STEM Center: Home

STEM Center Position Description Information Video!

In this section, you will find:

• basic overview of the STEM Center
• link to our initial application
• position descriptions
• interviewing instructions (required for all new applicants)
• next steps (including important initial paid orientation later this semester)

 

STEM Center tutors are important paid student leadership positions on campus that offer the opportunity to assist or support peers to accomplish their academic goals.  At the same time, working in the STEM Center creates opportunities to strengthen and maintain one's own communication, teamwork, and academic skills, as well as share in the student-facing and backend organizational dynamics of Gannon University’s largest student employer.  Tutors, who are usually undergraduate STEM or business majors, generally either work as a one-on-one tutor in our Nash Library location supporting Gannon STEM/business courses they performed well in, or as a STEM-PASS tutor, leading multiple extra-help sessions each week for students in a targeted course while going the extra mile to prepare relevant and helpful session material.  Additional leadership and responsibilities are available as part of several of our open positions (see below).

New 1-on-1 tutors can generally work anywhere from 5 to 7.5 hours/week (tutor's choice) whereas STEM-PASS tutors may work 5 to 12 hours/week depending on overall preferences, needs, and arrangements.

All tutors are required and expected to communicate with STEM Center staff, student managers, other tutors, students, and occasionally faculty and staff, in order to facilitate quality work.

 

At this time, we are primarily hiring for work beginning Fall 2025 and beyond for all of our tutoring and tutor leadership roles.  Our intent is to fill all openings soon after the listed priority dates; however, positions may still remain open.

• Tutor (priority application and interview deadline: April 1)
• Lead Tutor (priority application and interview deadline: March 28)
• STEM-PASS Tutor (priority application and interview deadline: March 21)
• Principal Tutor / Student Manager (priority application and interview deadline: March 14)

If you are interested in working as a STEM Center tutor/leader, please fill out our initial application here: https://forms.office.com/r/yncKMKCZfm

Those selected to be provisionally hired will then be directed to an official posting on Gannon's PeopleAdmin website which initiates "actually being hired" from the University perspective.

 

Tutor ($10/hour):

• Believe in your own knowledge and perseverance, and the amazing potential of Gannon students 
• Lead Gannon students to conquer their academic hurdles, both small and large
• Unleash your love for your major and your favorite courses
• Enjoy making a deep impact on a very flexible schedule
• Key responsibilities and highlights:
  • Tutor peers in STEM subject material they are qualified to cover
  • May seek or perform other necessary STEM Center work, with approval
  • Some initial and ongoing (paid) training is likely to be required
  • This is a highly flexible role with significant ownership over one's own schedule on a day-to-day basis
  • This role can be a great complement to other campus jobs, or be a primary employment focus when one has ample overall availability
• Position Structure: 
  • Determines own overall availability for tutoring, identifying a maximum number of booked hours/week (subject to director approval)
    • For example, a tutor could identify 15 specific hours/week of overall availability, have an agreed maximum of 7.5 hours/week of appointments, and on a week-to-week basis could then end up with anywhere from 0-7.5 hours/week of appointments; once 7.5 hours is reached, any remaining availability for the week is removed from the schedule.  Some non-tutoring paid work may be available for tutors to perform, thereby providing at least a certain minimum above zero, if desired.  
    • Tutors can adjust/reduce their availability at any time; for example, if there are no booked appointments, a tutor may cancel their availability for any reason, to ensure that such time remains free to them for other priorities.
  • Minimum of 3 hours of availability per week; 7.5 hours/week of actual appointments is often a maximum for new tutors
  • Compensated only for time spent tutoring (and performing any other necessary STEM Center work or training)
  • Reports to work at the STEM Center only when someone has signed up for tutoring

Lead Tutor ($11/hour):

• Believe in the transformative power of our team of tutors working in a great learning space
• Lead the positive vibe of the STEM Center for students and tutors alike
• Unleash your professional skills of being organized, reliable, creative, and a great communicator 
• Enjoy building our team environment toward helping hundreds of Gannon students
• Key responsibilities and highlights:
  • Both new applicants and returning tutors are encouraged to apply for this role (previous experience is not required)
  • Tutor peers in STEM subject material they are qualified to cover
  • Proctor certain examinations for students
  • Responsible for all aspects of the STEM Center space, protocol, and communications while on duty, including regularly initiating and leading conversations with other tutors
  • Some initial and ongoing (paid) training is likely to be required
  • May be required to support other work or projects while on duty
  • Must be able to attend a weekly team meeting (several different options will be available, and this will be communicated in advance of Advising Day so that those offered this role have opportunity to keep at least one of the meeting times free in their schedules!)
  • This role requires reliability to keep scheduled hours, though in turn, also provides a stable volume of working hours and compensation; it is ideal for primary employment, though some may be able to balance additional student work as well
• Position Structure: 
  • Provide scheduling availability and preferences to the director, who then sets a weekly work schedule that works well for individual student employees while also meeting our broader hours of operation needs
  • Minimum expectation is generally 6 hours/week; 7.5 or more is preferred
  • Compensated for all scheduled hours spent at the STEM Center (as well as any off-site work), including when tutoring appointments are not booked
  • Reports to work at the STEM Center for all of their scheduled shifts, including when students have not scheduled tutoring appointments

Principal Tutor ($12/hour):

• Key responsibilities and highlights:
  • Both new applicants and returning tutors are encouraged to apply for this role (previous experience is preferred)
  • This role is overall identical to the lead tutor role, except principal tutors are expected to exhibit very strong dedication to STEM Center priorities and will be expected to lead certain efforts and long-term projects as part of their job (these may be agreed upon in advance and/or handled as the year progresses)
  • Principal tutors may (although are not required to be) tutors normally interested in the student manager role, but cannot devote the number of hours or meet a larger requirement in terms of meetings and tutor oversight, or may benefit from additional experience first
• Position Structure: 
  • In order to sufficiently prioritize key projects, principal tutors may need to cancel some of their normal shifts to handle project work; some such work may be doable with discretion as to timing and location

STEM-PASS Tutor ($12/hour):

• Believe in your potential to help make the challenging possible by fueling confidence  
• Lead a cohesive group learning environment throughout the semester, along the way increasing your capacity for growth in group presentation skills and professional communication
• Unleash your creative spirit to help students see how the big ideas and little concepts come together in a course you love and value
• Enjoy observing the countless "aha" moments as students you meet with all semester grow and achieve
• Key responsibilities and highlights:
  • Both new applicants and returning tutors are encouraged to apply for this role (previous experience is not required)
  • Prepares for and facilitates group study sessions and recitations for students in one instructor's course
    • This target course is designated by faculty, who must inherently want and plan for STEM-PASS for their course
    • It is preferred for the STEM-PASS tutor to sit in on class regularly to re-experience the material and current student expectations
    • Each target course usually has three sessions per week
  • Some initial and ongoing (paid) training is likely to be required
  • Communicates and meets with faculty as necessary to deliver quality student experience
  • Must be able to attend a weekly team meeting (several different options will be available, and this will be communicated in advance of Advising Day so that those offered this role have opportunity to keep at least one of the meeting times free in their schedules!)
  • This role requires reliability to keep scheduled hours for sessions, and often sitting in on class, but provides flexibility in when and where other (paid) preparation time is spent; it is ideal for primary employment
• Position Structure: 
  • Provide scheduling availability and preferences to the director, who then sets a weekly session schedule that works well for individual student employees while also maximizing session availability to students in context of their own course schedules and balances available spaces
  • STEM-PASS tutors can be grouped with another STEM-PASS tutor to deliver the services for the target course, effectively splitting most of the time commitment and work; therefore it can be around 6 hours/week when the desire is to split the work, or 10-12 hours/week when leading STEM-PASS by oneself
  • Compensated for all working hours (communication, preparation, meetings, sitting in on class, running sessions) 

Student Manager ($12/hour):

• Believe that every day, the STEM Center has the potential to change the trajectory of the future, for students and for tutors 
• Lead by learning what it takes to run an organization and being responsible for the goals, actions, and oversight necessary to be our best 
• Unleash the unleashing in others, multiplying tutors' impact, and raising our bar for excellence
• Enjoy morphing student employment into more than just your job--this is your launchpad for real-world leadership, collaboration, and impact post-graduation
• Key responsibilities and highlights:
  • Both new applicants and returning tutors are encouraged to apply for this role (previous experience is strongly preferred)
  • Tutor peers in STEM subject material they are qualified to cover
  • Mentor and meet with new and current tutors
  • Lead multiple efforts and priorities of the STEM Center
  • Must be able to attend a weekly team meeting (which will be communicated in advance of Advising Day so that those offered this role have opportunity to keep it free in their schedules!)
  • Must be able to facilitate meetings with tutors at a specified time or times (which will be communicated in advance of Advising Day so that those offered this role have opportunity to keep them free in their schedules!)
  • It is ideal for primary employment
• Position Structure: 
  • Similar to lead tutors, certain hours set as working/tutoring hours (usually around 3-4/week)
  • Attends meetings with team, director, tutors, and other stakeholders as scheduled or necessary
  • Minimum of 7.5 hours/week; some weeks may necessitate somewhat more
  • Flexibility in when and where other (paid) communication and work time is spent

 

STEM Center Interviews (required part of the application process, to be completed after submitting the above application form):

You must self-schedule this interview.  To schedule,

• login to the STEM Center schedule at https://tutor.stem.blue (you will be prompted to create an account if this is your first login)
• view the list of available interviewers for the appointment by choosing "INTERVIEW" (which is listed alphabetically between course codes), from the "Course or Focus" dropdown menu at the top of the page
• you must schedule two simultaneous 30-minute appointments with two interviewers: one listed as "Interviewer A" and one listed as "Interviewer B" next to their names
• schedule at any open time convenient for you with at least 3 hours notice, so long as both interviewers are not a close acquaintance of yours (or of closer relationship)
• please be aware that most interviewers will be listed as available at times that no other interviewer is available, due to their normal tutoring schedules; you may need to look a bit for a good-fitting time
• again, do not sign up with only one interviewer, at a time when only one interviewer is available, with two interviewers of the same letter, with two interviewers at different times, or with tutors not listed as interviewers!
• please contact STEM Center Student Manager Lucy Pol (pol009@gannon.edu) if you need assistance scheduling an interview, including if interviewer availability does not appear to align with your own.

At these interviews, we may ask to discuss further any of your responses in this application and/or an attached resume.  Additionally, you may be asked questions pertaining to how you might plan handle routine or difficult scenarios that could arise when working at the STEM Center.  You will also have an opportunity to ask any questions you have, as well.  You do not need to bring any materials to this interview, and there is no need to "dress up"; your normal attire for the day is fine. After the interview, the student employees running the interview will submit a brief form to the Director summarizing the interview experience.

There is no specific thing that we are looking to observe in order to "nail the interview".  Behaviors, traits, characteristics, and skills important to tutoring and work in the STEM Center are the only things we are looking for, and for each, there are many ways in which they can be shown!  You will not be asked questions that must be answered with sensitive information about your academic performance or private issues.

Student employees running interviews *will* be provided with your resume (if attached) and responses you give on this application (other than your phone number, addresses, and personal email address) in order to facilitate a meaningful experience, but *will not* have access to your course grades or other student records.

 

Next steps!

If you are hired, you will be invited to begin a paid orientation phase this April in order to get a jump start on preparing you for next semester.  This is expected to be 10-15 hours total, and will be scheduled rather flexibly in small pieces.  In the event that you cannot partake in this, we will instead provide orientation around the start of the fall semester; any missed elements will be required to be completed before all normal work can commence.

We will also expect to have required training for all tutors at the start of the fall semester, and facilitate communications and sessions related to getting-started at that time as well.  An exact schedule is not yet determined, but the current plan is to *not* have a lengthy training day or to schedule inflexible commitments before classes begin.