Center for Student Success

Apply to be a Tutor

Are you an excellent student wanting to help others? The Center for Student Success seeks qualified students interested in serving as tutors. Hiring generally takes place between February and April for the upcoming academic year, with positions starting in August. All tutors must be available to attend mandatory training in August.

Open positions for the 2022-23 academic year are posted on Handshake. If you are interested in tutoring for the Center for Student Success, but do not see open positions for your subject(s), please complete the Tutor Interest Form below and/or email the tutoring coordinator at tutoring@cnu.edu.

Position Requirements

(Please refer to the job posting for specific requirements by position)

All CSS tutors must:

• Be a second-year Christopher Newport student with 30 or more credit hours
• Maintain a cumulative GPA of 3.0 or higher
• Complete the required courses in the subject area to be tutored with no less than a B in all courses in the subject area (B- would exclude candidates from consideration)
• Receive a faculty recommendation from a Christopher Newport instructor within the subject area

Peer mentors function as a support system and resource for Captains Launch participants, first-generation students, and others. Peer mentors also serve as an "early alert" for those participants encountering challenges with their transition to college expectations.

CSS peer mentors are generally expected to:

• Attend a training session in April before leaving for the summer
• Participate in online modules throughout the summer
• Attend and participate in experience day sessions conducted prior to the beginning to Welcome Week
• Individually mentor LAUNCH students enrolled in the College 140 class throughout the fall semester
• Reach out to students throughout the fall and spring semesters as directed by the Center for Student Success staff

Qualifications

• Training required in April prior to leaving campus for the summer
• Attend training sessions throughout the fall semester
• Desire to support and mentor incoming first-year students considered to be academically "at-risk"
• Ability to role model and encourage strong academic skills and university engagement
• Cumulative GPA of 2.5
• Ability to maintain confidentiality
• Ability to work well individually and in groups

Students must email two letters of recommendations to jeannine.leger@cnu.edu.

Front Desk Assistants

The hiring process for Fall 2022 is complete. Please check back in December 2022 for more information on the hiring process for Spring 2023.

Be our welcoming face and assist in administrative work for the Center for Student Success.

• Greet students as they arrive at the center
• Monitor sign-in procedures for students seeking tutoring, writing assistance and/or student success services
• Answer telephone calls and appropriately direct walk-in traffic
• Other duties as assigned

Qualifications

• Currently enrolled student with good customer service skills and professional demeanor
• Must be able to attend training the first week of classes of the fall semester
• Must be able to start working the first week of classes
• High levels of responsibility, reliability and punctuality
• Ability to maintain confidentiality
• Ability to work well with minimal supervision
• Must be available to work weekdays between the hours of 9 a.m. and 9 p.m.
• Able to answer phones and basic computer skills, including email, word processing and calendars
• Position openings will be posted on Handshake

The Writing Associates Program involves students in peer mentoring and learning projects, enables faculty across the curriculum to participate more fully in writing initiative programs such as the Sophomore Writing Seminar and encourages campus-wide discussion of teaching and writing

Modeled after programs at Brown, Swarthmore, Brigham Young and the University of Richmond, and crafted by Emeritus Professor Tracey Schwarze, the Writing Associates Program assigns trained undergraduates to specific courses with substantive writing components in order to provide students in those courses and the professors teaching them with a resource dedicated to the continued development and enhancement of writing as a tool for demonstrating thinking and learning.

Writing associates, students and professors all benefit from this collaborative effort, which enhances both teaching and learning on campus.

Writing Associate Responsibilities

(approx. 50 hours/semester devoted to a single course)

• Attend 6-8 hours of training in responding to student texts and in consulting strategies
• Confer with the course instructor about writing assignment criteria and expectations
• Read two sets of complete drafts of formal writing assignments and respond to these in writing within one week (writing associates receive drafts two weeks before papers are due)
• Hold two conferences (10-15 minutes each) with students about their papers

Writing associates earn a $400 stipend per semester.

Participating Faculty Responsibilities

• Agree to structure the course so that it provides at least two writing assignments of substantial length and complexity across a time period sufficient for student writing, associate response, and student revision (approximately four weeks/assignment)
• Attend information sessions scheduled by the writing program administrator.
• Confer with your writing associate about writing assignment criteria and expectations.
• Schedule essay assignments to provide a two-week window for writing associates to review papers and give students a chance to revise them.
• Work with writing associates to devise a policy to ensure that students turn in their best work to associates. Communicate to students that papers handed in to writing associates should be complete and their very best work, and make participation mandatory, not optional (that is, make clear you won’t accept papers that have not been read by writing associates and subsequently revised).
• Understand that writing associates generally will accept the content of student papers as accurate; their focus will be on helping students to present their content in an effective manner – that is, they will help students attend to matters of organization, development, focus and surface errors.
• Understand that writing associates are not teaching assistants. They cannot lead discussion sections, hold classes in your absence or assist with grading.
• Encourage students to visit the Writing Center for additional help.

Interested faculty members request an associate and agree to meet the above responsibilities. Assignments of writing associates will be made on an as-available basis. Priorities for assigning writing associates may include:

• Sophomore writing seminars (especially courses taught outside the English Department) with assignments compatible with the program
• Writing Intensive courses with assignments compatible with the program
• Sophomore writing seminars and Writing Intensive courses for faculty who have recruited writing associates

Student Responsibilities

• Submit a complete draft of your best possible work to the writing associate two weeks before the paper is due
• Meet with your writing associate twice during the term
• Visit the Writing Center for additional assistance

The writing program administrator trains associates, meets with participating faculty members in orientation and evaluative sessions, and makes course assignments. Where possible, associates will be assigned to courses in their own disciplines (that is, a psychology major who is a writing associate ideally will be assigned a psychology course). Faculty should recommend promising students (especially majors) to this program; this might be one way of guaranteeing writing associates to their courses.

For more information about becoming a writing associate or requesting one, please contact Dr. Nicole Emmelhainz-Carney at (757) 594-7973 or nicole.emmelhainz@cnu.edu