with your peers? If so, then we invite you to apply for a student staff position at the Student Academic Success Center. We are now accepting applications for Academic Coaches,  Peer Tutors, and Supplemental Instruction (SI) Leaders.

Academic Coaches

The role of an Academic Coach (AC) can be best described as a personal consultant to CMU students. ACs meet regularly with students to assess work/life balance, develop and implement strategies to strengthen that balance, and provide both academic and social support throughout the process. ACs provide holistic one-on-one peer support and group workshops to help students find and implement their conditions for success. The main goal of an Academic Coach is to help any student achieve their fullest potential. There are also potential opportunities for ACs to work with international students in individual meetings to help develop fluency through conversation and provide feedback on the English language skills of multilingual students.

Communication and Language Support Consultants

Consultants in Communication and Language Support offer one-on-one communication tutoring and workshops to undergraduate and graduate students at CMU. Advice is based on communication research and scholarship while focused on learnable principles: knowledge and skills that are useful outside of an individual consultation. Training for a consultant position includes registration in 76-702, an intensive, hands-on practicum that teaches consultants to apply research and theory on communication pedagogy, communication across the disciplines, visual communication, and other topics. Being a consultant is an opportunity to deepen teaching experience and the ability to work with genres in the humanities and STEM. Consultants typically work 5-7.5 hours per week.

Submit an Application

Peer Tutors

Peer tutors facilitate student learning by helping to clarify specific course content and promote the use of appropriate study strategies. Tutors may consult with faculty for course resources, guidance, and direction in their tutoring work. The most common courses supported include introductory courses in mathematics, chemistry, physics, economics, engineering, and computer science. Tutors conduct regularly scheduled one-on-one and group tutoring sessions throughout the semester as needed. They also host Drop-in sessions on a weekly basis. Peer Tutors do not provide answers to homework assignments, but work with students to model problem solving strategies and explain course-specific concepts in compliance with university academic integrity standards. Peer Tutors typically work 5-10 hours per week.

Supplemental Instruction Leaders (SI Leaders)

Supplemental Instruction (SI) Leaders are students who facilitate weekly out-of-class study sessions in courses that they have successfully completed. SI Leaders design sessions that utilize collaborative learning techniques to guide students through difficult course concepts. Other responsibilities include attending lectures for the course they support, meeting regularly with the course instructor, and sharing strategies they used to be successful in the course. SI Leaders typically work 8-10 hours per week.

Tartan Scholars Ambassadors

The role of a Tartan Scholar Ambassador is to support the cohort of first year Tartan Scholars students. Ambassadors focus on the program's mission to promote a sense of belonging; to support self-authorship; and to encourage growth mindset. Ambassadors provide peer support, assist with program development and execution, identify resources for academic support, serve as a liaison between each small group of students known as Tartan Scholar families, their Tartan Scholar mentors, and the Tartan Scholar staff; and fosters an environment which encompasses a successful academic and co-curricular first year experience. Tartan Scholar Ambassadors typically work 4-6 hours per week.