Mission Responsibilities:
Assist in implementation of the EMU TRIO Student Support Services (SSS) Program. Funded by the U.S. Department of Education, the goal of the TRIO SSS Program is to increase the college retention and graduation rates of its participants.

Essential Functions:

The TRiO SSS Graduate Assistant (GA) functions as both a Peer Mentor and Administrative Assistant. Peer Mentors are expected to serve as role models for students participating in the EMU TRIO SSS Program who are first generation, low income, and disabled students attempting to navigate the university environment for the first time.

Peer Mentors will help implement programming and enact Individual Student Success Plans (ISSPs) designed to maximize student academic and personal success at EMU.

Peer Mentors will also participate in program development activities in order to collective and continually improve operations.

Peer Mentors will meet on a biweekly/monthly basis with their assigned caseload of students, and at other times as needed by the individual student.

Office Assistants will use information and technology systems to help implement program strategies and advance the mission of the EMU TRIO SSS Program. The GA will be given high-level administrative tasks, such as creating the program’s monthly newsletter and negotiating contracts with outside service vendors.


Responsibilities:

Develop on-going mentoring relationships with EMU TRIO SSS Program participants, individually and as a group.

Establish strong and effective communication channels with assigned students using email, social media or other means.

Act as a role model in terms of behavior in the classroom, socially and academically.

Meet individually with assigned students on a biweekly/monthly basis.

Maintain and submit records as assigned.

Coordinate and communicate with TRIO SSS academic staff to keep them updated about student progress and concerns.

Make referrals to other campus resources as appropriate.

Assist TRIO SSS academic staff in the planning, organizing and facilitating of social events, team-building activities, field trips, service learning projects, etc.

Other duties as assigned.

Recommended Qualifications:

Strong knowledge of the federal TRIO SSS Program and/or other TRIO Programs, such as Upward Bound, McNair Scholars, etc.

Most recent semester or cumulative grade point average (GPA) minimum 3.0.

Strong interpersonal skills.

Positive attitude, self-motivated and highly responsible.

Ability to work in a collective and collaborative office environment.

Must be able to attend Peer Mentor training before the Fall Semester.

Must be able to attend staff meetings on Friday mornings.

Please note: This position is included in the Graduate Assistant Interview Day's (GAID) on March 11 and 12, 2021. You may be contacted by departments to schedule an interview with them individually. Graduate Assistant Interview Day allows candidates to select which departments they are interested to interview with (if they meet the qualifications). Graduate Assistant Job Fair is open to all prospective/current graduate students. Additional information may be found at https://www.emich.edu/uacdc/students/gaid/index.php