ICPSR Teaching Assistant (TEMP)

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Job Summary

The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research (ICPSR) Summer Program in Quantitative Methods in hiring temporary teaching assistants to support instructors for courses in its 2025 General Sessions. The General Sessions are a comprehensive methods training program with a board curriculums ranging from introductory to advances courses in a variety of statistical and other quantitative methods and social research techniques.  All 2025 General Session courses will be offered in a dual-mode/hybrid format, with both in-person and online participants. Each of the two General Sessions are attended by a diverse, multidisciplinary, and international body of participants including hundreds of students, faculty, and practitioners. More Information abou the General Sessions is available here: https://myumi.ch/EkJbp

As a perk of the job, teaching assistants will also be able to enroll in up to three General Session methods Courses, intended for asynchronous review after the Session and their job responsibilities have ended.

Course Description

Teaching assistants will be assigned to assist with one methods Course and/or one math or computing Lecture per General Session. A list of eligible Courses and Lectures, dates and class descriptions are available here: https://myumi.ch/p7Gpr

Teaching assistants will be expected to work 40 hours per week of their class's instruction. All teaching assistants will be expected to work in-person in Ann Arbor, Michigan and will need to have their own laptop computer.

Responsibilities*

Responsibilities will include some one or more of the following:

  • Assist course instructors with preparation and presentation of class materials and lectures
  • Meet with course instructors
  • Attend daily lectures and answer participant questions
  • Hold office hours for participants
  • Hold lab sessions and supplemental learning sessions
  • Evaluate work and grade assignments
  • Provide additional teaching support

Required Qualifications*

  • Current enrollment in a Ph.D. program, or equivalent academic status or background
  • Master's Degree or equivalent combination of education and experience
  • Experience with quantitative research skills in the social sciences or closely related field
  • Experience with statistical computing software
  • Excellent communications skills, both oral and written in the English language
  • Exceptional interpersonal skills
  • Past experience, within the last 2 years, as a teaching assistant in a statistics or relevant methodology course at the college level, or equivalent experience
  • Knowledge and command of specific topics that would be required for the relevant courses, such as probability, sampling distributions, confidence intervals, tests of significance and inference; contingency tables, Chi-square, and ANOVA; multiple regression and extensions, including interactions, time-series or panel-data analysis; maximum likelihood; causal inference; Nash, subgame-perfect, and perfect-Bayesian equilibrium; computational modeling

Desired Qualifications*

  • Past teaching experience with a graduate-level statistics/methodology course
  • Experience teaching statistics/methodology in a multicultural environment
  • Past successful experience with the ICPSR Summer Program
  • Knowledge and experience with R, Zoom, and other technology used in modern methods instruction

Modes of Work

Positions that are eligible for hybrid or mobile/remote work mode are at the discretion of the hiring department. Work agreements are reviewed annually at a minimum and are subject to change at any time, and for any reason, throughout the course of employment. Learn more about the work modes.

Additional Information

Required Application Materials:

Applicants should combine all of the following application materials into a single PDF document:

  • A one or two-page cover letter addressing the following:
    • Your specific interest in this position
    • Your training, skills, and experience that directly relate to your qualifications for this position
    • The General Session(s) and methods Course(s) and/or math and computing Lecture(s) for which you are interested in serving as a teaching assistant
    • Past ICPSR Summer Program experience as a participant or teaching assistant (if applicable)
  • Current curriculum vitae
  • Two brief recommendation letters from faculty, preferably at least one from a faculty member with whom you've taught. Your letter writers can also submit their letters confidentially and directly to the Summer Program at [email protected]
  • Teaching evaluations or other evidence of teaching effectiveness
  • Course transcripts

The Inter-university Consortium for Political and Social Research, part of the Institute for Social Research at the University of Michigan, seeks to recruit and retain a diverse workforce as a reflection of our commitment to serve the diverse people of Michigan, to maintain the excellence of the university, and to ground our research in varied disciplines, perspectives, and ways of knowing and learning.

Background Screening

The University of Michigan conducts background checks on all job candidates upon acceptance of a contingent offer and may use a third party administrator to conduct background checks.  Background checks are performed in compliance with the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Application Deadline

Job openings are posted for a minimum of seven calendar days. The review and selection process may begin as early as the eighth day after posting. This opening may be removed from posting boards and filled any time after the minimum posting period had ended.

U-M EEO/AA Statement

The University of Michigan is an equal opportunity/affirmative action employer.