How to Apply
Please upload the following documents as one PDF document with your application: (1) a cover letter, and (2) CV (including names of two faculty references).
The cover letter should address your specific interest in the position and outline skills and experiences that directly relate to this position. If you have held a GSI position at U-M, as part of your cover letter please provide the course title, number, term, and faculty instructor for each course taught. Please also attach E&E summary sheets for the U-M courses where you have been a GSI.
Responsibilities*
GSI will attend all lectures and films;
Lead 3 discussion sections per week;
Grade assignments and exams (with faculty oversight);
Assist in preparation of exams and lecture materials;
Hold weekly office hours;
Be available over email to students and the instructor and assist students in case they have questions pertaining to the course;
Meet regularly with the course instructor.
Required Qualifications*
Applicants must be in good standing in a University of Michigan graduate degree program and be eligible for a graduate student instructorship or staff assistantship.
Desired Qualifications*
Priority will be given to applicants who have an academic background on Russia/Former Soviet Union and knowledge of a language of the region, and who intend to pursue an academic career (including teaching) focused on the region. Strong preference will be given to applicants who are continuing full-time students who have prior experience as a GSI.
Course Description
REEES 395 - Russia and the Soviet Union: Reform, Revolution, and the Socialist Experiment
Lecture meets MW 2:30-4 PM. See the Fall Term LSA course guide schedule for details.
What is Russia? This survey course explores this question through the history of the peoples and territories of medieval Rus, the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and the Russian Federation and the Soviet Union's other successor states, from ninth century to the present. Key themes include how ?Russia? has been understood and defined, both by its diverse inhabitants and outsiders; the expansion, reach, and limitations of the state; the tension between nation, state, and empire; development and modernization; reform and revolution; and engagement with and isolation from the world. This lecture discussion course considers the diversity of experience across time and space, using an array of textual, visual, and aural primary sources.
We will especially grapple with the fundamental question of defining ?Russia,? considering the composition and characteristics of Rus, Muscovy, the Russian Empire, the Soviet Union, and the Russian Federation, polities that were (and are) home to a diverse multilingual, multiethnic, and multi-confessional (i.e. religious) population across a vast geographic expanse. The politics of history, in Russia like everywhere else, have never been neutral, and we?ll especially consider the ways rulers and citizens alike have mobilized the past in pursuit of distinct political projects.
Lectures and discussions center around five central questions:
- How have rulers legitimized power and defined the polity?
- To what extent have ordinary subjects felt the weight of state policies?
- How have leaders managed a diverse populace and how have citizens responded?
- How has ?Russianness? been defined and/or understood, and by whom?
- How has the past been mobilized and to what ends?
Throughout the semester, we?ll pay close attention to how answers to these questions changed, evolved, and shifted over time.
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.
Contact Information
Please address applications to Professor Anna Whittington.
Send inquiries to [email protected]
Decision Making Process
A CREES faculty committee will review the applications and select the GSIs. All GSI appointments are subject to administrative approval.
Selection Process
A CREES faculty committee will review the applications and select the GSIs. All GSI appointments are subject to administrative approval.
Applicants may request status of his or her application at any time.
Please note that this is a limited availability position reserved for LSA graduate students.
GEO Contract Information
The University will not discriminate against any applicant for employment because of race, creed, color, religion, national origin, ancestry, genetic information, marital status, familial status, parental status or pregnancy status, sex, gender identity or expression (whether actual or perceived), sexual orientation, age, height, weight, disability, citizenship status, veteran status, HIV antibody status, political belief, membership in any social or political organization, participation in a grievance or complaint whether formal or informal, medical conditions including those related to pregnancy, childbirth and breastfeeding, arrest record, or any other factor where the item in question will not interfere with job performance and where the employee is otherwise qualified. The University of Michigan agrees to abide by the protections afforded employees with disabilities as outlined in the rules and regulations which implement Section 504 of the Rehabilitation Act of 1973 and the Americans with Disabilities Act.
Information for the Office for Institutional Equity may be found at https://oie.umich.edu/ and for the University Ombuds at https://ombuds.umich.edu/
Unsuccessful applications will be retained for consideration in the event that there are last minute openings for available positions. In the event that an employee does not receive their preferred assignment, they can request a written explanation or an in-person interview with the hiring agents(s) to be scheduled at a mutually agreed upon time.
This position, as posted, is subject to a collective bargaining agreement between the Regents of the University of Michigan and the Graduate Employees' Organization, American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO 3550.
Standard Practice Guide 601.38, Required Disclosure of Felony Charges and/or Felony Convictions applies to all Graduate Student Assistants (GSAs). SPG 601.38 may be accessed online at https://spg.umich.edu/policy/601.38 , and its relation to your employment can be found in MOU 10 of your employment contract.
U-M EEO Statement
The University of Michigan is an equal employment opportunity employer.