The Futures Initiative is seeking a Graduate Center doctoral student in any field for a 2019-2020 fellowship.

Applications are due February 8, 2019.

This is a one-year position, renewable for up to three years. We are seeking one new fellow in 2019-2020 for the following role: Web Designer and Digital Strategist. We aim to build a team that is diverse in every way. Doctoral students who have backgrounds underrepresented in the academy are especially encouraged to apply.

Graduate Fellows are at the heart of the Futures Initiative, and the work we do is designed to support our mission and the professional goals of every Fellow. Our past fellows have gone on to do meaningful, inspiring work, both in the academy and beyond. In the same way that we advocate peer-to-peer communities online, peer mentorship, and student-centered learning in the classroom, so are we organized around the ideal of peer administration and peer leadership as the basis of agency and activism in the development of future leaders of a more equitable society and system of higher education.

Futures Initiative Fellowships offer a total compensation of approximately $28,000 for 2019-2020. The FI Fellowship has two components: a graduate assistant appointment and a financial aid fellowship. The graduate assistant appointment carries eligibility to purchase low-cost NYSHIP health insurance and offers in-state tuition remission for Fellows who are within their first 10 registered semesters of study. Fellows are required to work 450 hours for the academic year/225 hours per semester. This translates into 15 hours of work per week during each 15-week semester. Determinations of re-appointments are made on an annual basis depending on individual eligibility and GC needs.

Please apply using this form by February 8, 2019. A CV is also required and should be emailed to futuresinitiative@gc.cuny.edu.

About the Futures Initiative

The Futures Initiative leads a wide range of initiatives supporting equity, innovation, engaged pedagogy, leadership for change, support of public higher education, and the use and development of technologies that enable these goals within the CUNY community and beyond.

Our current collaborations include the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation-sponsored Humanities Alliance (in partnership with the GC’s Teaching and Learning Center and LaGuardia Community College) and the Leadership, Liberal Arts, and the New Majority (a leadership and peer mentoring program, initially funded by the Teagle Foundation, that extends throughout the entire CUNY community). Other key partners within CUNY include the Teaching and Learning Center, the GC Digital Fellows Program, the Office of Educational Opportunity and Diversity, and the Office of Career Planning and Professional Development.

We amplify our mission beyond CUNY through co-leadership with Arizona State University of the international open online network HASTAC (“haystack”): Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Alliance and Collaboratory). HASTAC is dedicated to “Changing the Way We Teach and Learn” with commitment to a second social and technology mission: “Difference is not our deficit. It’s our operating system.” A free and open community, HASTAC is a platform that allows any of its 16,000+ members to have a voice, to contribute, and to emerge as a leader.

Goals and Contributions of All Futures Initiative Fellows

• Be a valued member of a supportive team that prizes mentorship, growth, and leadership with a core mission of innovation founded on equity and a commitment to meaningful social and institutional change
• Have a key voice in a visionary organization that is working toward meaningful institutional and cultural change in higher education
• Gain skills in project management, events planning, leadership, communications, grant development, social media and web support, and programmatic support that will serve you in whatever career goals you aspire to
• Connect meaningfully with the CUNY and HASTAC communities
• Contribute to the program’s engagement with the public, including by regularly sharing and communicating relevant research, events, and opportunities via our various communications networks and platforms
• Build an ongoing portfolio of your contribution as a graduate student and an FI Fellow through monthly blog post communicating your research, teaching, and community experiences
• Participate in and co-lead weekly team meetings and assist with the designing and building of the program
• Assume leadership roles for running the program, including events and weekly meetings
• Share skills with one another and with others at the Graduate Center

Current Opening

Web Designer and Digital Strategist

In addition to the general expectations above, the person in this role will:

• Serve as one of two administrators of a multi-site network (futuresinitiative.org) using the Commons In A Box platform, built on WordPress and BuddyPress
• Evaluate site analytics, suggest changes, and implement approved site improvements
• Suggest and implement design and user experience improvements for futuresinitiative.org and hastac.org
• Provide technical support, documentation, and digital guidance for City University of New York students and faculty using futuresinitiative.org
• Troubleshoot any site performance issues
• Perform site and plugin updates as needed
• Manage hosting/server environment (through Reclaim Hosting)
• Present on areas of digital expertise, including the Futures Initiative’s use of technology, in public venues such as blog posts, conferences, and journals
• Participate in program outreach
• The position requires comfort with WordPress, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and PHP. Familiarity with design tools such as Adobe Creative Suiteis also desirable

Please contact Katina Rogers, Director of Programs and Administration for the Futures Initiative, if you have any questions. krogers [at] gc.cuny.edu

Apply here: https://goo.gl/forms/yxqVC7ZGJIAIbabH2