Academic Support
As an undergraduate, I was completely unaware of how many people were working behind the scenes for my education. At Stanford, I've come to understand how important people working in "academic support" positions are for the education of both undergraduate and graduate students. Academic advisors are perhaps the most student-facing, but there are also a number of people at Stanford who work with faculty and graduate students to support teaching and learning, who help design cross-departmental curriculum (such as Stanford's Thinking Matters program), or who do qualitative and quantitative educational research to understand what works.
Through my work with the Alt Ac Speaker Series, I became aware of how vast the network of academic support is at Stanford, of how important it is to experience of Stanford students, and of how interesting those types of jobs are. Many of the people in these positions hold PhDs; some of them have faculty experience. All of them are extremely dedicated to their students. My interest in staying close to the heart of the university - teaching and learning - has led me to explore these sorts of jobs directly through several part-time jobs within Stanford's Undergraduate Advising and Research (UAR) and at the Center for Teaching and Learning (CTL).
Here are a few of my significant achievements in the area of Academic Support:
- Serves as a Graduate Student Teaching Consultant for the CTL, running midterm evaluations in courses and sections taught by graduate students, conducting video consultations for fellow graduate students, and facilitating microteaching sessions for future TAs. (2013-present)
- Works as an Academic Advising Fellow for UAR, running drop-in advising for undergraduates dealing with a variety of academic issues. (2014-present)
- Works as an Academic Skills Coach and Advisor for UAR, supporting undergraduates returning from academic suspension. (2014-present)
- Provides one-on-one consultations and support for faculty members implementing the Lacuna Stories platform in their courses. (2013-present)