The Children’s Center for Language and Culture, Inc. is seeking full-time lead and assistant Spanish teachers.  Click the flyer below to enlarge.

Higher Education Program Media and Office Assistant (Handshake Posting #1944902)

The Higher Education Program (HEP) is a graduate-level program housed within the College of Humanities and Social Sciences. HEP seeks to hire two Media and Office Assistants for the 2018-19 academic year to support the program’s marketing and administrative needs. Areas these student workers will support include but aren’t necessarily limited to:

• Revamp, declutter, reorganize, and keep content current on HEP’s website. This includes overhauling and updating information for the new MA degree, doctoral degrees, certificates, and MAIS concentration; drafting and publishing student and faculty news releases; and updating job postings and study abroad opportunities, faculty bios, and program announcements. This is a substantial project and will be the bulk of the students’ initial work.
• Assist with marketing efforts within the program.
• Assist with gathering content for and producing HEP’s semesterly newsletter.
• Maintain and support HEP’s social media efforts to include generating content for and updating both the Facebook page and Twitter feed.
• Support HEP faculty and staff as needed in day-to-day office tasks. This includes, but is not limited to, serving as point of contact for the office when Academic Coordinator is not present, monitoring the program’s generic email address and responding to general inquiries, and reserving space on campus for faculty and student meetings.

 Required Skills:

HEP seeks polished and professional students who have substantial written, communication, and web-editing experience. Additionally, a successful candidate in this position will be a self-starter who is able to work well in a team while also independently on tasks as they are assigned. 

Graduate students and upper-level undergraduate students in fields such as English, AVT, and Communication are especially encouraged to apply.

Schedule and Pay:

The Academic Coordinator and Media and Office Assistants will set the schedule for the semester based on the office’s needs and the students’ class schedule. There is potential for some of the work hours to be held remotely outside of normal HEP office hours if desired by the students.   

The pay rate will be $15.00 per hour for up to 15 hours a week. The positions will begin in Oct 2018 and will go through May 2018 (extension through Spring semester will be based upon Fall performance).

To apply*:

Please submit a resume, cover letter, and 1 professional reference to the job posting on Handshake (position #1944902). Any inquiries about the position can be addressed to HEP’s Academic Coordinator, Katie Richards, at [email protected]. 

*Students must be eligible for federal work study.

My charge to you, and to myself, is to more frequently and intentionally initiate and reciprocate gratitude and kindness without delay.

Flowers. Thank you cards. Words of affirmation. Compliments. Uninterrupted time. Showing up for others. These are just some of the ways that we show gratitude and kindness to people who have either performed a service or good deed for us or to those who we simply value, appreciate, respect, admire, and love.

Sadly though, too often we find ourselves lacking the capacity, willingness, or awareness to initiate or reciprocate everyday, or special occasion, acts of kindness. 

Recently, I had the opportunity to listen to Dr. Frank A. Thomas, Director of the PhD Program in African American Preaching and Sacred Rhetoric at Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis, Indiana, speak on the topic, “the tragedy of delayed kindness.” He reminded the audience that, “one flower in life is worth more floral wreaths in death” and that “please and thank you will take you further in life than money and degrees.” This message resonated with me, as there are times when I find myself too busy to initiate kindness to let someone know how much I appreciate them or to reciprocate kindness to show my gratitude for what someone has done for me. 

I can’t begin to count the number of times, this week alone, I’ve been on the receiving end of kindness and gratitude. I’ve received: compliments on my new Mason gear that I recently purchased at the University bookstore during the Flash Sale; a kind and very thoughtful email from my supervisor letting me know how much she appreciates me and values my leadership and perspectives; a thank you note and gift card from a colleague to express her gratitude for how I always support her and answer her questions no matter how trivial or complex; and a student walking up to me in the Johnson Center to tell me that he was officially enrolled for the semester and eligible to receive his VA benefits as a result of my colleagues and I taking the time to meet with him when he showed up to the office unannounced and in a panic and working expeditiously, on his behalf, to resolve his challenges. Indeed, I’m humbled and energized by the varied acts of kindness that have been directed towards me this week. My spirit is lifted, and my kindness cup “runneth over.” 

Truly, it’s great to be on the receiving end of kindness; but, of course, it works both ways. As such, my charge to you, and to myself, is to more frequently and intentionally initiate and reciprocate gratitude and kindness without delay.

Therefore, in this blog space, I want to publicly recognize the staff from across the College and the student volunteers who helped make our CEHD Welcome2Mason Block Party this week a huge success! Also, special gratitude to my staff, the CEHD Student Success Team, for successfully planning and flawlessly executing two signature events this week, the Block Party and the PhD and faculty mixer! Lastly, thank you to my new graduate assistant who has been going above and beyond to acclimate herself to our office and the CEHD culture and displaying ultimate team player spirit, as she has willingly dived in to help the office staff in whatever capacity needed. 

Now it’s your turn. Let someone know today how grateful you are for what they’ve done for you; how they’ve made you feel; or how you appreciate what they are doing in the lives of others. Give them their “flowers” now while they can still see, smell, and/or touch them. 

Here are a few suggestions to help get you started:

• Send a kind note to that professor who gave you an IN grade to allow you more time to complete assignments when they weren’t obligated.
• Offer an appropriate compliment to that classmate who always shows up for class looking fly! It takes time to consistently look fly!
• Bring a coworker a small token of appreciation for covering your shift or volunteering to help lighten your workload.
• Call (not text!) your parents or an old friend just to let them know that you’re thinking about them.
• Leave the server a 20% tip the next time you’re dining in at a restaurant to show appreciation for the quality of service that enhanced your experience. 

Don’t delay. (Re)Activate your spirit of kindness today, for as Dr. Thomas reminded me, and I share with you, “there’s a tragedy in delayed kindness.”