News | 26 October 2020

CFA: THI 2020-2021 Undergraduate Public Fellowships

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Deadline: November 21, 2020 

The Humanities Institute is thrilled to announce a new Undergraduate Public Fellowship opportunity for Humanities students at UC Santa Cruz to work at Senderos. THI’s Public Fellowships connect academic scholarship in the Humanities to projects in the community, in mutually beneficial ways. Students gain first-hand experience learning about positions outside of the academy that build from their studies in the Humanities and afford them professional experience, while organizations benefit from students’ assistance. THI’s Public Fellowships foster positive collaborations between the campus and community, highlighting the value of a Humanities degree for a range of careers.

Summer research fellowship opportunity: An optional $500 summer research fellowship stipend is also available from THI. This is an opportunity for the Undergraduate Public Fellow to pursue a research project of their own that is connected to their work at Senderos.

Selected students will be named Public Fellows of The Humanities Institute. Note that since this position has been made available by a generous grant from The Humanities Institute, only applicants that are declared majors/minors in the Humanities Division of UC Santa Cruz will be considered.

About the Project

Senderos is a non-profit organization that teaches and celebrates Latino cultures through music, dance, and language, and that provides free educational resources for K-12 students and adults in Santa Cruz. For the 2020-21 year, Senderos is offering its college-prep scholarship program, ¡Adelante Santa Cruz!, and its tutoring program, Plaza Comunitaria, online, as well as virtual folkloric dance and music instruction.photo of students working at Senderos

There are two Public Fellow opportunities for undergraduate students in the Humanities to work at Senderos:

1. Program Coordinator 

2. Language Education Developer

1. Program Coordinator: Senderos

¡Adelante Santa Cruz! is a multi-year program at Senderos that helps to put selected cohorts of first generation Branciforte Middle School students and their families on a college-bound path. Participants attend quarterly meetings at which invited speakers discuss, e.g., the college application process. This year, Senderos will also provide ¡Adelante! students with regular tutoring and mentorship support. The ¡Adelante! tutoring program will be combined with Plaza Comunitaria, which provides tutoring and classes in various subjects—such as Computer Literacy and Citizenship Test Preparation—to both youths and adults. Some of Senderos’ annual events, including the Día de los Muertos celebration and the Latino Role Models Conference, will also take place virtually.

We are looking for one undergraduate student to help coordinate a variety of Senderos programs—primarily ¡Adelante Santa Cruz! and Plaza Comunitaria—and to assist with family outreach, fundraising support, and general administrative duties throughout the academic year (November 2020 – June 30, 2021). The Public Fellow will be paid $15/hour for their work. They will work 10-20 hours per week. They will work closely with Fe Silva-Robles, Program Director of Senderos; two members of the UCSC Department of Linguistics, Professor Maziar Toosarvandani and PhD candidate Kelsey Sasaki; and another undergraduate Public Fellow who will serve as a Language Education Developer for Nido de Lenguas, a collaboration between Senderos and the UCSC Department of Linguistics. A Program Coordinator with interests in non-profit work may also work in a mentorship capacity with Carolyn Coleman, Board Treasurer of Senderos.

Duties will include:

  • Help coordinate the ¡Adelante Santa Cruz! program
    • Organize logistics of quarterly Zoom meetings with invited speakers
    • Create and implement regular survey process to track participants’ progress during and after completing the program
    • Coordinate small group tutoring for ¡Adelante! students and for K-5 Plaza Comunitaria students
  • Family outreach and participant surveys
    • Produce and distribute announcements about programs and special events
      • Call Senderos families with limited access to written announcements
    • Help to build a database of demographic information and program feedback from Senderos participants
      • Write survey questions
      • Refine database design
      • Poll participants or their guardians via email or phone
  • Help design and implement campus outreach campaigns for Senderos and Nido de Lenguas (in collaboration with Language Education Developer)
  • Help update/maintain Senderos website
  • Help support  Senderos fundraising efforts 
  • Other duties may be assigned as appropriate to position

Additional duties may include: 

  • Work with Language Education Developer to create materials for two indigenous languages of Oaxaca: Santiago Laxopa Zapotec and San Martín Peras Mixtec
    • Create themed vocabulary flashcard decks with illustrations
    • Design online exercises and printable language-learning games

You’re an ideal candidate if you:

  • Are in good academic standing (required)
  • Declared major or minor in a department in the Humanities Division (required)
  • Are able to work independently and collaboratively (required)
  • Speak and read in Spanish, fluently or at least at an intermediate level (required)
  • Have strong communications skills—written and spoken—in both English and Spanish (required)
  • Are comfortable using Excel/Google Sheets (preferred)
  • Have some digital media experience (preferred)

2. Language Education Developer: Senderos

Nido de Lenguas is a collaboration between Senderos and the UCSC Department of Linguistics whose mission is to share and celebrate the indigenous languages of Oaxaca. In previous years, Nido de Lenguas programming included pop-up tables at Senderos events featuring language-learning games, as well as evening classes and weekend workshops for more intensive language-learning experiences. This year, Nido de Lenguas will provide live online language classes in Santiago Laxopa Zapotec, as well as various online resources—such as digital flashcards, printable games, and recordings of native speakers—for asynchronous learning in Santiago Laxopa Zapotec and San Martín Peras Mixtec.

We are looking for one undergraduate student to help develop language education materials and manage social media for Nido de Lenguas throughout the academic year (November 2020 – June 30, 2021). The undergraduate Public Fellow will be paid $15/hour for their work. They will work 10-20 hours per week. They will work closely with Fe Silva-Robles, Program Director of Senderos; two members of the UCSC Department of Linguistics, Professor Maziar Toosarvandani and PhD candidate Kelsey Sasaki; and another undergraduate Public Fellow who will be serve as a Program Coordinator for Senderos. A Language Education Developer with more general interests in non-profit work may also work in a mentorship capacity with Carolyn Coleman, Board Treasurer of Senderos.

Duties will include: 

  • Create (and refine existing) language-learning materials. Tasks may include, but are not limited to:
    • Create or commission original artwork for use in, e.g., games or flashcards 
    • Design games and other group exercises (printable downloads or web-based apps)
    • Work with native speakers of Oaxacan languages to gather relevant linguistic data
  • Create English and Spanish versions of digital vocabulary flashcard decks for Santiago Laxopa Zapotec and San Martín Peras Mixtec
    • Note: No prior knowledge of Zapotec or Mixtec is required
  • Manage social media and coordinate campus outreach campaigns
    • Create educational posts and announcements for Nido de Lenguas and coordinate with Senderos’ social media managers
    • Help design and implement campus outreach campaigns for Senderos and Nido de Lenguas
  • Regularly upload new materials to Nido de Lenguas website and promote via Nido’s social media and the Senderos website
  • Create posts for a project blog
  • Other duties may be assigned as appropriate to position

Other duties may include: 

  • Work with Program Coordinator on outreach campaigns to families of Senderos participants
    • Help produce and distribute announcements about Senderos programs and special events
    • Help build a database of demographic information and program feedback from Senderos participants
      • Write survey questions
      • Poll participants or their guardians via email or phone

You’re an ideal candidate if you:

  • Are in good academic standing (required)
  • Declared major or minor in a department in the Humanities Division (required)
  • Are able to work independently and collaboratively (required)
  • Have strong communications skills, written and spoken (required)
  • Have some digital media and social media experience (required)
  • Have interests in game design or actual game design experience (preferred)
  • Speak and read in Spanish, at an intermediate level (preferred)
  • Have some graphic design experience (preferred)
  • Have some web design experience (HTML/CSS) (preferred)
  • Have some experience as an educator (preferred)

How to apply for these positions:

Apply by sending your resume with a short cover letter (no more than one page) answering these questions: Why this job? Why you? Why now?

A tip for writing this cover letter is to consider how this position will further your undergraduate career as well as your professional career once you have completed your education. Feel free to be creative here. Work in the Public Humanities does not have a rigid framework and innovation and the ability to adapt is a key component.

Once the application closes on 11/21/20, there will be an in-person interview process with selected candidates at the end of November.

Students can apply via the On-Campus Employment – Employee Request System, using job number ER 15935 (Program Coordinator) and ER 13554 (Language Education Developer). Please contact thi@ucsc.edu with any questions.

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