The Department employs student assistants in four positions: Tutors,
Teaching Assistants,
Lab Assistants, and
Assistant
Curators, as described below. All of these positions carry
significant responsibilities, and require a serious commitment on your
part.
If you are interested in one of these jobs, talk with our Department
Chair or Technical Assistant,
and follow the general guidelines for Campus
Student Employment.
|
| Guidelines for Tutors
in Biology |
| We generally need one or two tutors to
help students in the introductory courses. The tutors are usually junior
or senior majors who have demonstrated academic excellence, and who
have the interpersonal skills necessary for the position. Although a
tutor does not work many hours (one or two evening hours per week),
she has a lot of responsibility in helping students understand biological
concepts and master subject matter. |
SPECIFIC DUTIES OF THE TUTOR
 |
Being available for
an hour on one or two evenings a week, in a room in Guion or
the ARC, for students to drop in for help. |
|
Meeting individually
with each faculty member in the department at the beginning of
each semester, to review the course syllabus and to discus the
instructor’s particular concerns about the course. |
|
Attending any special
training sessions for tutors offered by the college. |
|
In some cases, a
faculty member might refer a student to you for assistance with a
particular problem, and would discuss with you the special kind of
work that would be most helpful. |
|
Alerting the instructor
to any particular difficulties students seem to be having in the
course. |
|
| Guidelines for Teaching
Assistants in Biology |
Every semester, the Department invites its
majors to apply for a position as a Teaching Assistant in an
introductory course. As a teaching assistant (TA), you would help the
instructor prepare for labs, conduct the lab session, and clean up
afterward. Clearly, this position carries considerable responsibility,
and being selected as an assistant shows that the biology faculty
believe you have the knowledge and maturity to meet that challenge.
|
While serving as a TA does demand a time
commitment from you (about 4 hours/week), it also confers certain benefits:
This kind of experience is an excellent item for your résumé. In addition,
you consolidate your understanding of basic biological principles (yes,
it really is true that the best way to learn something is to teach it!).
And finally, you have the deep personal satisfaction that comes from
helping someone else grasp a new idea, or work out a problem.
|
Generally, TAs are needed for labs associated
with Biology 111, Introduction to Organisms. Occasionally there is an
opportunity to TA in a more advanced course, depending on how many students
are enrolled. In all cases, preference is given to upperclass biology
majors who have taken the course in which assistance is needed.
|
| SPECIFIC DUTIES OF THE TA |
|
Meeting with the course instructor at
least once a week to discuss the next lab exercise, and to define
the TA’s specific tasks. |
|
Fully understanding the activities for
each week’s lab session. This includes understanding the main
point of, and the procedures for the lab exercise, having some
idea of where students might encounter difficulties, and being
prepared to help them with these problems. |
|
If possible, coming in early to help
with final preparations for the lab. If the TA’s class schedule
doesn’t allow this, she should check with the instructor to see
if she can help prep at an earlier time. |
|
During the lab session, circulating
among the students and watching for opportunities to help. This
might involve going down the hall to get extra glassware; or
helping a student figure out a calculation; or calming down a
student who is about to lose it; or calling the instructor’s
attention to a problem the TA can’t solve. This is the time the
TA can be of greatest help, especially because students will often
feel more comfortable confessing difficulties to another student
than to the instructor, and the TA can fill a crucial need acting
as go-between for that student. |
|
Staying after the lab session is
finished to help clean up. This usually involves making sure that
dirty glassware is soaking, putting microscopes away, and
generally tidying up. |
|
| Guidelines for Lab Assistants
in Biology |
The Biology Department has openings for
three or four Student Assistants each year. Students who stay
with the Department for more than one year take on additional responsibilities
(and earn higher wages!).
|
| GENERAL RESPONSIBILITIES |
|
As a general assistant,
you will establish a weekly schedule of hours in consultation
with the Technical Assistant. The Technical Assistant is your
immediate supervisor, and she or he will assign your specific
tasks. You MUST let the Technical Assistant know ahead of time
if you cannot come at a scheduled time! Failure to do so will
count as a deficiency in job performance. |
|
If there is a problem
with the way you have carried out a task, the Technical Assistant
will explain, or leave you a note explaining what the problem was,
and how to fix it. After the third corrective note from her, the
Chair will issue you a written notice of unsatisfactory
performance. After the second notice of unsatisfactory
performance, you will be asked to come in for a conference with
the Chair, and after the third notice of unsatisfactory
performance, you will lose your job. |
|
Your communication
center is in Guion 105, where there is a special bulletin board
for notes to or from the Technical Assistant, and where individual
professors will leave a request that you check with them for
special tasks. In Room 105 you will also find a list of
instructions for different procedures. |
|
Although washing
dishes, changing bulletin boards, and cleaning out sinks are not
high-profile, glamorous projects, the smooth running of the
Biology Department depends on the conscientious performance of
such mundane tasks. A bit of soap residue left on a beaker, a
missed plant watering, a dirty pipette, could all ruin a lab
exercise or an experiment someone has been working on for weeks,
so don’t take your duties lightly — a lot of people are
counting on your sense of responsibility.
|
|
| SPECIFIC RESPONSIBILITIES |
|
When
you come in, check the bulletin board for any special instructions
or washing procedures. |
|
Dishwashing
- Check Rooms 118a, 116, 114, 112, 108, 106, and 104 for dirty
glassware. |
|
Collect
the glassware on a cart and take it to the washroom (Room105). |
|
Replace
the dishpan at each sink and fill half full with water. |
|
Follow
the dishwasher operation instructions posted next to the
dishwasher. |
|
When
the cycle is complete, remove the clean glassware to a drying
cart. |
|
After
the glassware is completely dry, return it to the proper lab or
area for storage. |
|
Pipette
washing - Check the dirty pipet containers in Rooms 112 and 108. |
|
The
pipet washer is in room 105 with instructions on the bulletin
board. |
|
After
the wash cycle is complete, pipets need to be dried in the oven
for 1 hour at 350 degrees and cooled before storing. |
|
The
large drawer to the left of the oven is for general pipet storage.
There are also drawers in rooms 106 and 108 that need to be kept
stocked with clean pipettes. |
|
Check
the bulletin board to see if any instructors have left special
requests for assistance.
|
|
| ADDITIONAL DUTIES |
|
Check the sinks in the labs and make
sure each has a strainer and the sink is clean. |
|
Fill bottles of liquid soap and "Liquinox"
as needed. |
|
Replace lids on bottles. Be sure that
media bottles have autoclavable lids. |
|
Keep glassware in room 108 fully
stocked and neatly arranged. |
|
Periodically check the bulletin boards
and replace posters three months old or older. Also replace or
discard outdated announcements and opportunities. |
|
Check the supplies and straighten
the front desks and weighing stations. An inventory file is
kept in the tech assistant's desk . |
|
Empty broken glass containers and put
the glass in a plastic bag, seal, and label "Caution broken
glass" and discard in the trash. |
|
Clean bottom tray of the drying carts
as necessary |
|
Check the supply of pipettes in the
drawer in Rooms 108 and 106 regularly. |
|
Check the supply of #1 test tubes and
culture tubes in Rooms 106 and 114 regularly. |
|
Water the plants on the bench and in
the growth chambers in room A108 as necessary. |
|
Autoclaving as necessary, if you have
been authorized to use the autoclave. |
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Handbook
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