Department
English

Campus Location
Wichita, KS - WSU Main Campus

Hire Type
Part Time

Pay
$15/hr

Work Schedule
Commiserate with student's schedule, though Friday availability is desirable..

Export Compliance Requirement
No export control requirement.

Job Story
The English department is looking for a student to serve as a docent in the Robert L. Cattoi Book Technologies Lab. Under the supervision of Lab co-directors Dr Fran Connor and Dr Katie Lanning, docents will develop proficiency in three areas: the history of books and publishing, pedagogical practices incorporating theories of critical making, and practical, hands-on work in the Book Lab itself through practice on our Book Beetle (a portable handpress for typesetting), optical scanner, zine station, and tools and materials for book binding and decoration. Students will train on the equipment in the lab, working in consort with the Lab directors. Applying this work, docents will work in the lab itself, assisting classes using the lab, assisting the directors in workshops and presentations hosted there, and ultimately planning and offering a session of their own design.

Docents will develop skills transferable to common English career fields such as teaching (designing lesson plans, giving public presentations), administration (writing and evaluating professional documents), library and information technologies (methods of creating, digitizing, and preserving books), and media and publishing (creating and designing books).

Job Summary
A student assistant will carry out administrative and technical tasks requested by a supervisor. Depending on the area the student assistant is employed in, they may assist and mentor other students or provide support throughout the campus in various forms.

Job Duties
Student docents in this applied learning experience will:

– acquaint themselves with scholarship on and the practices of book history, critical making, and other hands-on approaches to literature and humanities teaching

– develop proficiency in basic typesetting, optical scanning, book binding, zine creation, and other bibliographic practices offered in the lab

– demonstrate these proficiencies to students and others using the lab by leading or assisting in public presentations, coordinating with instructors hosting classes in the lab, and supervising open lab hours where students may be working on book projects

– create one lesson plan for a 1-hour presentation using the lab's resources, and a final project that applies their work in the lab to a bibliographic project of their own design.

Required Education
High School diploma or equivalent. Enrolled in a minimum of 6 credit hours at Wichita State University.

Additional Requirements
Successful completion of one upper-level (300+) English Literature course

Preferred Qualifications
Preference given to students pursuing a degree in English or the Text Technologies minor.

Physical Requirements
Ability to remain in a stationary position. Ability to operate a computer and other office equipment including but not limited to phone, printers, copiers, and calculators. Ability to communicate with others and accurately exchange information.