graduate assistant

assistant professor

development director

director of operations

director

Eastern Michigan University

This my experience as a supplemental instructor for an introduction to cultural anthropology course. Obviously, the experience will differ for someone doing this for chemistry or English. 

A typical day as a supplemental instructor involves attending the one hour and fifteen minute course for which you SI. In between there you may have a course of which you are a student in or a break. If it is the latter, printing worksheets and thinking of creative solutions to the problems you foresaw in the material during the class just now will help to troubleshoot in advanced what students will bring to you later in one or both of this weeks two fifty-five minute SI sessions. 

Assuming you have the session on that same day, you arrive at the location of your session (often not the same building as the class itself) and may or may not have the room to yourself in advance for preparation. If that time exists, you may use it to gather your thoughts, place out worksheets or materials for the students to grab when they walk in, or to possibly run off a few last minute copies. If you do not, then waiting outside impatiently, possibly running off copies is the alternative. 

Students arrive (ideally on time, may do trickle in, however) and they sign in using a QR code scanner. This is akin to a barcode and looks like a strange black and white box of gibberish shapes. Each student has a unique one which contains only their email address. This is more high-tech version of the ol' written form of this information. 

After this, students are free to seat themselves and settle in for the session. I usually make sure that they pull out their class notes, heckling any student that 'forgot' theirs. This gives the latecomers time to trickle in as students already in the room formulate any questions or comments that they have regarding the recent material. When I ask them for any questions, a number of responses are common: 1.) I was absent, can you explain _____ to me? 2.) I don't understand _______, can you explain it to me? 3.) A personal anecdote/connection to the material (rare). or 4.) Silence. 

The best strategy to deal with one and two are to refer the students to the other students in the room i.e. Can anyone answer this question? What do we think the answer is? Number threes are the best, as they foster a discussion often worth having i.e. My boyfriend if from China and so, yeah, I've seen his family do some strange medical things like in the film. It weirds me out and I would never try it. Obviously, other students will chime in with their opinions and we have the ball rolling. It is my job, however, to steer the conversation ever so gently toward the course material. Often trying to communicate the diversity of the world while still validating American's sense of superiority and invincibility is often the hardest part of my job. 

Once that discussion has simmered down, or perhaps if it has taken a turn for the worst (gossip) or has taken up more than half of the session, we will move on to an activity. This can take a myriad of forms. Worksheets are very common. Word searches, crosswords,  a collection of photos that summarize the people/concepts being studied, T-charts, BINGO, and more occur throughout the semester. I often reward the students with prizes for their completion or good behavior during the exorcises. My favorite prize to give out is bags of instant popcorn. I tell the students that their hard work deserves a movie night. 

Two other components of being an SI are the one hour a week professor meeting and one hour team meeting. Meeting with the professor may or may not actually take the full hour, depending on each others' schedule and need to meet. Often what's discussed is new ideas for each others' ability to communicate with the students on both distinct platforms. Any students grievances may be brought up, the most common of which I get is "Can we move the test to next week?" I tend to make the case as I see fit, not necessarily always siding with either party. The trouble is that the professor cannot see the way in which their instruction method has been received by the students. Some concepts are glossed over in ten minutes as something the students should already have a grasp on when indeed this is not the case. Vice visa is also common. Attempting to accommodate a myriad (15 - 200) of learning styles is perhaps the professor's hardest job component.

Ideally you want to maintain a comfortable level of communication with your professor. They are your mentors and, assuming that they are not total jerks, any weaknesses that you have should be on the table for improvement. Also, any problem(s) you encounter with the student(s) should be a topic of discussion. Does one not know how to put the phone down? Are you having trouble helping them with quantitative applications? The professor will most certainly help you directly, and then send you to places with other modalities for your own personal study such as websites, books, publications, other staff members, or campus organizations. YOU have to take the initiative to make the best of your professor meetings. Make yourself better because no one else will. As soon as you realize that you have an opportunity to help these students make it through one LEGO block of their education, you should feel empowered to give them all you have in that effort. 

Team meetings are exactly as they sound, a group of SIs (4 - 8) in a room for one hour discussing the trials, tribulations, and success of the job in which they all share. Tears can be shed, frustrations let out in the open, new skills learned through company-wide small presentations, and real friends gained. 

Now, the atmosphere of a team meeting is largely defined by the team leader. There is one per meeting and they are usually former SIs. These people can define weather the meetings center around games, food, and a light camaraderie or a more stern, professionalism take on the meeting. Either way, these are wonderful places to gain insight from other, far-reaching disciplines on how to communicate in new and novel ways. 

All in all, this has been and will continue to be a job that I adore. So much in fact, that I passed up the opportunity to become a team leader for more pay and more hours but the loss of the direct student interaction. Being an SI is a sense of helping and lifting up students when they're in a rut. It's the excitement of seeing them with a positive grade or the opportunity to work with them for a better one next time. Being an SI has helped me define the motherly instinct within and my inherent optimism for the human race. It helped me better understand my own discipline through teaching it to others and it helped me expand my creative mind as I tried to think of the material from every learning modality and not just my own. 

Despite being paid fairly poorly (minimum wage), this job has been everything I could ask for and more as a poor college student with a major in anthropology. Second only to being a real professor, I'm sure.

a typical day of work would be this: I would arrive and report to my boss. She would then give me an assignment and report to her when its done. A typical task would be: alphabetizing and organizing files, stamping files to be sent to another department, handling mail, and so on. If I finished all the tasks she had for me, I was permitted to leave early if I wish. 

I don't have a bad thing to say about my three bosses. They all treated me with kindness and respect. I was a little perplexed at the way I was ultimately laid off however. For some reason they decided to wait until my shift had started to tell me I couldn't work anymore because there was no money left in the budget to pay me. It seemed like a pretty big oversight to hire a student, invest all that time to train him, only to realize down only 2 months down the road there was no extra money to keep him. I suppose that's just how the workplace works, but I would have preferred to have had some warning, so that I could get my resume ready over the weekend.

I only had one Coworker. He was a nice guy. He was fun to talk to while we worked together and he always had a smile on his face.

The hardest part of the job would probably be locating specific documents in the bowels of the file room. It wasn't hard, just time consuming.

The most enjoyable part of the job was the atmosphere. I met some great people and received some good training and mentoring. I just wish they could have kept me around. I was almost tempted to ask to stay on as a volunteer.

1. Typical day at work-it would change from month to month.  If in season I would review film, go over game plan, mentor student-athletes, monitor school progress, I would manage over 40 people daily, call and meet with donors, call and meet with recruits and their parents and go to meetings.  

Out of season-I would plan practice, execute practice and weight lifting, I would review film, go over game plan, mentor student-athletes, monitor school progress, I would manage over 40 people daily, call and meet with donors, call and meet with recruits and their parents and go to meetings.  

2. I learned that even if you do everything correct in regards other than winning you will be fired.  

3. Management was very good until the new manager came in and wanted their own people in, no matter what

4. Co-workers were good and easy to work with as we all had the same goals and worked well with one another.  

5. The most difficult part of my job was being held to a first place standard with last place resources and even though I graduated all my student-athletes, had a high team GPA and we lead all of athletics in community service.  It was extremely difficult to do all of the above fund raise an additional coaches salary and fund raise to supplement my budget every year.  

6. The most enjoyable part of the job-I made my own schedule, and I was able to make a considerable difference in young peoples life

What is the best part of working at the company?
Eastern has its ups and downs.  Currently the Provost is primarily in control of the institution and has created a fairly toxic environment.  Recent results from an employee engagement survey confirm that this is felt throughout the institution. 


What is the most stressful part about working at the company?
Poor financial management has left the institution understaffed.  The institution has also made choices about admission standards that serve the financial needs of the institution rather than student needs.  This has led to a large number of incoming freshman who need support that the institution is not providing.  Trying to help students who lack the academic readiness four a four year institution without institutional support is heartbreaking. 

What is the work environment and culture like at the company?
Currently the environment is politically charged and the Provost has consolidated power.  It has created a situation where it is challenging to be heard.   Really excellent employees are leaving.  

What is a typical day like for you at the company?
Meetings, day to day administrative tasks.  Putting out fires and dealing with concerns from faculty students and parents

No matter how much you upsale,
No matter how much you put in effort to be the best enployee you can without doing things wrong. No matter how much you are liked or do your job well you can and will be fired for any reason. The general managers don't have any say so in their own employees and can't advocate for you or your work ethics. If business is slow and they cant afford to keep you. You will be fired. I wouldn't work here full time or part time if you dont have another job. The people you work with day to day are great one of the main reasons I enjoyed my job. but it's the 4 people up top that dont care about you or your life. You will get no warnings. No chance to change any actions that may need correcting. You will just be let go whenever its convienent to them. God forbid you be late cause that will be your "reason" for being fired even if you worked out a scedule with your GM if you don't come at the exact time thats written you will be fired. Fun work space but terribly inconsiderate upper management. 

Tip: Be up front about your scedule and pay. So there is no confusion later and make sure its actually followed through and documented.


My responsibilities involve working at catered events on EMU campus. This includes setting up banquets and meetings, serving guests food and beverages and/or replenishing buffet items during the event, interacting with customers, and then tearing down the event afterward. I also assist in overseeing student employees before, during, and after events and am involved in delegating tasks and insuring that all necessary tasks are completed during a shift. I have learned a lot about how to run a catered event, which is wonderful as I hope to work in a catering and event planning supervisory or management position in the very near future. I have also learned how to run a shift smoothly. My managers and co-workers are friendly and encouraging about my future goals. The most difficult part of this job is when we are very busy and understaffed and also when we get behind on necessary tasks. This can result in an event going out late. I have had to learn very quickly how to prevent this. The best part of the job is seeing an event go out perfectly and hearing from satisfied customers.

The job I held at Eastern Michigan University allowed me to be a part of the college environment and to get to know my fellow residents. it afforded me the the opportunity to also do homework while on the job, provided I wasn't busy or assisting a resident. 

A typical day as an office assistant was spent behind the front desk of one of the resident halls. I would patiently wait for mail to be delivered or for residents to come by to assist with any of their needs or questions. 

The hardest part of the job would be that sometimes it would get a bit boring, especially on the longer shifts. It was an easy job and allowed me to work when I had no vehicle to get to other possible places of employment. 

The most enjoyable part of the job was definitely getting to know all the people and residents that I did. I love the culture at Eastern Michigan University and it was a great way for me to feel a part of my community there.

My typical day at work includes meeting with my team about ongoing product trials/experiments, discussing new ideas and opinions, completing the required testing, making sure all the instruments are in working condition, and documenting the experimental data. My co-workers are graduate researchers in Textile science department. The hardest part of job is to prioritize the projects and managing the time and attention that every product development project deserves. The funding system at Eastern Michigan University has several layers which makes it hard to plan the finances of the project. The most enjoyable part of the project is the freedom I get to innovate and execute on my ideas for new textile products. As a result of that , in last four years I have been blessed to get a provisional patent and finish four other projects successfully including commercial up-scaling with textile companies in United States.

A typical day at contains regular schedule duties such as providing assistance to professors and instructors with deliveries and mail, maintaining the appearance of the office and communicating and setting up academic advising appointments between students and faculty.  The management staff were very kind and would help an employee if they had any questions or issues regarding the daily tasks of the job. The workplace culture has a peaceful atmosphere and the co-workers are easy to work with.  The hardest part of the job is always being on move in the office.  The student secretaries are always walking around the office and on campus.  The most enjoyable part of the job is the management allows its employees to have a ample amount of break time and offers free tea and coffee to its staff.

Regular meetings with the department Directors that comprise the research team.  Meetings address questions, concerns or needs and move the research forward. Daily check for updates and review progress of HIC-IRB for collaborative research project.  Research and reviewing programs used in the medical industry to assess the benefits and how they may be of benefit to the facility. 
Completing CITI training at the highest research level was required of me as a research team member.

Gaining an first-hand understanding of interdepartmental workings with supportive management. Learning how and what departments need to complete to meet compliance standards for Federal, educational and medical standards. I enjoy working with a diverse group of professional  staff. Addressing and overcoming challenges is a regular part of the job, it also the most enjoyable part of the job.

Top Job Titles	Average Salary
Graduate assistant 3 salaries reported	$14.33 per hour
Assistant professor 2 salaries reported	$59,922 per year
Development director 1 salary reported	$105,000 per year
Director of operations 3 salaries reported	$63,167 per year
Director 4 salaries reported	$65,728 per year

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