Graduate Program
Assistantships
Administrative Positions
A number of other graduate assistantships and associateships, some administrative or research in nature and some which combine such responsibilities with teaching, are awarded on a competitive basis to students in the department. Most Calls for Applications are posted during second semester for assistantship positions beginning the following academic year.
Assistant to the Director of Undergraduate Studies
Open to students in the Ph.D. program, the primary responsibility is to assist the Associate Chair for Undergraduate Studies with academic advising for undergraduate English majors and prospective students. This position is half time, 20 hours per week during fall semester, with no teaching duties, and 10 hours per week during spring semester, when the TA teaches one course. The position is renewable for one year.
Assistant to the Editor of the Miami University Press
Open to students in the M.A. or Ph.D. program, the editorial assistant works 20 hours per week alongside the editor, Keith Tuma, acknowledging and organizing incoming manuscripts, and proofreading accepted ones; readying bound galleys; sending out review copies of books; and calculating royalties, among other duties. The position is renewable for one year.
Assistant Directors of the Center for Writing Excellence
The Center is a new writing-across-the-curriculum initiative directed at the entire university. Through seminars, consultations, and other activities, the Center’s staff works with faculty in a variety of departments to increase the quantity and quality of writing in their classes. Open to students at the M.A. and Ph.D. levels, the two Assistant Directors work 20 hours a week; this is an administrative/research position with no teaching responsibilities.
Assistant Director of College Composition
Open to advanced Ph.D. students, the Assistant Director co-teaches ENG 731, 698 and 699 with the Director, works with the teacher/mentor program, and performs other administrative duties related to the College Composition program. The Assistant Director teaches one additional composition course during the year beyond her/his co-teaching duties.
Writing Program Administration
Graduate students also play other important roles in writing program administration. A team works together each summer to edit College Composition at Miami, the in-house publication that is required reading for all first-year writing students. Many participate as well in compiling the Teacher’s Guide on which new graduate teaching assistants rely in teaching first-year composition. And the Portfolio project involves doctoral students in every aspect of a process that culminates in a two-day holistic evaluation of writing portfolios submitted by incoming students for advanced placement.
Howe Teaching Associates
The Howe Writing Initiative, initiated with the arrival of the Howe Professor in 1996, introduces doctoral students in composition/rhetoric to another disciplinary context for writing instruction. Each year, three Howe TAs work, alongside the Howe Professor, with faculty in the Richard T. Farmer School of Business Administration to integrate writing instruction throughout the Business curriculum. Howe TAs typically teach only one course in English during their years of Howe service.