Call for Applications:

Doctoral Fellows 2025-2026 Cohort

15 hours/week, total 450 hours

DUE: Sunday, March 2, 2025, 11:59 pm

About the Unique and Interdisciplinary Studies program (CUNY BA)

The CUNY BA for Unique and Interdisciplinary Studies is a CUNY-wide, individualized degree program that seeksto increase student access to high-impact opportunities and allow students to create their own area of specialization outside of traditional majors. Interdisciplinary work represents the future of knowledge, allowing students to “think outside the box,” explore innovative solutions to the world’s great problems and anticipate future-oriented career paths for our rapidly evolving society. The interdisciplinary approach encourages students to drawon different disciplinary perspectives, integrate their learning, and to explore a topic that is too broad or complex toaddress with a single discipline (Klein & Newell, 1997). See sample majors, called areas of concentration, on the program website.

Like a more accessible honors program, students receive additional support, such as an assigned academic advisor, exclusive access to scholarships, and the opportunity to build relationships while working directly with faculty mentors and the CUNY BA community, which includes staff, faculty, student leaders, campus coordinators, and allies.

The Doctoral Fellows Program

The Fellows program gives a diverse group of doctoral students the opportunity to work collaboratively and build skills helpful to future program administration while serving a vital role in administrative support of the program. The CUNY BA Fellowship requires fellows to work a total of 450 non-teaching hours during the academic year, approximately 15 hours per week. The cohort of Fellows provides vital support to the program, in areas such as recruitment, assessment, community-building, communications, event planning, student leadership development, peer mentoring, and academic- and professional-skill building.

Areas of Focus

Fellows work in pairs in conjunction with the Senior Fellow, with their cohort of Fellows and with CUNY BA staff to assist the program in five major areas:

• Recruitment and admissions to conduct outreach to prospective students, families, and guidance counselors; connect to campus advocates to educate faculty, staff, and students on the opportunities in the program; represent the program at admissions events; create recruitmentmaterials; respond to student inquiries, lead events and information sessions, and assist the Coordinator of Admissions with campus relationship building.
• Communication strategies to engage the CUNY BA community, including current and prospective students, faculty mentors, alumnx, and allies. Projects include creating events flyers, studentresources (e.g., orientation and handbook materials), writing press releases and student stories;creating content for social media, newsletter, and the program webpage, in conjunction with staff and the webpage administrator.
• Student leadership development to advise the Student Leadership Council (SLC); oversee thepeer mentor and campus ambassadors’ programs, including recruitment/SLC elections, training, and guidance. Create relevant student leadership development programs.
• Events planning and community-building to build a slate of regular events and academic andprofessional workshops, focusing on increasing access to Kuh’s (2008) high-impact opportunities, for example, study abroad and undergraduate research. For example, workshops have included applyingto graduate school and national prestigious fellowships, a research skills series of mini-workshops (abstracts, thesis statements, finding opportunities, ), alumni events and large- scale events, suchas the Student Showcase and donor receptions.
• Program improvement through special projects such as assessment; conducting and analyzing survey data; working on grant-writing opportunities; building or updating student resources, such asthe undergraduate research guide; and other projects as assigned.

Depending on their disciplinary alignment, Fellows may be called upon to provide direct student support, for example, helping students craft their areas of concentration, find faculty mentors, and develop research opportunities/capstones. Fellows will be called into other projects, as required, and will assist with large-scale events,such as the Student Showcase, Commencement, and receptions.

Eligibility

Per the Graduate Center’s funding policy, eligible applicants must not have already had 7 years of institutional funding.CUNY BA seeks a diverse group of Fellows from across disciplines and backgrounds. Students with program administrative experience are encouraged to apply. To be eligible, applicants must be Level III by the start date of the appointment. (Students holding one of the Graduate Center’s five-year fellowships may apply, but should note that the CUNY BA Fellowship would replace their multi-year fellowship for the years that they serve as a CUNY BA Fellow.) We are particularly interested in students who are able to work for two years in the role (i.e., only have 5 years of funding and interest in a two-year commitment). 

Applicants should:

• Be familiar with the CUNY BA program; understand the value of individualized studies
• Demonstrate a commitment to diversity, equity, inclusion, and student development
• Display exceptional time management, interpersonal, and organizational skills
• Have administrative experience and institutional knowledge
• Have successfully taught undergraduates at CUNY
• Possess a range of skills useful to the development of co-curricular programming, such as outreach, communications, information gathering and presentation

Learning Goals

Fellows in the program will have the opportunity to set learning goals and to learn about:

• Project management and team coordination
• University processes, such as program development and best practices
• Technologies used to develop webpages, surveys, and data tracking
• Facilitation and presentation skills
• Advocacy for diversity, equity, and accessibility, by helping students from underrepresented backgroundsthrive in academia, for example, through recruitment and support and educational workshops

Job requirements

• The CUNY BA fellowship requires fellows to work a total of 450 non-teaching hours during the academicyear, approximately 15 hours per The position is 60-70% in- person, or more, depending on CUNY policy.

Compensation and Benefits (2024-2025 information, below)

• Compensation for the fellowship will be a minimum of $28,374 for the academic year
• The Fellowship is paid in two parts: Fellows will be appointed to the Graduate Center payroll as GraduateAssistant Bs (GAB) at their own current rate (the minimum GAB salary is currently $13,215) and also receive aProvost’s Award in the amount of $15,159 that will be paid through the Office of Financial Aid.
  • The GAB title provides eligibility to purchase the low-cost NYSHIP health insurance as well as in-statetuition remission for fellows who are within their first ten (10) registered semesters of doctoral study.
  • Fellows who are past their ten registered semesters of doctoral study will be eligible to receive in-state tuition remission at the Level III rate as per the 2017- 2023 PSC-CUNY contract (this benefit provides for this tuition remission for a maximum of four semesters past the student’s 10^thregistered semester).

Preferred Qualifications

• Professional or volunteer experience in one or more of the project areas: recruitment, admission, advisement, community-building, assessment, communications, events planning, student leadership development, peer mentoring, academic and professional- skill building, or willingness to learn.

Start Date: New Fellows attend in-person training Wednesday, August 20 – Friday, August 22, 2025, for which they will receive additional funding. Work for all Fellows begins on the first day of the fall semester, Monday, August, 25, 2025.

Application Instructions:

To apply online, you will need:

• A cover letter (no more than 1 page) connecting your experience and interest in the Fellowship to the job description (see, especially the focus areas for 2025-2026.
• A résumé (no more than 4 pages)
• A list of three references (academic or professional)
• Applicants have the opportunity to share portfolio material, such as work samples, projects, or other relevant examples of work (optional).

Questions? Email the Academic Director, Dr. Jody Clark Vaisman,

at jody.vaisman08@cunyba.cuny.edu or for general inquiries, general@cunyba.cuny.edu .